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Chapter 6 – Organizational Structure and Design
6-113
Copyright ©2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
CHAPTER
6
ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE AND
DESIGN
LEARNING OUTCOMES
After reading this chapter students should be able to:
1. Describe 6 key elements in organizational design.
2. Identify the contingency factors that favor the mechanistic model or the organic model.
3. Compare and contrast traditional and contemporary organizational designs.
4. Discuss the design challenges faced by today’s organizations.
Management Myth
MYTH: Bureaucracies are inefficient.
TRUTH: Bureaucratic organizations are still alive and well and continue to dominate most
medium-sized and large organization.
SUMMARY
This chapter discusses the key concepts and their components and how managers create a
structured environment where employees can work efficiently and effectively. Once the
organization’s goals, plans, and strategies are in place, managers must develop a structure that
will best facilitate the attainment of those goals.

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I. WHAT ARE THE SIX KEY ELEMENTS IN ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN?
Learning Catalytics Question: Instructor Directions and Follow-Up
Question
Type
Question Answer/Response For the Instructor
Word
Cloud
What are the six
key elements in
organizational
design?
Options: work
specialization,
departmentalization,
authority,
responsibility and
power, span of
control,
centralization and
decentralization,
and formalization
Use this at the start of class to aid
students' recall of the six key elements of
organizational design.
A. Introduction
1. Organization design decisions are typically made by senior managers.
2. Organization design applies to any type of organization.
3. Formulated by management writers such as Henri Fayol and Max Weber in the
early 1900s.
4. These principles still provide valuable insights into designing effective and
efficient organizations.
B. What Is Work Specialization?
1. Work specialization is dividing work activities into separate jobs tasks.
a) Individuals specialize in doing part of an activity.
b) Work specialization makes efficient use of the diversity of skills that workers
hold.
2. Some tasks require highly developed skills; others lower skill levels.
3. Excessive work specialization or human diseconomies, can lead to boredom,
fatigue, stress, low productivity, poor quality, increased absenteeism, and high
turnover. (See Exhibit 6-1.)
4. Today's view is that specialization is an important organizing mechanism for
employee efficiency, but it is important to recognize the economies work
specialization can provide as well as its limitations.
C. What Is Departmentalization?
1. Departmentalization is when common work activities are grouped back together so
work gets done in a coordinated and integrated way.

6-115
2. There are five common forms of departmentalization (see Exhibit 6-2).
a) Functional Groups - employees based on work performed (e.g., engineering,
accounting, information systems, human resources)
b) Product Groups - employees based on major product areas in the corporation
(e.g., women’s footwear, men’s footwear, and apparel and accessories)
c) Customer Groups - employees based on customers’ problems and needs (e.g.,
wholesale, retail, government)
d) Geographic Groups - employees based on location served (e.g., North, South,
Midwest, East)
e) Process Groups - employees based on the basis of work or customer flow (e.g.,
testing, payment)
3. With today's focus on the customer, many companies are using cross-functional
teams, which are teams made up of individuals from various departments and that
cross traditional departmental lines.
D. What are Authority and Responsibility?
1. The chain of command is the continuous line of authority that extends from upper
organizational levels to the lowest and clarifies who reports to whom.
2. An employee who has to report to two or more bosses might have to cope with
conflicting demands or priorities.
3. Authority refers to the rights inherent in a managerial position, to give orders and
expect the orders to be obeyed.
4. Each management position has specific inherent rights that incumbents acquire
from the position’s rank or title.
a) Authority is related to one’s position and ignores personal characteristics.
5. When managers delegate authority, they must allocate commensurate
responsibility.
a) When employees are given rights, they assume a corresponding obligation to
perform and should be held accountable for that performance.
b) Allocating authority without responsibility creates opportunities for abuse.
c) No one should be held responsible for something over which he or she has no
authority.
6. What are the different types of authority relationships?
a) The early management writers distinguished between two forms of authority.
(1) Line authority entitles a manager to direct the work of an employee.
(a) It is the employer-employee authority relationship that extends from
top to bottom.

6-116
(b) See Exhibit 6-3.
(c) A line manager has the right to direct the work of employees and make
certain decisions without consulting anyone.
(d) Sometimes the term “line” is used to differentiate line managers from
staff managers.
(e) Line emphasizes managers whose organizational function contributes
directly to the achievement of organizational objectives (e.g.,
production and sales).
(2) Staff managers have staff authority (e.g., human resources and payroll).
(a) A manager’s function is classified as line or staff based on the
organization’s objectives.
(b) As organizations get larger and more complex, line managers find that
they do not have the time, expertise, or resources to get their jobs done
effectively.
(c) They create staff authority functions to support, assist, advice, and
generally reduce some of their informational burdens.
(d) Exhibit 6-4 illustrates line and staff authority.
7. What is Unity of Command?
a) The chain of command is the continuous line of authority that extends from
upper organizational levels to the lowest and clarifies who reports to whom.
b) An employee who has to report to two or more bosses might have to cope with
conflicting demands or priorities.
c) Therefore, the early management writers argued that an employee should have
only one superior (Unity of command).
d) If the chain of command had to be violated, early management writers always
explicitly designated that there be a clear separation of activities and a
supervisor responsible for each.
e) The unity of command concept was logical when organizations were
comparatively simple.
f) There are instances today when strict adherence to the unity of command
creates a degree of inflexibility that hinders an organization’s performance.
8. How does the contemporary view of authority and responsibility differ from the
historical view?
a) The early management writers assumed that the rights inherent in one’s formal
position in an organization were the sole source of influence.
b) This might have been true 30 or 60 years ago.
c) It is now recognized that you do not have to be a manager to have power, and
that power is not perfectly correlated with one’s level in the organization.

6-117
d) Authority is but one element in the larger concept of power.
9. How do authority and power differ?
a) Authority and power are frequently confused.
b) Authority is a right, the legitimacy of which is based on the authority figure’s
position in the organization.
(1) Authority goes with the job.
c) Power refers to an individual’s capacity to influence decisions.
(1) Authority is part of the larger concept of power.
(2) Exhibit 6-5 visually depicts the difference.
d) Power is a three-dimensional concept.
(1) It includes not only the functional and hierarchical dimensions but also
centrality.
(2) While authority is defined by one’s vertical position in the hierarchy, power is
made up of both one’s vertical position and one’s distance from the
organization’s power core, or center.
e) Think of the cone in Exhibit 6-5 as an organization.
(1) The closer you are to the power core, the more influence you have on
decisions.
(2) The existence of a power core is the only difference between A and B in
Exhibit 6-5.
f) The cone analogy explicitly acknowledges two facts:
(1) The higher one moves in an organization (an increase in authority), the closer
one moves to the power core.
(2) It is not necessary to have authority in order to wield power because one can
move horizontally inward toward the power core without moving up.
(a) Example, administrative assistants, “powerful” as gatekeepers with
little authority.
(3) Low-ranking employees with contacts in high places might be close to the
power core.
(4) So, too, are employees with scarce and important skills.
(a) The lowly production engineer with twenty years of experience might
be the only one in the firm who knows the inner workings of all the old
production machinery.
g) Power can come from different areas.
(1) John French and Bertram Raven have identified five sources, or bases, of
power.
(a) See Exhibit 6-6.

