Structure and sense : a study of organization based on the theories of Weick and Jaques

and universals. Pre-verbal is self explanatory while concrete verbal is the world where thoughts and their articulation refer to things that can be pointed out, that is referring to concrete things. The concrete verbal world is generally the childhood stage. In the symbolic verbal representation thoughts and ideas do not have to directly refer to things that can be pointed out but rather recall a previously seen thing or understood concept. The conceptual abstract level differs from the symbolic level in complexity and depth. For example while the symbolic verbal level might deal with maintaining information systems and taking product orders from customers, at the abstract conceptual level in an organization socio-economic policies and large-scale international political problems are also tackled. The world of universals revolutionizes whole societies, creates new and lasting societal philosophies and ideologies and is the level of geniuses such as Karl Marx and Albert Einstein. Of these information complexity orders, Jaques and Cason focussed on the symbolic verbal and conceptual abstract. Combining these two orders of complexity with the four mental processes they developed a hierarchy of mental processing strata as shown below: 89 These orders are simlar to those articulated by other psychologists such as Piaget. This is not surprising given Jaques training as a psychoanalyst. 90 Jaques, 1994. Jaques and Cason noted that there was a “regular pattern of real earnings” and a consistent “growth of time-span in level of work” of their subjects. The findings were evident and verified in “countries ranging from industrially developed to less economically developed nations” and it was for these reasons that Jaques and Cason concluded that this regular pattern is a deeply inbuilt human characteristic. 17 Stratum of Role (i.e. Level of Work) Complexity of Mental Processes Required Stratum I Symbolic Declarative Stratum II Symbolic Cumulative Stratum III Symbolic Serial Stratum IV Symbolic Parallel Stratum V Conceptual Declarative Stratum VI Conceptual Cumulative Stratum VII Conceptual Serial Stratum VIII Conceptual Parallel Table 1: Jaques and Cason’s hierarchy of mental processing strata Stratum I roles involve routine work where there is constant supervision. The longest tasks in these roles have a time horizon of one day to three months. Stratum II roles have a time horizon of three months to a year and it is at this level where frontline managers and supervisors are found. The felt-fair pay at this level is one-and-a-half times that of stratum I. Stratum III roles, where the time horizon is between one and two years, is the level where departmental heads, owners of multistore franchises and highly skilled technicians managing few people can be found. Felt-fair pay here is six times that of stratum I. Stratum IV, the highest symbolic level, requires an ability to deal with diverse functions and constituencies. It is at this level that managers of large factories and laboratories are found. The time horizon at this level is between two and five years with a felt-fair pay of twelve times stratum I. Stratum V is the lowest level of abstraction. This level is a critical level in large multinational organizations as it is 91 Jaques, 1994. Level of work refers to what is commonly described as the size of the position, how big a role one position is compared with another, or how heavy the responsibility is in a job. 92 Jaques, 1994. It is important to note that Jaques and Cason differentiate between potential and applied capabilities. This table refers to both. Applied capability refers to the job an employee is currently performing, considering their mental processing capability, commitment to (or value of) their work and skilled knowledge developed. Potential capability is “the very highest level at which a person could work now, in work that was strongly valued and for which the person had had the opportunity to have gained the necessary skilled knowledge. (It is a function of that person’s maximum complexity of mental processing). ” 93 Jaques, 1996. In his studies, Jaques was prone to asking employees across the organizations spectrum what they felt was a fair pay for various roles, hence the term “felt-fair pay”. He found that the employees assessments were similar and he then developed the felt-fair pay concept. This is a critical component of the managerial accountability hierarchies. 18 the link between the symbolic machinations of factories and abstract workings of head offices. Many divisional executives and business unit heads are found at this level. The time horizon is between five years and ten years with a felt-fair pay of twelve times Stratum I. Strata VI and higher are people who have a time horizon over ten years with felt-fair pay of 24 times stratum I (for stratum VI) to 48 (VII) and 96 (VIII). Chief executive officers of the largest multinational companies in the world typically have a stratum VIII mental processing capability. Stratum VIII and the universals strata (Strata IX to XII) are excluded from this study. Using Charan et al terminology and attributes in Jaques formulation one would typically have an organization structured as follows: 94 Charan et al, 2001