Hierarchy can represent and relate to a variety of elements within society. A basic definition of hierarchy is ‘an arrangement of objects, people, elements, values, orders, classes, etc,’ portrayed in ‘a ranked or graduated series’. It represents a ‘relationship based on degrees or levels of superordination and subordination, where the superordinate term represents a class or whole and subordinate terms refer to its members or parts’. A typical example of a simplistic hierarchical system is given below:
Originally the word “hierarchy” meant “rule by priests”. This was because ‘hierarchical churches such as the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches had tables of organization that were "hierarchical" in the modern sense of the word’, later this term ‘came to refer to more general organisational methods.’
It can be seen that as this term became more generalised it has been used to analyse many aspects and areas of the world and society. Some of these areas include Mathematics, Computer Science, Administration, Spiritual, Science, Social, Organisations / Companies, Industries etc. Some examples of HIERARCHY within these areas are listed below:
HIERARCHY as seen in Mathematics: a partially ordered set that displays a ‘collection of parts with ordered asymmetric relationships inside a whole.’ For example the ‘upper levels are above lower levels, and the relationship upwards is asymmetric with the relationships downwards.’
HIERARCHY as seen in Computer Science: an ‘object-orientated’ way of ‘programming the mapped relationships of sub- and superclasses. For example directories containing files and sub-directories which contain further files and sub-directories. An example is given below:
HIERARCHY as seen in Science: in biology, ‘organisms are commonly described as an assembly of parts (organs) which are themselves assemblies of yet smaller parts, and so on.’ Also in ‘linguistics, words or sentences are often broken down into hierarchies of parts and wholes.’ For example certain species are classified as groups which are broken down into sub-group.
HIERARCHY as seen in Organisations: many human organisations such as ‘businesses, churches, armies and political movements are structured hierarchically, at least officially; commonly superiors, called bosses, have more power than their subordinates.
HIERARCHY as seen in Society: the hierarchy of gender, as talked about by Feminists, where ‘a culture sees males or masculine traits as superior to females or feminine traits. In the terms above, these feminists present us a hierarchy of only two nodes, "masculine" and "feminine", connected by the asymmetrical relationship "is valued more highly by society".’ When Feminists talk about hierarchy of gender they usually hope to ‘evoke negative connotations.’ An example of this usage:
“The hierarchical nature of the dualism - the systematic devaluation of females and whatever is metaphorically understood as "feminine" - is what I identify as sexism. (Nelson 1992, p. 106)”
Another common example of hierarchy within society can be seen through Genealogy, where Family trees are created to trace ancestry and a family’s lineage. An example is given below:
HIERARCHY as seen in the Wikipedia community: this community is not known for being ‘overtly hierarchically structured, as no contributor possesses inherently higher standing than another, excepting certain limited "admin" and "developer" powers which restricted to a few. However, some would counter that although there is no explicit hierarchy there are social norms which make contributions unequal, as some contributors have more influence because their edits command higher respect.”
PLANNING SUMMARY:
Planning can represent and relate to a variety of elements in society. A basic definition of planning is an ‘act of formulating a program for a definite course of action’ which often results in the formulation of ‘a series of steps to be carried out or goals to be accomplished’. It can be said that planning is ‘one of the most important project management and time management techniques’ which enables the creation and preparation of ‘a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal.’ If planning is organised and carried out efficiently and effectively then ‘you can reduce much of the necessary time and effort of achieving the goal.’
It can be said that a plan is ‘like a map’, as through the process of planning and following that plan ‘you can always see how much you have progressed towards your project goal and how far you are from your destination.’ This is critical as ‘knowing where you are is essential for making good decisions on where to go or what to do next.’
There are many reasons why planning is needed and a good example of this is the ‘80/20 Rule’. It can be seen ‘that for unstructured activities 80 percent of the effort give less than 20 percent of the valuable outcome’. Thus you either spend too ‘much time on deciding what to do next, or you are taking many unnecessary, unfocused, and inefficient steps’.Planning is ‘also crucial for meeting your needs during each action step with your time, money, or other resources. With careful planning you often can see if at some point you are likely to face a problem. It is much easier to adjust your plan to avoid or smoothen a coming crisis, rather than to deal with the crisis when it comes unexpected’. Thus it can be seen that planning is an effective form of time management.
Planning is used throughout various segments of society as it ‘is not an isolated activity; rather, it involves all segments of the community.’ Some examples of PLANNING within these segments are listed below:
PLANNING as a profession: ‘also called urban planning or city and regional planning, is a dynamic profession that works to improve the welfare of people and their communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient, and attractive places for present and future generations.’ It also enables ‘civic leaders, businesses, and citizens to play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people's lives.’ Planners ‘plan the scientific, aesthetic and orderly disposition of land, resources, facilities and services. This is accomplished with a view to securing the physical, economic and social efficiency, health and well being of urban and rural communities of the environment. Planners may focus on transportation, recreation, heritage, health care planning, environmental research and assessment, parks planning, economic development, municipal planning and regional planning.’ An example is give below:
Good planning helps create communities that offer better choices for where and how people live. Planning helps community members envision the direction their community grow and will help them find the right balance of new development and essential services, protection of the environment, and innovative change.’
PLANNING as a system: this is needed as a means of creating controlled ‘development in your area’. It can be seen that planning ‘is about how we plan for, and make decisions about, the future of our cities, towns and countryside. Over the centuries, a formal way of making these decisions was set up.’ Within each community ‘your local planning authority is responsible for deciding whether a development - anything from an extension on a house to a new shopping centre - should go ahead.’ Planning ‘is basically about the development and use of land. It is the resolution of the many, and often conflicting pressures on land and resources.’ An example is given below:
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