6-118
(b) Coercive power -based on fear; Reward power - based on the ability
to distribute something that others value; Legitimate power - based on
one’s position in the formal hierarchy; Expert power - based on one’s
expertise, special skill, or knowledge; Referent power -based on
identification with a person who has desirable resources.
E. What is Span of Control?
1. How many employees can a manager efficiently and effectively direct?
2. This question received a great deal of attention from early management writers.
3. There was no consensus on a specific number but early writers favored small spans
of less than six to maintain close control.
4. Level in the organization is a contingency variable.
a) Top managers need a smaller span than do middle managers, and middle
managers require a smaller span than do supervisors.
5. There is some change in theories about effective spans of control.
6. Many organizations are increasing their spans of control.
7. The span of control is increasingly being determined by contingency variables.
a) The more training and experience employees have, the less direct supervision
needed.
8. Other contingency variables should also be considered; similarity of employee
tasks, the task complexity, the physical proximity of employees, the degree of
standardization, the sophistication of the organization’s management information
system, the strength of the organization’s value system, the preferred managing
style of the manager, etc.
A Question of Ethics
A small percentage of companies are revealing to employees details about everything from
financials to staff performance reviews. Advocates of this approach say it is a good way to build
trust and allow employees to see how they are making contributions to the company. Critics say
open management can be expensive and time consuming. As work becomes more collaborative
the sharing of details may become inevitable.
Questions for students to consider:
• What ethical issues they see in the case?
• What are the implications for (a) managers and (b) employees?

6-119
F. How Do Centralization and Decentralization Differ?
1. Centralization is a function of how much decision-making authority is pushed
down to lower levels in the organization.
2. Centralization-decentralization is a degree phenomenon.
3. By that, we mean that no organization is completely centralized or completely
decentralized.
4. Early management writers felt that centralization in an organization depended on
the situation.
a) Their objective was the optimum and efficient use of employees.
b) Traditional organizations were structured in a pyramid, with power and
authority concentrated near the top of the organization.
c) Given this structure, historically, centralized decisions were the most
prominent.
5. Organizations today are more complex and are responding to dynamic changes.
a) Many managers believe that decisions need to be made by those closest to the
problem.
6. Today, managers often choose the amount of centralization or decentralization that
will allow them to best implement their decisions and achieve organizational goals.
7. One of the central themes of empowering employees was to delegate to them the
authority to make decisions on those things that affect their work.
a) That’s the issue of decentralization at work.
b) It doesn’t imply that senior management no longer makes decisions.
G. What is Formalization?
1. Formalization refers to how standardized an organization’s jobs are and the extent
to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures.
2. Early management writers expected organizations to be fairly formalized, as
formalization went hand-in-hand with bureaucratic-style organizations.
3. Today, organizations rely less on strict rules and standardization to guide and
regulate employee behavior.

6-120
II. WHAT CONTINGENCY VARIABLES AFFECT STRUCTURAL CHOICE?
Learning Catalytics Question: Instructor Directions and Follow-Up
Question
Type
Question Answer/Response For the Instructor
Region Families are
organizations that
function best when
roles and
responsibilities are
clearly defined.
Was your family
more mechanistic
or organic?
There is no correct
answer.
Use the structure of the college/university
to explain how organizations function.
A. Introduction
1. The most appropriate structure to use will depend on contingency factors.
2. The more popular contingency variables are strategy, size, technology, and
environment.
B. How Is a Mechanistic Organization Different from an Organic Organization?
1. Exhibit 6-7 describes two organizational forms.
2. The mechanistic organization (or bureaucracy) was the natural result of combining
the six elements of structure.
a) The chain-of-command principle ensured the existence of a formal hierarchy of
authority.
b) Keeping the span of control small created tall, impersonal structures.
(1) Top management increasingly imposed rules and regulations.
c) The high degree of work specialization created simple, routine, and
standardized jobs.
d) Departmentalization increased impersonality and the need for multiple layers
of management.
3. The organic form is a highly adaptive form that is a direct contrast to the
mechanistic one.
a) The organic organization’s loose structure allows it to change rapidly as needs
require.
(1) Employees tend to be professionals who are technically proficient and trained
to handle diverse problems.

6-121
(2) They need very few formal rules and little direct supervision.
b) The organic organization is low in centralization.
4. When each of these two models is appropriate depends on several contingency
variables.
C. How Does Strategy Affect Structure?
1. An organization’s structure should facilitate goal achievement.
a) Strategy and structure should be closely linked.
b) Certain structural designs work best with different organizational strategies.
2. Accordingly, organizational structure should follow strategy. If management
makes a significant change in strategy, it needs to modify its structure as well.
D. How Does Size Affect Structure?
1. There is historical evidence that an organization’s size significantly affects its
structure.
2. Large organizations—employing 2,000 or more employees—tend to have more
work specialization, horizontal and vertical differentiation, and rules and
regulations than do small organizations.
3. The relationship is not linear; the impact of size becomes less important as an
organization expands.
a) Example, once an organization has around 2,000 employees, it is already fairly
mechanistic—an additional 500 employees will not have much effect.
b) Adding 500 employees to an organization that has only 300 members is likely
to result in a shift toward a more mechanistic structure.
E. How Does Technology Affect Structure?
1. Every organization uses some form of technology to convert its inputs into outputs.
2. To attain its objectives, the organization uses equipment, materials, knowledge,
and experienced individuals and puts them together into certain types and patterns
of activities.
a) For example, your tablet or smartphone has a standardized assembly line.
b) For example, your resume is custom design and print.
c) For example, your bottle of Ibuprofen was manufactured using a continuous
flow production line by the pharmaceutical company.
From the Past to the Present
Joan Woodward (British scholar) found that distinct relationships exist between size of
production runs and the structure of the firm. The effectiveness of organizations was related to
“fit” between technology and structure. Most studies focused on the processes or methods that
transform inputs into outputs and how they differ by their degree of routine.
Three categories, representing three distinct technologies, had increasing levels of complexity

6-122
and sophistication. Unit production described the production of items in units or small batches.
Mass production described large batch manufacturing. The most technically complex group,
process production, included continuous-process production. The more routine the technology,
the more standardized and mechanistic the structure can be. Organizations with more non-routine
technology are more likely to have organic structures. See Exhibit 6-8.
Discuss This:
• Why is (a) mechanistic structure more appropriate for an organization with routine
technology and (b) organic structure more appropriate for an organization with
nonroutine technology?
• Does Woodward’s framework still apply to today’s organizations? Why or why not?
F. How Does Environment Affect Structure?
1. Mechanistic organizations are most effective in stable environments.
2. Organic organizations are best matched with dynamic and uncertain environments.
3. The environment-structure relationship is why so many managers have
restructured their organizations to be lean, fast, and flexible.
III. WHAT ARE SOME COMMON ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGNS?
A. The main designs are simple, functional and divisional.
1. See Exhibit 6-9.
B. What Is a Simple Structure?
1. Most organizations start as an entrepreneurial venture with a simple structure.
2. There is low departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority centralized in a
single person, and little formalization.
3. The simple structure is most widely used in smaller businesses.
4. The strengths of the simple structure are that it is fast, flexible, and inexpensive to
maintain, and accountability is clear.
5. Major weaknesses.
a) It is effective only in small organizations.
b) It becomes increasingly inadequate as an organization grows; its few policies
or rules to guide operations and its high centralization result in information
overload at the top.
c) As size increases, decision making becomes slower and can eventually stop.
d) It is risky since everything depends on one person.
C. What is the functional structure?
1. Many organizations do not remain simple structures because structural
contingency factors dictate it.

6-123
2. As the number of employees rises, informal work rules of the simple structure give
way to more formal rules.
3. Rules and regulations are implemented; departments are created, and levels of
management are added to coordinate the activities of departmental people.
4. At this point, a bureaucracy is formed.
5. Two of the most popular bureaucratic design options are called the functional and
divisional structures.
6. Why do companies implement functional structures?
a) The functional structure merely expands the functional orientation.
b) The strength of the functional structure lies in work specialization.
(1) Economies of scale, minimizes duplication of personnel and equipment,
makes employees comfortable and satisfied.
c) The weakness of the functional structure is that the organization frequently
loses sight of its best interests in the pursuit of functional goals.
D. What is the divisional structure?
1. An organization design made up of self-contained units or divisions.
2. Health care giant Johnson & Johnson, for example, has three divisions:
pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, and consumer products.
3. The chief advantage of the divisional structure is that it focuses on results.
a) Division managers have full responsibility for a product or service.
b) It also frees the headquarters from concern with day-to-day operating details.
4. The major disadvantage is duplication of activities and resources.
a) The duplication of functions increases the organization’s costs and reduces
efficiency.
E. What Contemporary Organizational Designs Can Managers Use?
1. See Exhibit 6-10 for the three contemporary organization designs.
a) Team structure is when the entire organization consists of work groups or
teams.
b) Team members have the authority to make decisions that affect them, because
there is no rigid chain of command.
c) Companies such as Amazon, Boeing, Hewlett-Packard, Louis Vuitton,
Motorola, and Xerox extensively use employee teams to improve productivity.
d) In these teams, Employees must be trained to work on teams, receive cross-
functional skills training, and be compensated accordingly.
2. The matrix structure assigns specialists from different functional departments to
work on projects led by a project manager.

