ORCHESTRA MODEL

n.

A hierarchy in which a central leader supplies an entire organization with direction and instructions that are tailored to specific groups within the organization.

"Anyway, as Drucker, Sealey and several other pundits have said, we're moving away from the old Prussian line-officer model (in which the general gives a command to the colonel, the colonel passes to the lieutenant colonel, the lieutenant colonel to the lieutenant, and so on right down to the private). Instead, we're following the 'orchestra model,' in which one leader gives direction to everyone, moving from the woodwinds to the brass as needed."

— Ray Schultz, "Brave New Workplace,"Direct, October, 2000

Today's phrase was coined by management guru Peter Drucker in an article titled "The Coming of the New Organization,"Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 1988.

fad surfing

hedgehog concept

marzipan layer

stovepipe organization

Corporate Culture