Understanding Hierarchy in Contemporary Work

Susanne E. Lundholm; Jens Rennstam; Mats Alvesson

doi:10.1108/S0733-558X(2012)0000035007

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Research in the Sociology of Organizations

ISSN: 0733-558X
Series editor(s): Professor Michael Lounsbury

Subject Area: Organization Studies

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Understanding Hierarchy in Contemporary Work

Document Information:
Title:	Understanding Hierarchy in Contemporary Work
Author(s):	Susanne E. Lundholm, Jens Rennstam, Mats Alvesson
Volume:	35 Editor(s): Thomas Diefenbach, Rune Todnem By ISBN: 978-1-78052-782-6 eISBN: 978-1-78052-783-3
Citation:	Susanne E. Lundholm, Jens Rennstam, Mats Alvesson (2012), Understanding Hierarchy in Contemporary Work, in Thomas Diefenbach, Rune Todnem By (ed.) Reinventing Hierarchy and Bureaucracy – from the Bureau to Network Organizations (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Volume 35), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.113-140
DOI:	10.1108/S0733-558X(2012)0000035007 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	The chapter aims to bring out the dynamic nature or hierarchy in organizations and presents a conceptual framework for making sense of hierarchy in contemporary work. We describe hierarchy as the result of a contradictory dynamic that incorporates both vertical and horizontal practices of organizing. The vertical practice, verticalization, draws on and reproduces the formal organization, whereas the horizontal practice, horizontalization, orders people on the basis of their knowledge and initiatives. The dynamic between these two practices varies, we argue, depending on the social and epistemic distance of formal managers' from the operative work process. Three different dynamics between verticalization and horizontalization – loose coupling, translation, and integration – are identified and illustrated, drawing on three ethnographically inspired studies of knowledge work. Through these three dynamics, the chapter casts light on and provides nuances to the current discussion in the literature on postbureaucracy.