Charles Handy

In new businesses, the start-up group—which may be 10, 20, 50 people—has a psychological stake and often a financial stake in the business. These people use what I describe as the twin hierarchy approach. That is, there is the hierarchy of status—though not more than three or four levels. You find this in professional organizations, with senior partners, ordinary partners, and associates who would like to become partners. But you also have a totally different hierarchy, the task hierarchy, where you group people irrespective of their status into operational teams around projects. You can actually have a partner or even a nonpartner leading a project group with senior partners being part-time members of that group.

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