6-124
a) Exhibit 6-11 illustrates the matrix structure of a firm.
b) The unique characteristic of the matrix is that employees in this structure have
at least two bosses, a dual chain of command: their functional departmental
manager and their product or project managers.
c) Project managers have authority over the functional members who are part of
that manager’s team.
d) Authority is shared between the two managers.
(1) Typically, the project manager is given authority over project employees
relative to the project’s goals.
(2) Decisions such as promotions, salary recommendations, and annual reviews
remain the functional manager’s responsibility.
e) To work effectively, project, and functional managers must communicate and
coordinate.
f) The primary strength of the matrix is that it can facilitate coordination of a
multiple set of complex and interdependent projects while still retaining the
economies that result from keeping functional specialists grouped together.
g) The major disadvantages of the matrix are in the confusion it creates and its
propensity to foster power struggles.
3. Project structure - is when employees continuously work on projects.
a) Tends to be more flexible
b) The major advantages of that are that employees can be deployed rapidly to
respond to environmental changes, no ridged hierarchical structure to slow
down decision-making, managers serve as facilitators, mentors, and coaches to
eliminate or minimize organizational obstacles.
c) The two major disadvantages of the project structure are the complexity of
assigning people to projects and the inevitable task and personality conflicts
that arise.
4. What is a boundaryless Organization?
a) A boundaryless organization, coined by former GE CEO, Jack Welch, is not
defined or limited by boundaries or categories imposed by traditional
structures.
b) It blurs the historical boundaries surrounding an organization by increasing its
interdependence with its environment.
c) There are two types of boundaries:
(1) Internal—the horizontal ones imposed by work specialization and
departmentalization and the vertical ones that separate employees into
organizational levels and hierarchies.
(2) External—the boundaries that separate the organization from its customers,
suppliers, and other stakeholders.

6-125
5. A virtual organization consists of a small core of full-time employees and outside
specialists temporarily hired as needed to work on projects.
6. A network organization - is one that uses its own employees to do some work
activities and networks of outside suppliers to provide other needed product
components or work processes. Also called a modular organization by
manufacturing firms.
Technology and the Manager’s Job - The Changing World of Work
It is almost cliché to say that technology has had a dramatic impact on how people work. Mobile
communication and technology has allowed organizations to stay connected. Hand-held devices,
cellular phones, webcams, etc. allow employees to work virtually. Information technology
continues to grow and become an integral part of the way business is conducted. However, one
challenges caused by some the high level of integrated technology is security. Software and other
disabling devices have helped in this arena and many companies are developing creative
applications for their workforce.
Discuss This:
• What benefits do you see with being able to do work anywhere, anytime? (Think in terms of
benefits for an organization and for its human resources.)
• What other issues, besides security, do you see with being able to do work anywhere,
anytime? (Again, think about thisfor an organization and for itsemployees.)
IV. WHAT ARE TODAY'S ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN CHALLENGES?
A. How Do You Keep Employees Connected?
1. Choosing a design that will best support and facilitate employees doing their work
efficiently and effectively, creates challenges.
2. A major structural design challenge for managers is finding a way to keep widely
dispersed and mobile employees connected to the organization.
B. How Do Global Differences Affect Organizational Structure?
1. Researchers have concluded that the structures and strategies of organizations
worldwide are similar, “while the behavior within them is maintaining its cultural
uniqueness.”
2. When designing or changing structure, managers may need to think about the
cultural implications of certain design elements, such as rules and bureaucratic
mechanisms.
C. How Do You Build a Learning Organization?
1. Building a learning organization is a mindset in which the learning organization
has developed the capacity to continuously adapt and change because all members
take an active role in identifying and resolving work-related issues.

6-126
2. Employees are practicing knowledge management.
a) Continually acquiring and sharing new knowledge.
b) Willing to apply that knowledge in making decisions or performing their work.
3. According to some organizational design theorists, an organization’s ability to
learn and to apply that learning may be the only sustainable source of competitive
advantage.
See Exhibit 6-12 for characteristics of a learning organization.
a) Members share information and collaborate on work activities throughout the
entire organization.
b) Minimize or eliminate existing structural and physical boundaries.
(1) Employees are free to work together and to collaborate.
(2) Teams tend to be an important feature of the structural design.
(3) Managers serve as facilitators, supporters, and advocates.
c) For a learning organization to "learn" information is shared openly, in a timely
manner, and as accurately as possible.
d) Leadership creates a shared vision for the organization’s future and keeps
organizational members working toward that vision.
(1) Leaders should support and encourage the collaborative environment.
e) A learning organization’s culture is one in which everyone agrees on a shared
vision and everyone recognizes the inherent interrelationships among the
organization’s processes, activities, functions, and external environment.
f) There is a strong sense of community, caring for each other, and trust.
(1) Employees feel free to openly communicate, share, experiment, and learn
without fear of criticism or punishment.
g) Organizational culture is an important aspect of being a learning organization.
A learning organization’s culture is one in which everyone agrees on a shared
vision and everyone recognizes the inherent interrelationships among the
organization’s processes, activities, functions, and external environment.
D. How Can Managers Design Efficient and Effective Flexible Work Arrangements?
1. As organizations adapt their structural designs to fit a diverse workforce, growing
competition, customer demands and new technology, we see more of them adopting
flexible working arrangements.
2. Such arrangements not only exploit the power of technology, but give organizations
the flexibility to deploy employees when and where needed.
3. Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which employees work at home and are
linked to the workplace by their computer.

6-127
a) Telecommuting provides the company a way to grow without having to incur
any additional fixed costs such as office buildings, equipment, or parking lots.
b) Some companies view the arrangement as a way to combat high gas prices and
to attract talented employees who want more freedom and control.
c) Some managers are reluctant to have their employees become “laptop hobos”
wasting time surfing the Internet or playing online games instead of working.
d) Employees often express concerns about being isolated.
e) Managing the telecommuters then becomes a matter of keeping employees
feeling like they’re connected and engaged, a topic we delve into at the end of
the chapter as we look at today’s organizational design challenges.
4.Compressed workweek, which is a workweek where employees work longer hours
per day but fewer days per week.
a) Flextime (also known as flexible work hours), which is a scheduling system in
which employees are required to work a specific number of hours a week but
are free to vary those hours within certain limits.
b) Job sharing—the practice of having two or more people split a full-time job.
5. Contingent Workers are temporary, freelance, or contract workers whose
employment is contingent upon demand for their services.
a) As organizations eliminate full-time jobs through downsizing and other means
of organizational restructuring, they often rely on a contingent workforce to fill
in as needed.
b) One of the main issues businesses face with their contingent workers,
especially those who are independent contractors or freelancers, is classifying
who actually qualifies as one.
REVIEW AND APPLICATIONS
CHAPTER SUMMARY
1 Describe six key elements in organizational design. The first element, work
specialization, refers to dividing work activities into separate job tasks. The
second, departmentalization, is how jobs are grouped together, which can be one
of five types: functional, product, customer, geographic, or process. The third—
authority, responsibility, and power—all have to do with getting work done in an
organization. Authority refers to the rights inherent in a managerial position to
give orders and expect those orders to be obeyed. Responsibility refers to the
obligation to perform when authority has been delegated. Power is the capacity of

