Titelbild: Rethinking Power, Hierarchy and Organization

Rethinking Power, Hierarchy and Organization

Workshop · 2 Days · For Leaders and OD Professionals

What do hierarchy and formal structures actually accomplish -- and how do you design organizations beyond the agility dogma?

Hierarchy has a bad reputation. It is seen as rigid, as an obstacle to innovation, as a relic of bygone times. At the same time, no organization functions without it. Those who want to abolish hierarchy overlook its function. Those who blindly defend it overlook its costs.

This workshop offers a sober look at what holds organizations together: formal and informal structures, power and influence, decision architectures. You learn why well-intentioned changes often fail -- and how organizations can actually be developed further.

What You Will Learn

01

Formal and Informal Power

You distinguish between formal authority and informal influence. You understand why org charts only show part of the organization -- and how the informal side of the organization actually works.

02

Functions of Hierarchy

You analyze which problems hierarchy solves: complexity reduction, decision speed, allocation of responsibility. And you understand which new problems it creates in the process.

03

Deconstructing Agility Narratives

You develop a critical eye for agility promises. Not everything that calls itself agile solves the problems it claims to solve. You learn to distinguish narrative from substance.

04

Designing Hybrid Organizational Forms

You develop approaches beyond either-or: How can hierarchical and self-organized elements be combined meaningfully? How do you map decision zones and design interventions?

How the Workshop Unfolds

Day 1

Understanding: Power and Structure

Morning
Arrival and ground rules
Clarifying expectations: What needs to have happened for this workshop to be worthwhile?
Input: Formal and informal power -- How influence operates in organizations
Mapping your own power structures: Where does influence lie -- and where does it not?
Afternoon
Input: Hierarchy as a solution -- Which problems does formal structure address?
Critical analysis: What do agility narratives promise -- and what do they deliver?
Case work: Examining change projects from your own organization
Reflection: What was relevant? What thoughts do I take with me?
Day 2

Shaping: Beyond Either-Or

Morning
Check-in: What has become important overnight?
Input: Hybrid organizational forms -- Combining hierarchy and self-organization
Mapping decision zones: Where is hierarchy needed, where autonomy?
Input: Intervention strategies -- How do you change organizations that maintain themselves?
Afternoon
Case work: Addressing your own organizational questions with new tools
Developing proposals for action: What do I change concretely?
Transfer: Defining experiments for daily work
Closing and outlook
“Organizations do not follow their own rules. That is not a flaw -- it is a precondition of their functioning.”
— Niklas Luhmann (paraphrased)

Who Is This Workshop For?

Leaders who want to better understand their own role and the structures of their organization
Organizational development and change management professionals who want to think beyond simple agility recipes
Consultants who want to develop a theoretically grounded perspective on power and hierarchy
Anyone who wants to approach organizational design as a design task -- not as a framework implementation
Note

This workshop does not provide easy answers. We deconstruct certainties -- and build on what remains.

What Should You Bring?

A case from your work context in which power, hierarchy or organizational change plays a role
Willingness to question cherished convictions
Interest in the structures behind the surfaces
No prior knowledge required -- leadership experience is helpful
“There is no right life in the wrong one.”
— Theodor W. Adorno

Practical Information

Duration 2 days (plus online sessions before and after)
Next dates To be announced
Language English
Group size Max. 16 participants
Format Open dates · In-house training from 8 participants
Price On request
Location To be announced with the dates

Pre-Sensing and Post-Sensing

The workshops are accompanied by two online sessions:

The Pre-Sensing session gives us the opportunity for a first introduction and to build a shared foundation. We clarify organizational questions and align expectations.

The Post-Sensing session supports reflection on the experience after a few weeks, exploring what has proven useful in daily work.

Interested? Register now.

Who Leads the Workshop

Falk Engelmann

Thinks in systems, works with people. For over 18 years, he has been accompanying teams and organizations in understanding their own patterns -- and intervening where change is actually possible.

Questions about the workshop?

falk@vorfeld.studio

Or book a 30-minute conversation directly:

Schedule a conversation (30 min)

Also of interest:

Navigating complexity effectively Shaping organizational learning

Theoretical Foundations

Three Sides of the Organization

Every organization has three sides: a formal side -- rules, roles, processes --, an informal side -- networks, habits, unwritten laws -- and a display side -- the facade it shows to the outside. All three are necessary, all condition one another. Those who see only one side do not understand the organization.

Power as a Medium

Power is not a possession and not a flaw. It is a communication medium that makes decisions more likely. Those who understand power can shape it -- rather than moralizing it.

Function of Hierarchy

Hierarchy reduces complexity by allocating decision-making authority. It enables fast decisions under uncertainty -- at the cost of local knowledge often not being incorporated.

Self-Maintenance of Social Systems

Organizations reproduce themselves. They follow their own patterns, even when these appear dysfunctional. Change succeeds not through appeals, but through altering the conditions under which decisions are made.

Agility as an Organizational Narrative

Agility is more than a method -- it is a narrative about the right way to organize. Like every narrative, it has blind spots. The workshop makes these visible and works with what lies beyond the narrative.

Intervention in Self-Referential Systems

Organizations cannot be steered from the outside. Every intervention is processed by the system according to its own logic. Effective change requires understanding this logic -- and working with it, not against it.