Something I find interesting about the French Revolution is how slowly the commoners came to seriously consider alternatives to the default system of rule, despite sustained loss-of-credibility by the elites. This seems to fit with your /institutional memory/ model.
> But it is not clear whether going further
> and entirely removing it is going to be better.
There is room to distinguish strategic leadership and middle-management. Strategic leadership sets coherent direction for an institution, and continues to be relevant. Middle management is a vestige of the industrial era, where manpower and scale were interchangeable concepts.
The orchestras show that there is an alternative to middle-management. We don't really have a word for this, but we could call it Elders.
A key difference between Elders and Middle Managers is the role of skills. Elders must be at least competent at domain-relevant skills to be relevant, and their respect grows with skill mastery. Whereas, in a MM culture, having skills excludes you from influence. You are either a career manager (entirely without domain skills), or you convert. In the process of conversion, you will have social pressure applied not to get your hands dirty.
The orchestras show that there is an alternative to middle-management. We don't really have a word for this, but we could call it Elders.
A key difference between Elders and Middle Managers is the role of skills. Elders must be at least competent at domain-relevant skills to be relevant, and their respect grows with skill mastery. Whereas, in a MM culture, having skills excludes you from influence. You are either a career manager (entirely without domain skills), or you convert. In the process of conversion, you will have social pressure applied not to get your hands dirty.