6-128
an individual to influence decisions and is not the same as authority. The fourth,
span of control, refers to the number of employees a manager can efficiently and
effectively manage. The fifth, centralization and decentralization, deals with
where the majority of decisions are made—at upper organizational levels or
pushed down to lower-level managers. The sixth, formalization, describes how
standardized an organization’s jobs are and the extent to which employees’
behavior is guided by rules and procedures.
2 Identify the contingency factors that favor the mechanistic model or the
organic model. A mechanistic organizational design is quite bureaucratic
whereas an organic organizational design is more fluid and flexible. The strategy-
determines structure factor says that as organizational strategies move from single
product to product diversification, the structure will move from organic to
mechanistic. As an organization’s size increases, so does the need for a more
mechanistic structure. The more non-routine the technology, the more organic a
structure should be. Finally, stable environments are better matched with
mechanistic structures, but dynamic ones fit better with organic structures.
3 Compare and contrast traditional and contemporary organizational designs.
Traditional structural designs include simple, functional, and divisional. A simple
structure is one with low departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority
centralized in a single person, and little formalization. A functional structure is
one that groups similar or related occupational specialties together. A divisional
structure is one made up of separate business units or divisions. Contemporary
structural designs include team-based structures (the entire organization is made
up of work teams); matrix and project structures (where employees work on
projects for short periods of time or continuously); and boundaryless
organizations (where the structural design is free of imposed boundaries). A
boundaryless organization can either be a virtual or a network organization.
4 Discuss the design challenges faced by today’s organizations. One design
challenge lies in keeping employees connected, which can be accomplished
through using information technology. Another challenge is understanding the
global differences that affect organizational structure. Although structures and
strategies of organizations worldwide are similar, the behavior within them
differs, which can influence certain design elements. Another challenge is
designing a structure around the mind-set of being a learning organization.
Finally, managers are looking for organizational designs with efficient and
effective flexible work arrangements. They’re using options such as
telecommuting, compressed workweeks, flextime, job sharing, and contingent
workers.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
6-1 Describe what is meant by the term organizational design.
Answer: Once decisions regarding corporate strategies are made, an effective structure must
be implemented to facilitate the attainment of those goals. When managers develop or change
the organization’s structure, they are engaging in organization design. Organization design

6-129
decisions are typically made by senior managers. Organization design applies to any type of
organization.
6-2 Discuss the traditional and contemporary views of each of the six key elements of
organizational design.
Answer: Traditionally, work specialization was viewed as a way to divide work activities
into separate job tasks. Today’s view is that it is an important organizing mechanism but it
can lead to problems. The chain of command and its companion concepts—authority,
responsibility, and unity of command—were viewed as important ways of maintaining
control in organizations. The contemporary view is that they are less relevant in today’s
organizations. The traditional view of span of control was that managers should directly
supervise no more than five to six individuals. The contemporary view is that the span of
control depends on the skills and abilities of the manager and the employees and on the
characteristics of the situation.
6-3 Can an organization’s structure be changed quickly? Why or why not? Should it be
changed quickly? Why or why not?
Answer: No, it takes time and a lot of planning and communication. Cultures usually evolve
based initially on the founder's values. Whether or not it should be changed quickly is
dependent upon the competition, its efficiency and success and its financial viability. A
boundaryless organization provides the flexibility and fluid structure that facilitates quick
movements to capitalize on opportunities. An organic structure versus a bureaucracy could
adapt more quickly to changes.
6-4 “An organization can have no structure.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Explain.
Answer: A boundaryless or virtual organization is not without structure, structure is
minimized but not eliminated. There is always some degree of reporting relations, some type
of division of labor, some need for the management of processes, etc. Boundaryless
organizations are not merely flatter organizations. They attempt to eliminate vertical,
horizontal, and inter-organizational barriers.
6-5 Contrast mechanistic and organic organizations.
Answer: A mechanistic organization is a rigid and tightly controlled structure. An organic
organization is highly adaptive and flexible. See Exhibit 6-7 for additional differences.
6-6 Explain the contingency factors that affect organizational design.
Answer: An organization’s structure should support the strategy. If the strategy changes the
structure also should change. An organization’s size can affect its structure up to a certain
point. Once an organization reaches a certain size (usually around 2,000 employees), it’s
fairly mechanistic. An organization’s technology can affect its structure. An organic structure
is most effective with unit production and process production technology. A mechanistic
structure is most effective with mass production technology. The more uncertain an
organization’s environment, the more it needs the flexibility of an organic design.

6-130
6-7 With the availability of advanced information technology that allows an organization’s
work to be done anywhere at any time, is organizing still an important managerial
function? Why or why not?
Answer: Although an organization’s work may be done anywhere at any time, organizing
remains a vital managerial function because the work that must be accomplished still must be
divided, grouped, and coordinated. Regardless of where employees work, there are basic
managerial functions that must be served, such as scheduling of work, setting goals, and
maintaining employee morale.
6-8 Researchers are now saying that efforts to simplify work tasks actually have negative
results for both companies and their employees. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Answer: Student responses may vary based on their respective opinion. Simplifying tasks
may result in monotony and boredom, even turnover. The 21st century workforce is smarter,
more independent, better educated and more trustworthy employees, so they will demand
more challenging work. They will work with more individual authority and less direct
supervision.
6-9 The boundaryless organization has the potential to create a major shift in the way we
work. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain.
Answer: Students’ responses to this will vary with most students focusing on the topics of
flexibility at work. Some organizations that adopt a boundaryless design also implement
flextime and flexplace work arrangements for their employees. This question could serve as
an interesting springboard for a class debate. Students could break into teams, with each team
taking the opposite position in the debate. Give students an opportunity to discuss their
strategy as a team before presenting their viewpoints to the class.
6-10 Draw an organization chart of an organization with which you’re familiar (where
you work, a student organization to which you belong, your college or university, etc.).
Be very careful in showing the departments (or groups) and especially be careful to get
the chain of command correct. Be prepared to share your chart with the class.
Answer: Student answers will depend on the organization that they choose.
Management Skill Builder: Increasing Your Power
One of the more difficult aspects of power is acquiring it. For managers, the more power they
have the more effective they are at influencing others. What can one do to develop power? In this
section students will learn about their power orientation in relation to Machiavellianism.
Students will also practice skills based on French and Raven’s Five Bases of power.
Teaching Tips:
Personal Insights
When most people hear the name Machiavelli they automatically associate it with
something negative. The Machiavellianism personality inventory is much the same way.
High-Machs are described as likely to manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less,

6-131
and persuade others more than do low-Machs. But historians emphasize that several of
Machiavelli’s ideas on leadership have been taken out of context, such as “it is better to
be feared, than loved.” When discussing this assessment with students ask if some of
these traits are necessary for management. Take for example, question 8, “There is no
excuse for lying to someone else.” Discuss with students if it is acceptable for managers
to not disclose the entire truth in certain situations.
Skill Basics
This section reviews seven sources of power.
• Coercive
• Reward
• Authority
• Information
• Expert
• Reward
• Charismatic
Skill Application
Margaret, like most employees, engaged in impression management to strengthen her
position and power base in the organization. By volunteering to undertake the project, she
is putting herself out in front of other employees in the hopes that this will give her added
leverage in the future. According to the case, Margaret has also increased her expert
power by becoming knowledgeable and taking addition training in areas important to the
organization. Is there anything she should have done differently? Most students will point
out that blaming the delay on someone else was not ethical (if it didn’t happen).
However, this is a common tactic in impression management so that employees will not
lose face. Be prepared for students to complain that there isn’t enough information
regarding how she built a power base to evaluate her skill. Brainstorm with students what
things she should do, specifically in this type of business, to build a power base.
Skill Practice
6-20 What can you do to improve your Mach score? Create a specific one-year plan to
implement a program that will lead to an improved score.
6-21 Identify someone—a boss, coworker, friend, parent, sibling, significant other—
with whom you would like to increase your power. Determine what tactic(s) might work,
then cautiously practice your tactic(s).
Experiential Exercise
Ontario Electronics Ltd.
To: Claude Fortier, Special Assistant to the President
From: Ian Campbell, President
Subject: Learning Organizations
It is important for organizations to be responsive to customer and marketplace needs. One of the

