Abstract
The battle over administrative reform is a battle between contending perspectives of who should populate and manage public organizations, or put differently, between definitions of the ideal civil servant. This article reflects upon the hierarchical civil servant ideal-type by exploring its model of man, homo hierarchicus. The article describes homo hierarchicus, examines how he understands, explains, and judges the world, then explicates his preferred governance arrangements for society and his preferred organizational and managerial arrangements for public organizations. In so doing, the article identifies the salient attributes of the hierarchical civil servant ideal-type and its place in the public sector, thereby confronting the fundamental question of whether the hierarchical civil servant ideal-type is a role model worthy of renewal.