Heirarchy as prevalent in a feudal English household . As described by P G Wodehouse
"If there is I can't think of it. When I was at Oxford I used to go and stay with a friend of mine who had a butler that looked like a Roman emperor in swallowtails. He terrified me. I used to grovel to the man. Please give me all the pointers you can."
"Well, as Mr. Peters' valet, I suppose you will be rather a big man."
"I shan't feel it."
"However large the house party is, Mr. Peters is sure to be the principal guest; so your standing will be correspondingly magnificent. You come after the butler, the housekeeper, the groom of the chambers, Lord Emsworth's valet, Lady Ann Warblington's lady's maid—"
"Who is she?"
"Lady Ann? Lord Emsworth's sister. She has lived with him since his wife died. What was I saying? Oh, yes! After them come the honorable Frederick Threepwood's valet and myself—and then you."
"I'm not so high up then, after all?"
"Yes, you are. There's a whole crowd who come after you. It all depends on how many other guests there are besides Mr. Peters."
"I suppose I charge in at the head of a drove of housemaids and scullery maids?"
"My dear Mr. Marson, if a housemaid or a scullery maid tried to get into the steward's room and have her meals with us, she would be—"
"Rebuked by the butler?"
"Lynched, I should think. Kitchen maids and scullery maids eat in the kitchen. Chauffeurs, footmen, under-butler, pantry boys, hall boy, odd man and steward's-room footman take their meals in the servants' hall, waited on by the hall boy. The stillroom maids have breakfast and tea in the stillroom, and dinner and supper in the hall. The housemaids and nursery maids have breakfast and tea in the housemaid's sitting-room, and dinner and supper in the hall. The head housemaid ranks next to the head stillroom maid. The laundry maids have a place of their own near the laundry, and the head laundry maid ranks above the head housemaid. The chef has his meals in a room of his own near the kitchen.
"If there is I can't think of it. When I was at Oxford I used to go and stay with a friend of mine who had a butler that looked like a Roman emperor in swallowtails. He terrified me. I used to grovel to the man. Please give me all the pointers you can."
"Well, as Mr. Peters' valet, I suppose you will be rather a big man."
"I shan't feel it."
"However large the house party is, Mr. Peters is sure to be the principal guest; so your standing will be correspondingly magnificent. You come after the butler, the housekeeper, the groom of the chambers, Lord Emsworth's valet, Lady Ann Warblington's lady's maid—"
"Who is she?"
"Lady Ann? Lord Emsworth's sister. She has lived with him since his wife died. What was I saying? Oh, yes! After them come the honorable Frederick Threepwood's valet and myself—and then you."
"I'm not so high up then, after all?"
"Yes, you are. There's a whole crowd who come after you. It all depends on how many other guests there are besides Mr. Peters."
"I suppose I charge in at the head of a drove of housemaids and scullery maids?"
"My dear Mr. Marson, if a housemaid or a scullery maid tried to get into the steward's room and have her meals with us, she would be—"
"Rebuked by the butler?"
"Lynched, I should think. Kitchen maids and scullery maids eat in the kitchen. Chauffeurs, footmen, under-butler, pantry boys, hall boy, odd man and steward's-room footman take their meals in the servants' hall, waited on by the hall boy. The stillroom maids have breakfast and tea in the stillroom, and dinner and supper in the hall. The housemaids and nursery maids have breakfast and tea in the housemaid's sitting-room, and dinner and supper in the hall. The head housemaid ranks next to the head stillroom maid. The laundry maids have a place of their own near the laundry, and the head laundry maid ranks above the head housemaid. The chef has his meals in a room of his own near the kitchen.
This one aspect from the British we have thoroughly imbibed in to our culture . After having spent a suitable amount of time in the army I for one am thoroughly convinced that this is a must . One of the things that a leader has to keep in mind is the need to maintain distance with the followers . If this is not done there is always a good chance that any decision whether good or bad popular or unpopular are going to be questioned and what better way to do this than to be at a distance from the madding crowd. For does not familiarity breed contempt ? A leader has to have certain amount of mystique . Anyhow I am digressing.
In the course of interaction with civilians during the past three and a half months we noticed that rigidity in the ranks was more pronounced outside the armed forces than within . We in the services are flexible accommodating and sensitive to the needs of both our subordinates and our seniors . But along with the flexibility comes certain amount of maturity and discipline which is necessary in the army . There have been often sighs and " How I wish " with all the people we have interacted with when we talk about discipline. One person said " how I wish people had the same commitment and work ethic that you have in the services(as in uniform) . But having met lot of people I realise that the methods we employ in the services are as rigorously practiced in the civil as they are in the services. The bottom line in the services is that the loss of life should be minimized as much as possible and that in the civvy street is profits. Profits drive everything else. The motivation , the discipline the urge to work the attendance at office personal life and everything else are driven by profit.
Nothing else matters. It is therefore I suppose that the hierarchical ladder is so rigid in the corporate world.In any case a little bit of discipline did not kill anybody - of that I am very sure.
In addition to discipline being a by product of hierarchy it is very important that one exercises self discipline. Self discipline is more important than enforced discipline. We all exercise self discipline to some extent. when we prepared for exams we sacrificed other pastimes , when we ate food or got drunk we exercised self restraint - those who did not suffered the consequences and made a fool of themselves much to the misery of all those around them - whether it be parents , wives , children or friends. But we always tend to veer away from the straight and narrow and follow dark alleys in the hope of early gains. This is where hierarchy and discipline play an important part in our lives. It is for this purpose that for self progress we must be disciplined and if we cannot do it on our own then it is only logical that someone else will do it for us.And that is why we have a saying in the Services:-
In the course of interaction with civilians during the past three and a half months we noticed that rigidity in the ranks was more pronounced outside the armed forces than within . We in the services are flexible accommodating and sensitive to the needs of both our subordinates and our seniors . But along with the flexibility comes certain amount of maturity and discipline which is necessary in the army . There have been often sighs and " How I wish " with all the people we have interacted with when we talk about discipline. One person said " how I wish people had the same commitment and work ethic that you have in the services(as in uniform) . But having met lot of people I realise that the methods we employ in the services are as rigorously practiced in the civil as they are in the services. The bottom line in the services is that the loss of life should be minimized as much as possible and that in the civvy street is profits. Profits drive everything else. The motivation , the discipline the urge to work the attendance at office personal life and everything else are driven by profit.
Nothing else matters. It is therefore I suppose that the hierarchical ladder is so rigid in the corporate world.In any case a little bit of discipline did not kill anybody - of that I am very sure.
In addition to discipline being a by product of hierarchy it is very important that one exercises self discipline. Self discipline is more important than enforced discipline. We all exercise self discipline to some extent. when we prepared for exams we sacrificed other pastimes , when we ate food or got drunk we exercised self restraint - those who did not suffered the consequences and made a fool of themselves much to the misery of all those around them - whether it be parents , wives , children or friends. But we always tend to veer away from the straight and narrow and follow dark alleys in the hope of early gains. This is where hierarchy and discipline play an important part in our lives. It is for this purpose that for self progress we must be disciplined and if we cannot do it on our own then it is only logical that someone else will do it for us.And that is why we have a saying in the Services:-
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