6-132
approaches discussed is becoming a learning organization. Recent information convinced him
that his company’s future may well depend on how well we’re able to “learn.”
Ian would like you to find some current information on learning organizations.
Teaching Tip: There are two good books that I would suggest for student:
1. Senge, P.M. 1990. The Fifth Discipline. London: Century Business
2. Argyris, C. 1999. On Organizational Learning. 2nd Ed. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing
Students should also be encouraged to use their library’s on-line database to search
articles for the learning organization. Students may find summaries of Senge’s ideas on
some internet sites of companies that specialize in organizational development
Case Application 1: A New Kind of Structure
Discussion Questions
6-22 Describe and evaluate what Pfizer is doing with its PfizerWorks.
Pfizer has outsourced menial tasks to another company allowing employees to focus on
the most important parts of their job. According to the case this seems to be working
great and Pfizer employees are pleased with the outcomes.
6-23 What structural implications – good and bad – does this approach have? (Think
in terms of the six organizational design elements.)
Work specialization – the case clearly shows how the outsourcing of menial tasks is
allowing employees to focus more on the specific jobs they were hired to do that they
have expertise in rather than spending time on less important tasks.
Departmentalization – Does not really apply here.
Authority and responsibility – Authority does not seem to be altered in this case but the
responsibilities or each employee may be different now since they can shift some of the
work-load to the outsourcing firm.
Span of control – this may different because manager may be able to widen their span of
control with since they may have more time to focus on the support/management aspects
of their jobs as opposed to spending that time competing reports, etc.
Centralization/decentralization – the case seems to demonstrate some decentralization
where individual employees make decisions about what work they want to outsource or
not.
Formalization – The case describes evidence of low formalization because employees can
chose what work to outsource so they have more control of how and when work gets
done.
6-24 Do you think this arrangement would work for other types of organizations? Why
or why not? What types of organizations might it also work for?

Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content

yet, Venice had not triumphed over those unspeakable dogs of
Genoese, though the day of glory was much nearer than even the
Venetians dared to hope. But so far Carlo Zeno had been preserved
from sudden death in spite of his manifest tendency to break his neck
for any whim; for the rest, Omobono had more than once been the
means of saving poor people from starvation, though at some risk of
it to himself, poor man; and as for his curiosity, he had at least kept it
so far in bounds as never to read his master's letters until his master
had opened them himself, which was something for Omobono to be
grateful for. On the whole, he judged that his small prayer was not
unacceptable, and he used it every day.
He knelt a moment after he had finished it, partly because he was a
little ashamed of its being very short though he never could think of
anything to add to it, and he did not wish people to think that he was
irreverent and gabbled over a prayer merely as a form; for he was
very sensitive about such things, being a shy man. And partly he
remained on his knees a little longer because the gilded grating was
very handsome in the light of the setting sun, and reminded him of
the grating in Saint Mark's, and that naturally made him think of
heaven. But presently he rose and went out.
The sacristan was still standing by the same pillar.
'Kyrios Rustan is not in the church,' said Omobono, stopping again.
Once more the sacristan seemed to be about to purse his lips into a
circle, and to put on an air of blank stupidity, and the clerk saw that
the time had come to use the password.
'I must see him,' he said, dropping his voice, but speaking very
distinctly. 'I beg you to direct me by four toes and five toes, so that I
may find him.'
The sacristan's face and manner changed at once. His small eyes
were suddenly full of intelligence, his mouth expanded in a friendly
smile, and his snub nose seemed to draw itself to a point like the
muzzle of a hound on a scent.

'Why did you not say that at once?' he asked. 'Rustan left the church
a quarter of an hour before you came, but he is not far away. Do you
see the entrance to the lane down there?'
He pointed towards the place.
'Yes,' said Omobono, 'by the corner.'
'Yes. Go into that lane. Take the first turn to the left, and then the
second to the right again. Before you have gone far you will find
Rustan walking up and down.'
'Walking up and down?' repeated Omobono, surprised that the
Bokharian should select for his afternoon stroll such a place as one
might expect to find in the direction indicated.
'Yes.' The sacristan grinned and winked at the Venetian clerk in a
knowing way. 'He is a devout man. When he has said his prayers he
walks up and down in that little lane.'
The man laughed audibly, but immediately looked behind him to see
whether any one coming from within the church had heard him, for
he considered himself a clerical character. Omobono thanked him
politely.
'It is nothing,' answered the sacristan. 'A mere direction—what is it? If
I had asked you for your purse and cloak by four toes and five toes, I
am quite sure that you would have given me both.'
'Of course,' replied Omobono nervously, seeing that the reply was
evidently expected of him. 'Of course I would. And so, good-day, my
friend.'
'And good-day to you, friend,' returned the sacristan.
The clerk went away, devoutly hoping that no unknown person would
suddenly accost him and demand of him his cloak in the name of four
toes and five toes, and he wondered what in the world he should do if
such a thing happened to him. He was quite sure that he should be
unable to hide the fact that he knew the magic formula, for he had

never been very good at deception; and if the words could procure
such instant obedience from such a disagreeable person as the
sacristan had at first seemed to be, some dreadful penalty was
probably the portion of those who disobeyed the mandate.
Thus reflecting, and by no means easy in his mind, the clerk crossed
the square and entered the lane. He had supposed that it led to a
continuation of the Bokharian quarter, but he at once saw his mistake.
Even now a man may live for years in Constantinople and yet be far
from knowing every corner of it, and Omobono found himself in a
part of the city which he had never seen. It was in ruins, and yet it
was inhabited. Few of the houses had doors, hardly any window had
a shutter, and as he passed, he saw that in many lower rooms the
light fell from above, through a fallen floor and a broken roof above it.
Yet in every ruined dwelling, and almost at every door, there was
some one, and all were frightful to see; all were in rags that hardly
clung together, and some could scarcely cover themselves modestly;
one was blind, another had no arms or no legs, another was
devoured by hideous disease—many were mere bundles of bones in
scanty rags, and stretched out filthy skeleton hands for alms as the
decently dressed clerk came near. Omobono stood still for a moment
when he realised that he was in the beggars' quarter, where more
than half the dying paupers of the great city took refuge amidst
houses ruined and burnt long ago when the Crusaders had sacked
Constantinople, and never more than half repaired since then.
The clerk stood still, for the sight of so much misery hurt him, and it
hurt him still more to think that he had but very few small coins in his
wallet. The poor creatures should have them all, one by one, but
there would be few indeed for so many.

He was talking with an old beggar woman.
And then, as he took out a little piece of bronze money, he heard
sounds like nothing he had heard before; like many hundred sighs of
suffering all breathed out together; and again, like many dying
persons praying in low, exhausted voices; and again, like a gentle,
hopeless wail; and through it all there was a pitiful tremor of
weakness and pain that went to the clerk's heart. He could do very
little, and he was obliged to go on, for his errand was pressing, and
the people were as wretched at one door as they would be at the
next, so that it was better not to give all his coins at once. He
dropped one here, one there, into the wasted hands, and went on

quickly, scarcely daring to glance at the faces that appeared at the
low doors and ruined windows. Yet here and there he looked in,
almost against his will, and he saw sights that sent a cold chill down
his back, sights I have seen, too, but need not tell of. And so he went
on, turning as the sacristan had instructed him, till he saw a tall, thin
man in a brown cloth gown edged with cheap fox's fur, and having a
tight fur cap on his head. He was talking with an old beggar woman,
and his back was turned so that Omobono could only see that he had
a long black beard, but he recognised Rustan, the Bokharian dealer.
The house before which the two were standing seemed a trifle better
than the rest in the street; there were crazy shutters to the large
lower windows, which were open, however; there was a door which
was ajar, and an attempt had been made to scrape the mud from the
threshold. For the street was damp and muddy after the spring rains,
but not otherwise very dirty. There was no garbage, not so much as a
cabbage-stalk or a bleaching bone; for bones can be ground to dust
between stones and eaten with water, and a cabbage-stalk is half a
dinner to a starving man.
In spite of the prayer he had recently offered up against his besetting
fault of curiosity, Omobono could not help treading very lightly as he
came up behind the Bokharian, and as the mud was in a pasty state,
neither hard nor slimy, his heavy boots made hardly any more noise in
treading on it than a beggar's bare feet. In this way he advanced till
he could see through an open window of the house, and he stood still
and looked in, but he made as if he were politely waiting for Rustan
to turn round. Either the old beggar woman was blind, or she thought
fit not to call the Bokharian's attention to the fact that a well-dressed
stranger was standing within a few feet of him. The two talked
volubly in low tones and in the Bokharian language, which Omobono
did not understand at all, and when he was quite sure that he could
not follow the conversation he occupied his curiosity in watching what
was going on inside the house. The window was low, having
apparently once served as a shop in which the shopkeeper had sat, in
Eastern fashion, half inside and half out, to wait upon his customers.
During half a minute, which elapsed before Rustan turned round, the
clerk saw a good deal.

