"Only the insufficient one is productive" H. KESERLING
Introduction
At the beginning of the XXth century, to increase the output and to lower the manufacturing costs, someone invented a type of new organization, the functional hierarchy.
Then, they divided the mechanisms of production into distinct functions - design - manufacture - the sale, etc. Then, introduced the concepts of serial production, of assembly line work. In short, and arranged and divided work hierarchically. Lastly, administrative tasks were simplified and delegated to a new category of workers, the office workers.
This terribly effective organization determined the modern terms of employment. The hierarchy made it possible to reduce the complexity of the tasks by separating those which were mechanical were assigned to the workmen and employees while those which required responsibility were assumed by the executives.
The workmen and employees took less part in the total management of the company, their prospects for work reduced and they lost the occasions to exert their judgement. Automation was the principal engine of this transformation.
Top and middle management became the basis of the organization and the knowledge established by controlling information. We ended up admitting that a hierarchy of this type corresponds to a division of the reasonable labour.
We are less at ease to discuss the moral design which underlies it and which we could call "the division of the love".
