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A cybernetic theory of hierarchical social systems is given, starting from an extension of Ashby's general theory of regulation and control to amplifying regulation. Regulation and control in human society are then discussed and the conditions for the existence of social classes and social hierarchy examined.

Hierarchy and bureaucracy have been more or less welcomed companions of human civilisation from the very beginning. In almost every culture and epoch, ruling elites and followers, superiors and subordinates can be identified. Hierarchy and bureaucracy are quite flexible, adaptable and they are fairly persistent – but why could, or even should we see this as a problem?

This introduction will first provide a brief history of no change, followed by the second section where the advantages and disadvantages and the contested terrain of hierarchy are elaborated in some length. The discussion focuses on three areas: the functional, social and ethical qualities of hierarchy. In the final section, the chapters of this volume will be briefly introduced. The chapters are grouped into three sections: (I) Fundamentals and historical accounts of bureaucracy, (II) Organisational, cultural and socio-psychological aspects of hierarchy and (III) Alternative views on, and alternatives to hierarchy.

This paper describes a software architecture which supports the design of hierarchical controllers that provide facilities for adaptation, supervision and task planning. It details how this form of functional hierarchy differs from the structural hierarchy also inherent within a complex control system. Then, both forms of hierarchy are combined in a single design notation and development methodology. The system utilises intelligent control techniques (neuro‐fuzzy and genetic optimisation) for controlling a cryogenic plant used for superconductor testing by cooling the test samples to temperatures below 1008K. The system supports the design of a hierarchical controller that provides facilities for adaptation, supervision and task planning. Simulation results are presented.

Management controls are the processes and mechanisms managers use to influence the behaviour of individuals and groups towards the organisation’s objectives and goals. Discrete management controls and management control system (MCS) frameworks have been extensively researched, but there is little research on organisation-level MCS types. This study aims to identify organisation-level MCS types.

This study draws on the MCS type literature, the competing values framework and the upper echelons theory to form organisation effectiveness and top management team constructs to characterise firms. Cluster analysis was used to group a sample of 318 firm-years into MCS types.

This study reports a theory-based measurement construct that is initially validated with new empirical data. The authors found from the empirical data four different categories of firms based on the general type of their MCSs labelled clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy.

This study makes two contributions to the MCS literature. Firstly, it presents a theory-based measurement construct to identify organisational and top management attributes that can be used to classify organisations’ overall MCS types. Secondly, it demonstrates how information from annual reports and other publicly available data sources can be used to identify the overall MCS types of organisations.

This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

Building on and reconsidering previous research on organizational models of education, the authors argue that while many administrators in education are still trying to manage ambiguous, and occasionally “anarchic” organizations effectively, the ambivalences of both loose and tight structures are today better understood than 25 years ago. In a development paralleling the evolution of organizational thinking in corporate management which no longer posits a “one‐best‐system hierarchy”, developments in education theory and practice point to the emergence of hybrid models of organization that capture the advantages of centralization and coordination produced by hierarchy while attempting to harness the advantages of more decentralized organizational structures.

At the Silver Anniversary meeting of the General Systems Research Society in 1979 several speakers showed acute disappointment at the lack of progress within recent years in the matter of practical application of Systems Theory and Cybernetics. Research was gradually floundering to a halt through lack of new ideas. Since novelty is the quintessence of systems thinking this was indeed serious criticism. In this paper two (at least) new concepts are presented which, by their novelty, might well pull Systems Theory out of the morass. These are the concepts of (1) Unchange, applied to live systems and bureaucracies, and (2) Net reciprocal dependence between members of groups, systems etc. The latter concept leads to alternative percepts of human behaviour within and outside bureaucratic settings. The psychological concept of the ego fits neatly within the model proposed.

In recent years, a new view of man has begun to emerge. This view, inspired by the concepts of cybernetics, holds that man's behavior and experience can be accounted for by feedback‐control processes and that these processes are hierarchically organized. In this paper, the ideas of three authors who have best expressed this new view, Arthur Koestler, Ervin Laszlo and William Powers, are summarized and compared. The conclusion is reached that, despite differences in detail, the three authors articulate remarkably consistent theories of the nature of man.