In the first place his eyes fell on the upturned face of a woman who
was certainly in the extremity of dangerous illness, and was probably
dying. She had been beautiful once and she had beauty still, that was
not only the soft shadow of coming death. The wasted body was
covered with nameless rags, but the pillow was white and clean; the
refined face was the colour of pure wax, and the dark hair, grey at the
temples, had been carefully combed out and smoothed back from the
forehead. The woman's eyes were closed, and deeply shadowed by
suffering, but her delicate nostrils quivered now and then as she drew
breath, and her pale lips moved a little as though trying to speak.
There were young children round the wretched bed, silent, thin, and
wondering, as children are when the great mystery is very near them
and they feel it. In their miserable tatters one could hardly have told
whether the younger ones were boys or girls, but one was much older
than the rest, and Omobono's eyes fixed themselves upon her, and he
held his breath, lest the Bokharian should hear him and turn, and hide
the vision and break the spell.
The girl was standing on the other side of the sick woman, bending
down a very little, and watching her features with a look of infinite
care and sorrow. One exquisite white hand touched the poor
coverings of the bed, rather than rested on them, as if it longed to be
of some use, and to relieve the woman's suffering ever so little. But
the clerk did not look at the delicate fingers, for his eyes were riveted
on the young girl's face. It was thin and white, but its lines were
beautiful beyond comparison with all that he had ever seen, even in
Venice, the city of beautiful women.
I think that true beauty is beyond description; you may describe the
changeless, faultless outlines of a statue to a man who has seen good
statues and can recall them; you can perhaps find words to describe
the glow, and warmth, and deep texture of a famous picture, and
what you write will mean something to those who know the master's
work; you may even conjure up an image before untutored eyes. But
neither minute description nor well-turned phrase, neither sensuous

adjective nor spiritual simile can tell half the truth of a beautiful living
thing.
And the fairest living woman is twice beautiful when gladness or love
or anger or sorrow rises in her eyes, for then her soul is in her face.
As Omobono looked through the window and watched the beggar girl
leaning over her dying mother, he hardly saw the perfect line of the
cheek, the dark and sweeping lashes or the deep brown eyes—the
firm and rounded chin, the very tender mouth, the high-bred nostrils
or the rich brown hair. He could not clearly recall any of those things a
few minutes later; he only knew that he had seen for once something
he had heard of all his life. It was not till he dreamt of her face that
night—dreaming, poor man, that she was his guardian angel come to
reprove him for his curiosity—that the details all came back, and most
of all that brave and tender little mouth of hers, so delicately womanly
and yet so strong, and that unspeakable turn of the cheek between
the eye and the ear, and that poise of the small head on the slender
neck—the details came back then. But in the first moment he only
saw the whole and felt that it was perfect; then, for an instant, the
eyes looked at him across the dying woman; and in a moment more
the Bokharian turned, caught sight of him and came quickly forward,
and the spell was broken.
Rustan Karaboghazji held out both hands to Omobono, as if he were
greeting his dearest friend, and he spoke in fluent Italian. He was a
young man still, not much past thirty, with dark, straight features,
stony grey eyes, and a magnificent black beard.
'What happy chance brings you here?' he cried, immediately drawing
the Venetian in the direction whence the latter had come. 'Fortunate
indeed is Friday, the day of Venus, since it brings me into the path of
my honoured Ser Omobono!'
'Indeed, it is no accident, Kyrios Rustan——' began Omobono.
'A double fortune, then, since a friend needs me,' continued the
Bokharian, without the slightest hesitation. 'But do not call me Kyrios,
Ser Omobono! First, I am not Greek, and then, my honoured friend, I

am no Kyrios, but only a poor exile from my country, struggling to
keep body and soul together among strangers.'
While he talked he had drawn Omobono's arm through his own and
was leading him away from the house with considerable haste. The
Venetian looked back, and saw that the old woman had disappeared.
'I have a message from my master,' he said, 'but before we go on, I
should like to——' he hesitated, and stopped in spite of Rustan.
'What should you like to do?' asked the latter, with sudden sharpness.
Omobono's hand felt for the last of the small coins in his wallet.
'I wish to give a trifle to the poor people in that house,' he said,
summoning his courage. 'I saw a sick woman—she seemed to be
dying——'
But Rustan grasped his wrist and held it firmly, as if to make him put
the money back, but he smiled gently at the same time.
'No, no, my friend,' he answered. 'I would not have spoken of it, but
you force me to tell you that I have been before you there! I take
some interest in those poor people, and I have just given enough to
keep them for a week, when I shall come again. It is not wise to give
too much. The other beggars would rob them if they guessed that
there was anything to take. Come, come! The sun is setting, and it is
not well to be in this quarter so late.'
Omobono remembered how the sacristan had winked and laughed,
when he had spoken of Rustan's walks in the dismal lane, and the
Venetian now proceeded to draw from what he had seen and heard a
multitude of very logical inferences. That Rustan was an utter
scoundrel he had never doubted since he had known him, and that
his domestic life was perhaps not to his taste, Omobono guessed
since he had seen the red-haired negress who was his wife. Nothing
could be more natural than that the Bokharian, having discovered the
beautiful, half-starved creature whom Omobono had first seen

through the window, should plot to get her into his power for his own
ends.
Having reached this conclusion, the mild little clerk suddenly felt the
blood of a hero beating in his veins and longed to take Karaboghazji
by the throat and shake him till he was senseless, never doubting but
that the cause of justice would miraculously give him the strength
needed for the enterprise. He submitted to be hurried away, indeed,
because the moment was evidently not propitious for a feat of knight-
errantry; but as he walked he struck his cornel stick viciously into the
pasty mud and shut his mouth tight under his well-trimmed grey
beard.
'And now,' said Rustan, drawing something like a breath of relief as
they emerged into the open space before the church, 'pray tell me
what urgent business brings you so far to find me, and tell me, too,
how you came to know where I was.'
Here Omobono suddenly realised that in his deductions he had made
some great mistake; for if Rustan had been in the beggars' quarter
for such a purpose as the Venetian suspected, how was it possible
that he should have left any sort of directions with his wife and the
sacristan for finding him, in case he should be wanted on some
urgent business? Omobono, always charitable, at once concluded that
he had been led away into judging the man unjustly.
'Messer Carlo Zeno, the Venetian merchant, is very anxious to see you
this very evening,' he said. 'From his manner, I suspect that the
business will not bear any delay and that it may be profitable to you.'
Rustan smiled, bent his head and walked quickly, but said nothing for
several moments.
'Does Messer Zeno need money?' he asked presently. 'If so, let us
stop at my house and I will see what little sum I can dispose of.'
Mild as Omobono was, an angry, contemptuous answer rose to his
lips, but he checked it in time.

