Clayton Christensen Quotes

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.

The principle of subordination is the great bond of union and harmony through the universe.

A corporation is organized as a system - it has this department, that department, that department... they don't have any meaning separately; they only can function together. And also the body is a system. Society is a system in some sense. And so on.

The message is that all brilliance emanates from the top; that the worker on the floor of the store or the factory is insignificant.

Corporations, by their nature, do not function as democratic organizations.

If you're going to maintain true authorities over a subordinate organization, you have to have some control over policy formulation of that organization and also the resources that are applied to it.

All parties have one leader at the top who is the first among equals.

The organization of ofices follows the principle of hierarchy ... each lower office is under the control and supervision of a higher one

Once you have hierarchy you need rules to protect and administer it, and then you need law and the enforcement of the rules, and you end up with some kind of chain of command or system of order that destroys relationship rather than promotes it. Hierarchy imposes laws and rules and you end up missing the wonder of relationship that we intended for you.

The importance of discretion increases with closeness to the top of a hierarchical organization.

The military was all about hierarchies, who urinated highest on the hydrant

All organizations are hierarchical. At each level people serve under those above them. An organization is therefore a structured institution. If it is not structured, it is a mob. Mobs do not get things done, they destroy things.

Nobody really likes large-scale organizations; nobody likes to take orders from a superior who takes orders from a superior who takes orders.

You can call anyyne here or call me. We have no formal chain of command.

Some people need a command-and-control environment.

If you've been on top of the food chain in the Armed Forces, that's who you are. You're used to dealing with your life in a particular way.

The secretariat will play a pivotal role in decision-making above a certain level, where basic policies are involved, but below that, we will have to leave the implementation to whoever is in charge.

In large companies, the CEO is very distant from operations.

Bosses are the ones calling the shots, as they should in any organization. And if you think you're above your boss, that's not reality.

You can't have a value structure without a hierarchy. They're the same thing because a value structure means one thing takes precedence over another.

The Spectator' has to be managed and people have to report. We all have bosses in this world and that's true of 'The Spectator' too.

The hierarchy plays out in the writers room, and you, as a staff writer, need to know your place.

Any business or club has to have a hierarchy. Everybody needs to know and understand his role in the overall structure. Bayern Munich is no different.

I understand that bureaucracy, hierarchy and managing politics is not easy.

When I was working in the Pentagon, I had to own the recommendations I made up the chain of command.