The Drucker Lectures: Essential Lessons on Management, Society and Economy

10Managing the Increasing Complexity of Large Organizations1981

If you look at the history of political theory—and basically when we talk organizational structure we are talking governance and political theory—there are two strands in the Western tradition. One is the constitutionalist, which basically says, “What are the right laws so that even mediocre people can function and so that the evildoers are at least confined?” The other one, which went by the name of the “education of the Christian prince” and also goes back to the Greeks and even earlier, says, “How do we form the rulers so that even if there are turbulent times and the rules aren’t clear, we get the best there is, and we get virtue and leadership into the system?”

In the last 30 ...