'My master never borrows,' he answered, with immense dignity. 'I can
only tell you that so far as I know he wishes to see you in regard to
some commission with which a friend in Venice has charged him.'
Rustan smiled more pleasantly than ever, and walked still faster.
'We will go directly to Messer Zeno's house, then,' he said. 'This is a
most fortunate day for buying and selling, and perhaps I have
precisely what he wants. We shall see, we shall see!'
Omobono's thin little legs had hard work to keep up with the
Bokharian's untiring stride, and though Rustan made a remark now
and then, the clerk could hardly answer him for lack of breath. The
sun had set and it was almost dark when they reached Zeno's house,
and the secretary knocked at the door of his master's private room.

CHAPTER III
When it was quite dark the old woman came back with something
hidden under her tattered shawl, and Zoë drew the rotten shutters
that barely hung by the hinges and fastened them inside with bits of
rain-bleached cord that were knotted through holes in the wood. She
also shut the door and put up a wooden bar across it. While she was
doing this she could hear Anastasia, the crazy paralytic who lived
farther down the lane, singing a sort of mad litany of hunger to
herself in the dark. It was the thin nasal voice of a starving lunatic,
rising sharply and then dying away in a tuneless wail:—
Holy Mother, send us a little food, for we are hungry!
Kyrie eleeison! Eleeison!
Blessed Michael Archangel, gives us meat, for we starve! Eleeison!
O blessed Charalambos, for the love of Heaven, a kid roasted on the
coals and good bread with it! Eleeison, eleeison! We are hungry!
Holy Sergius and Bacchus, Martyrs, have mercy upon us and send us a
savoury meal of pottage! Eleeison! Pottage with oil and pepper!
Eleeison, eleeison!
Holy Peter and Paul and Zacharius, send your angels with fish, and with
meat, and with sweet cooked herbs! Eleeison, let us eat and be filled,
and sleep! Eleeison! Spread us your heavenly tables, and let us drink of
the good water from the heavenly spring!
Oh, we are hungry! We are starving! Eleeison! Eleeison! Eleeison!
The miserable, crazy voice rose to a piercing scream, that made Zoë
shudder; and then there came a little low, faint wailing, as the mad
woman collapsed in her chair, dreaming perhaps that her prayer was
about to be answered.

Zoë had shut the door, and there was now a little light in the ruined
room; for Nectaria, the old beggar woman, had been crouching in a
corner over an earthen pan in which a few live coals were buried
under ashes, and she had blown upon them till they glowed and had
kindled a splinter of dry wood to a flame, and with this she had lit the
small wick of an earthen lamp which held mingled oil and sheep's fat.
But she placed the light on the stone floor so shaded that not a single
ray could fall towards the door or the cracked shutters, lest some late
returning beggar should see a glimmer from outside and guess that
there was something to get by breaking in and stealing; for they were
only three women, one dying, one very old, and the third Zoë herself,
and two young children, and some of the beggars were strong men
who had only lost one eye, or perhaps one hand, which had been
chopped off for stealing.
When the light was burning Zoë could see that the sick woman was
awake, and she poured out some milk from a small jug which
Nectaria had brought, and warmed it over the coals in a cracked cup,
and held it to the tired lips, propping up the pillow with her other
hand. And the sick one drank, and tried to smile.
Meanwhile Nectaria spread out the rest of the supplies she had
brought on a clean board; there was a small black loaf and three little
fishes fried in oil, such as could be bought where food is cooked at
the corners of the streets for the very poor. The two children gazed at
this delicious meal with hungry eyes. They were boys, not more than
seven and eight years old, and their rags were tied to them, to cover
them, with all sorts of bits of string and strips of torn linen. But they
were quite quiet, and did not try to take their share till Zoë came to
the board and broke the black loaf into four equal portions with her
white fingers. There was a piece for each of the boys, and a piece for
Nectaria, and the girl kept a piece for herself; but she would not take
a fish, as there were only three.
'This is all I could buy for the money,' said Nectaria. 'The milk is very
dear now.'

'Why do you give it to me?' asked the sick woman, in a sweet and
faint voice. 'You are only feeding the dead, and the living need the
food.'
'Mother!' cried Zoë reproachfully, 'if you love us, do not talk of leaving
us! The Bokharian has promised to bring a physician to see you, and
to give us money for what you need. He will come in the morning,
early in the morning, and you shall be cured, and live! Is it not as I
say, Nectaria?'
The old woman nodded her head in answer as she munched her black
bread, but would say nothing, and would not look up. There was
silence for a while.
'And what have you promised the Bokharian?' asked the mother at
last, fixing her sad eyes on Zoë's face. 'Did ever one of his people give
one of us anything without return?'
'I have promised nothing,' Zoë answered, meeting her mother's gaze
quietly. Yet there was a shade of effort in her tone.
'Nothing yet,' said the sick woman. 'I understand. But it will come—it
will come too soon!'
She turned away her face on the pillow and the last words were
hardly audible. The little boys did not hear them, and would not have
understood; but old Nectaria heard and made signs to Zoë. The signs
meant that by and by, when the sick woman should be dozing,
Nectaria had something to tell; and Zoë nodded.
There was silence again till all had finished eating and had drunk in
turn from the earthen jar of water. Then they sat still and silent for a
little while, and though the windows and the door were shut they
could hear the mad woman singing again:—
Eleeison! Spread heavenly tables! Eleeison! We are starving! Eleeison!
Eleeison! Eleeison!
The sick woman breathed softly and regularly. The little boys grew
sleepy and nodded, and huddled against each other as they sat. Then

old Nectaria took the light and led them, half asleep, to a sort of bunk
of boards and dry straw, in a small inner room, and put them to bed,
covering them as well as she could; and they were soon asleep. She
came back, shading the light carefully with her hand; and presently,
when the sick woman seemed to be sleeping also, Nectaria and Zoë
crept softly to the other end of the room and talked in whispers.
'She is better to-night,' said the girl.
Nectaria shook her head doubtfully.
'How can any one get well here, without medicine, without food,
without fire?' she asked. 'Yes—she is better—a little. It will only take
her longer to die.'
'She shall not die,' said Zoë. 'The Bokharian has promised money and
help.'
'For nothing? he will give nothing,' Nectaria answered sadly. 'He
talked long with me this afternoon, out in the street. I implored him
to give us a little help now, till the danger is passed, because if you
leave her she will die.'
'Did you try to make him believe that if he would help us now you
would betray me to him in a few days?'
'Yes, but he laughed at me—softly and wisely as Bokharians laugh. He
asked me if one should feed wolves with flesh before baiting the pit-
fall that is to catch them. He says plainly that until you can make up
your mind, we shall have only the three pennies he gives us every
day, and if your mother dies, so much the worse; and if the children
die, so much the worse; and if I die, so much the worse; for he says
you are the strongest of us and will outlive us all.'
'It is true!' Zoë clasped her hands against the wall and pressed her
forehead against them, closing her eyes. 'It is true,' she repeated, in
the same whisper, 'I am so strong!'
Old Nectaria stood beside her and laid one wrinkled cheek to the cold
wall, so that her face was near Zoë's, and they could still talk.

'If I refuse,' said the girl, quivering a little in her distress, 'I shall see
you all die before my eyes, one by one!'
'Yet, if you leave your mother now——' the old woman began.
'She has lived through much more than losing me,' answered Zoë. 'My
father's long imprisonment, his awful death!' she shuddered now,
from head to foot.
Nectaria laid a withered hand sympathetically on her trembling
shoulder, but Zoë mastered herself after a moment's silence and
turned her face to her companion.
'You must make her think that I shall come back,' she whispered.
'There is no other way—unless I give my soul, too. That would kill her
indeed—she could not live through that!'
'And to think that my old bones are worth nothing!' sighed the poor
old woman; she took the rags of Zoë's tattered sleeve and pressed
them to her lips.
But Zoë bent down, for she was the taller by a head, and she tenderly
kissed the wrinkled face.
'Hush!' she whispered softly. 'You will wake her if you cry. I must do
it, Ria, to save you all from death, since I can. If I wait longer, I shall
grow thinner, and though I am so strong I may fall ill. Then I shall be
worth nothing to the Bokharian.'
'But it is slavery, child! Do you not understand that it is slavery? That
he will take you and sell you in the market, as he would sell an Arab
mare, to the highest bidder?'

