The CDO is dead, long live the CDO
Hierarchy appears to be the only option to pull a large group of individuals together toward a common goal. Many insects did it well before humans, but over the last 10,0000 years, humans have moved from decentralised clans into centralised nation-states consisting of hundreds of millions of people. From the pharaohs to Max Weber’s 20th bureaucratic management structure, we can now exist only in such a system because as a society or organisation grows beyond a few dozen people, the hierarchical pyramid is seen as the only option for the organisation. The justification is that it is nature and natural. The “ideal organisation” was defined by Max Weber as a clear and strong hierarchy underpinned by the division of tasks based on specialisation. A fundamental assumption was that each unit takes care of one piece of the chain and the division of tasks within the unit is clearly defined, work can be executed much more efficiently. Weber envisioned this as a “superior structure” becau