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* r • • • 
,1 ' . 
These seemingly incongruous phenomena have certain 
elements in common. Organisation is a problem of in 
formation. It is necessary to have channels of in 
formation so as to coordinate the activities of the 
employees. But since everybody's capacity for com 
munication is limited, it is advisable to limit the 
number of channels. As H. Simon //^/7/ has argued, the 
hierarchical system, in which every executive is re 
sponsible to one person in the next higher level, 
and supervises or controls a certain number of people 
(called the "span of control") on the next lower level, 
serves to keep the number of channels down to manage 
able levels. In so far as the span of control is inelastic, 
this implies, however, that with the growth of an organ 
ization (the growth of its base, that is) the number of 
levels will increase; The pyramid will become higher, 
and higher grades of managers will emerge. 
The hierarchy of managers has a parallel in certain 
hierarchies of skills. There is a hierarchy of teachers. 
Those in the university teach the teachers of medium 
schools and those again teachers in elementary schools. 
A similar teacher-pupil relation, of a more durable 
character, however, exists between the foreman and his 
workers, between an engineer, and his technicians, 
between the chief surgeon and his assistants in a hospi 
tal department, between a flight captain and his crew.