Barnard, C. I. (1946). Functions and pathology of status systems in formal organizations. In W. F. Whyte (Ed.), Industry and society (pp. 46-83). New York, NY, US: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/13267-004
The following is a report of a preliminary inquiry into the nature and functions of systems of status in formal organizations. So far as I am aware, this subject has not been given extensive consideration by students of organization. This neglect appears not to be due to failure to recognize the importance of problems of status in organizations but rather to failure to recognize that status is systematic and that systems of status have a considerable degree of independence of other structural aspects of organization. Status systems are very closely related, for example, to systems of specialization, to systems of organization communication, and to systems of authority, so that differences of status have appeared to be incidental to these other structural aspects of organization and not to constitute a separate system. This view appears to be inadequate. Formal organizations are not independent societies but are rather limited forms of social behavior growing out of the more general societies of which they are part. This observation is especially pertinent to systems of status, particularly as respects their function of providing incentives, which largely depends upon the general conception of status obtaining in society as a whole. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)