Structuring Organizations: Overview

The Original «Levels of Work»

These discoveries were originally developed from observations of managerial roles and the behaviour of managers within large organizations. The hierarchy discovered by Elliot Jaques and Wilfred Brown was referred to regularly as «levels of work».

The Table below offers a summary of the material to be developed in this section. The attempt to be fully general means the language is perhaps slightly strained. Elaboration and examples in the Topics to follow should clarify matters.

Turf disputes associated with Jaques's heritage have bedevilled the field for many years. Labels and specifications of levels have sparked particular controversy: see discussion of alternatives.

L	Responsibility Label	Need to be Met	Response to be Made
WL7	Total Coverage	Determination of organizational identity.	Define basic parameters i.e.► define the basic nature of needs, services and whatever else is required to deal with this mission; plus anything that must be taken as given by all lower levels.
WL6	Multi-field Coverage	Policy formulation and control	Frame operational fields i.e. ► produce frameworks to bridge the divide between basic definitions and all fields or territories of actual operations.
WL5	Field Coverage	Strategy design and implementation	Shape overall operations i.e.► shape the totality of operations and structure needs and services in a particular field and social territory.
WL4	Comprehensive Provision	Management control of developments	Develop multiple services i.e.► comprehensively balance and develop a range of services to meet the needs of some social territory.
WL3	Systematic Provision	Operational control of concrete systems	Manage a specific service i.e.► manage available staff, resources and facilities so as to handle presenting demand, taking into account higher level priorities and inevitable fluctuations in workload and staffing.
WL2	Situational Response	Resolution of open-ended concrete cases	Assess and handle complex situations i.e.► deal immediately with concrete situations by allocating resources and acting or instructing others.
WL-1	Prescribed Output	Responses to concrete demands.	Take actions whose results are fully specifiable in advance i.e.► perform in a given acceptable style as instructed in the specific case or in accord with general expectations.

A table comparing names for levels in this Framework to similar names for types in the methods of managing-PH'5Q2t and modes in strengthening managing in the face of complexity-PH'5Q2C is provided here, together with the link to using language-PH'5.

Organization Structure & Management of Work

• There are 7 potential levels of work as shown in the above Table. These levels are about defining a structure for management within an organization.
• The central issue in designing structures and managing a large organization is: what full-time posts are needed at which levels.

Review the distinction between posts and roles.

• The level of work specified for the top post is always the minimum required. The scope, complexity and potential social impact of the organization depends on this minimum. However, all organizations, even the smallest, should address the higher levels of work in regard to determining suitable values and goals.
• The variety of specialized activities (kinds of work) combined with the number of levels with specific, formally defined full-time posts determines the organizational complexity and the challenges for managing effectively.
  
• Choice of size is a function of activities that are viewed as unavoidable and those that are aspirational. The greater the aspiration for scope and impact, the more sophisticated the organisation required, and so the more full-time roles in higher levels needed.
  More on size:

Tiny WL2- and WL1- outfits are barely viewed as organizations needing management, but even they need work on values and goals. By contrast, the success of WL3- and WL4-organizations depends largely on the quality of their management. The most sophisticated management of operations is provided by a WL5-organization. In the largest WL7- or WL6-organizations, there is a headquarters body distinct from the operational subsidiaries, each typically set up at WL5.

Describing the Work-Levels

The next topic offers a basic account of the nature of the output at each level in terms of needs to be met and responses to be made. Examples are provided to illustrate characteristic level-specific tasks, jobs and organizations. The characteristic time-scales, deadlines for task completion, are identified. Common titles given to posts are noted.

• The levels of management can also be appreciated as progressive contexts described in terms of planning, resource handling and information management.

• Getting these contexts right is the basis for the strongest form of authority: line-management. However, the whole system only works properly if the nature of personal capability to carry responsibility is appreciated.

Following this exposition, a review is provided and various further implications and perspectives will be explored.

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• Start now with a basic description.

  OR

• Return to the Guide for other options.

Originally posted: 10-Jan-2014

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All posted material is part of a scientific project and should be regarded as provisional. Visitors are encouraged to think through the topics and propositions for themselves. Copyright © Warren Kinston 2009-2016.
All Rights Reserved.

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