Abstract
The principal elements of the structures evolved by early societies and civilisations—council-of-elders, chief, vizier and deputies—persisted under various names for the life of the Roman Empire. In Western Europe a reversion to more primitive forms may have followed the Roman collapse, but the principal elements of the historic structure emerged again during the last few centuries of the first millenium A.D.; and they were clearly in evidence during the mediaeval period. For example, the English administration of Henry II was characterised by a chief (Henry II), a vizier (the Chancellor, in the early years Thomas à Becket) and a council. These old and tried forms unmistakably, if tacitly and unconsciously, exhibited both the resolution of complexes into mutually exclusive subsystems and the fundamental hierarchical property of systems. The viewpoint which, applied with the force and sanctions of the power of the state, prevailed was that of the GCS—the pharaoh, king or chief—which was the progressive subdivision of the Organisation, its various purposes and functions into manageable but successively subordinate subsystems. The pharaoh divided up his total responsibility with a subordinate vizier and each in turn divided up his direct responsibility among several deputies, and so on.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and References
W. Goerlitz, The German General Staff (W. Praeger, New York, 1953)
G. A. Craig, The Politics of the Prussian Army (Galaxy Books, New York, 1964).
L. Urwick and L. Gulick, Papers on the Science of Administration (Columbia University Press, 1937).
L. Dale and L. Urwick, Staff in Organization (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960) which is also a useful reference.
H. Wilensky, Organisational Intelligence (Basic Books, New York, 1967) for example on pp. 110–13 and pp. 24–34. Subsequent references to this book are numerous.
See also T. Burns and G. M. Stalker, The Management of Innovation (Tavistock Publications, 1961), especially pp. 150–4.
J. Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages (Pelican Books, 1955).
Copyright information
© 1970 A. M. Lee
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lee, A.M. (1970). Views of Structure. In: Systems Analysis Frameworks. Studies in Management. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00514-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00514-7_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-00516-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-00514-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)