In this part of the book we look at how we might understand organisations, why and how they are structured the way that they are and why and how authorities flow through the organisation. We put forward some clear propositions concerning human capability and how they relate to different types of work in terms of complexity.

Currently there is a lot written about the rate of change; whether it is increasing or not, also there is a lot written about complexity in organisations and whether it is increasing or not (Obolensky, 2014). We will discuss those points in more detail later in the book, however we concentrate here on how we might understand the way in which people construct their worlds, identify work and organise to achieve their purpose. We assume that there is always change occurring and always complexity and uncertainty to address and always has been. Much of what is argued to be increasing complexity and/or rate of change is in our view rather an increasing volume of noise, not information to deal with. It is interesting to consider whether it is more complex or less complex to run an international organisation now, with all our electronic devices and instant access to information, or in Roman times to organise an empire without any such resources.

We begin by examining the nature of organisations that are set up to provide goods or services. We have already mentioned Meritocracies in Chapter 5, here we look in much more detail about what this means and indeed whether it is possible to build one. When we look at work, that is ‘turning intention into reality’; there are clearly different ways in which this can be done. It is much more difficult to turn some intentions into reality than others. For example it is much more difficult to create peaceful coexistence in the Middle East than it is to paint a room in the house. It is not simply a question of difficulty but relates to the implicit complexity and uncertainty vested in the tasks and in our imaginations as to how we might address such problems and achieve our goals. We will look at the capability of people to do work and a clear model of capability that proposes that some elements are much more fixed than others. We will then look at how those differences in capability are reflected in the different types of work to be done in an organisation. We then look at how these elements influence the way that organisations are structured and the way that authority is distributed in the organisation.

We have found that while many books describe different types of organisation and authority few, apart from Jaques (and related works), hypothesise why organisations are structured as they are and how this relates to human capability to do work of different kinds. We recognise that some of this material is contentious in that we clearly propose that not everyone can do any type of the work even if they have the opportunity and training. Our work over the years has included working with people at both ends of the spectrum. That is on the one hand people who need help and support simply to function effectively on a daily basis, to, on the other hand, those people who run very large and complex organisations whether that be in the public, private or not-for-profit sectors. We have found qualitative differences in the capability to handle uncertainty and complexity and correspondingly a good sense in each of us to recognise when we have reached our limit. Our and related research indicate that if you are clear enough about the nature of work that is required then people have a good sense as to whether that work is enjoyably challenging, overly demanding or indeed boring.

We also look at the importance of giving people the authority to do their work and how lack of clarity in this area is a major impediment even if the capability is there to do the work.