She tenderly kissed the wrinkled face.
Zoë leaned sideways against the wall, and the faint light that shone
upwards from the earthen lamp on the floor, fell upon her lovely
upturned face, and on the outlines of her graceful body, ill-concealed
by her thin rags.
'Is it true that I am still beautiful?' she asked after a pause.
'Yes,' answered the old woman, looking at her, 'it is true. You were
not a pretty child, you were sallow, and your nose——'
Zoë interrupted her.

'Do you think that many girls as beautiful as I are offered in the slave
market?'
'Not in my time,' answered the old woman. 'When I was in the market
I never saw one that could compare with you.'
She had been sold herself, when she was thirteen.
'Of course,' she added, 'the handsome ones were kept apart from us
and were better fed before they were sold, but we waited on them—
we whom no one would buy except to make us work—and so we saw
them every day.'
'He says he will give a hundred Venetian ducats for me, does he not?'
'Yes; and you are worth three hundred anywhere,' answered the old
slave, and the tears came to her eyes, though she tried to squeeze
them back with her crooked fingers.
The sick woman called to the two in a weak voice. Zoë was at her
side instantly, and Nectaria shuffled as fast as she could to the pan of
coals and crouched down to blow upon the embers in order to warm
some milk.
'I am cold,' complained the sufferer, 'so cold!'
Zoë found one of her hands and began to chafe it gently between her
own.
'It is like ice,' she said.
The girl was ill-clothed enough, as it was, and the early spring night
was chilly; but she slipped off her ragged outer garment, the long-
skirted coat of the Greeks, and spread it over the other wretched
coverings of the bed, tucking it in round her mother's neck.
'But you, child?' protested the sick woman feebly.
'I am too hot, mother,' answered Zoë, whose teeth were chattering.

Nectaria brought the warm milk, and Zoë lifted the pillow as she had
done before, and held the cup to the eager lips till the liquid was all
gone.
'It is of no use,' sighed her mother. 'I shall die. I shall not live till
morning.'
She had been a very great lady of Constantinople, the Kyría Agatha,
wife of the Protosparthos Michael Rhangabé, whom the Emperor
Andronicus had put to death with frightful tortures more than a year
ago, because he had been faithful to the Emperor Johannes. Until her
husband had been imprisoned, she had spent her life in a marble
palace by the Golden Horn, or in a beautiful villa on the Bosphorus.
She had lived delicately and had loved her existence, and even after
all her husband's goods had been confiscated as well as all her own,
she had lived in plenty for many months with her children, borrowing
here and there of her friends and relatives. But they had forsaken her
at last; not but that some of them were generous and would have
supported her for years, if it had been only a matter of money, but it
had become a question of life and death after Rhangabé had been
executed, and none of them would risk being blinded, or maimed, or
perhaps strangled for the sake of helping her. Then she had fallen into
abject poverty; her slaves had all been taken from her with the rest of
the property and sold again in the market, but old Nectaria had
hidden herself and so had escaped; and she, who knew the city, had
brought Kyría Agatha and her three children to the beggars' quarter
as a last refuge, when no one would take them in. The old slave had
toiled for them, and begged for them, and would have stolen for them
if she had not been profoundly convinced that stealing was not only a
crime punishable at the very least by the loss of the right hand, but
that it was also a much greater sin because it proved that the thief
did not believe in the goodness of Providence. For Providence, said
Nectaria, was always right, and so long as men did right, men and
Providence must necessarily agree; in other words, all would end well,
either on earth or in heaven. But to steal, or kill by treachery, or
otherwise to injure one's neighbour for one's own advantage, was to
interfere with the ways of Providence, and people who did such things

would in the end find themselves in a place diametrically opposite to
that heaven in which Providence resided. Of its kind, Nectaria's
reasoning was sound, and whether truly philosophical or not, it was
undeniably moral.
Zoë was not Kyría Agatha's own daughter. No children had been born
to the Protosparthos and his wife for several years after their
marriage, and at last, in despair, they had adopted a little baby girl,
the child of a young Venetian couple who had both died of the cholera
that periodically visited Constantinople. Kyría Agatha and Rhangabé
brought her up as their own daughter, and again years passed by;
then, at last, two boys were born to them within eighteen months.
Michael Rhangabé's affection for the adopted girl never suffered the
slightest change. Kyría Agatha loved her own children better, as any
mother would, and as any children would have a right to expect when
they were old enough to reason. She had not been unkind to Zoë, still
less had she conceived a dislike for her; but she had grown indifferent
to her and had looked forward with pleasure to the time when the girl
should marry and leave the house. Then the great catastrophe had
come, and loss of fortune, and at last beggary and actual starvation;
and though Zoë's devotion had grown deeper and more unselfish with
every trial, the elder woman's anxiety now, in her last dire extremity,
was for her boys first, then for herself, and for Zoë last of all.
The girl knew the truth about her birth, for Rhangabé himself had not
thought it right that she should be deceived, but she had not the least
recollection of her own parents; the Protosparthos and his wife had
been her real father and mother and had been kind, and it was her
nature to be grateful and devoted. She saw that the Kyría loved the
boys best, but she was already too womanly not to feel that human
nature must have its way where the ties of flesh and blood are
concerned; and besides, if her adoptive mother had been cruel and
cold, instead of only indifferent where she had once been loving, the
girl would still have given her life for her, for dead Rhangabé's sake.
While he had lived, she had almost worshipped him; in his last
agonies he had sent a message to his wife and children, and to her,
which by some happy miracle had been delivered; and now that he

was dead she was ready to die for those who had been his; more
than that, she was willing to be sold into slavery for them.
She stood by the bedside only half covered, and she tried to think of
something more that she might do, while she gazed on the pale face
that was turned up to hers.
'Are you warmer, now?' she asked tenderly.
'Yes—a little. Thank you, child.'
Kyría Agatha closed her eyes again, but Zoë still watched her. The
conviction grew in the girl that the real danger was over, and that the
delicately nurtured woman only needed care and warmth and food.
That was all, but that was the unattainable, since there was nothing
left that could be sold; nothing but Zoë's rare and lovely self. A
hundred golden ducats were a fortune. In old Nectaria's hands such a
sum would buy real comfort for more than a year, and in that time no
one could tell what might happen. A turn of fortune might bring the
Emperor John back to the throne. He had been a weak ruler, but
neither cruel nor ungrateful, and surely he would provide for the
widow of the Commander of his Guards who had perished in torment
for being faithful to him. Then Zoë's freedom might be bought again,
and she would go into a convent and live a good life to the end, in
expiation of such evil as might be thrust upon her as a bought slave.
This she could do, and this she must do, for there was no other way
to save Agatha's life, and the lives of the little boys.
'A little more milk,' said the sick woman, opening her eyes again.
Nectaria crouched over the embers, and warmed what was left of the
milk. Zoë, watching her movements, saw that it was the last; but
Kyría Agatha was surely better, and would ask for more during the
night, and there would be none to give her; none, perhaps, until
nearly noon to-morrow.
Nectaria took the pan of coals away to replenish it, going out to the
back of the ruined house in order to light the charcoal in the open air.

The sick woman closed her eyes again, being momentarily satisfied
and warm.
Zoë sank upon her knees beside the bed, forgetting that she was cold
and half-starved, as the tide of her thoughts rose in a wave of
despair.
The fitful night breeze wafted the words of the mad woman's
crooning along the lane, 'Eleeison! Eleeison!'
And Zoë unconsciously answered, as she would have answered in
church, 'Kyrie eleeison!'
'Blessed Michael, Archangel, give us meat, we starve!' came the wild
song, now high and distinct.
'Kyrie eleeison!' answered Zoë on her knees.
Then she sprang to her feet like a startled animal. Some one had
knocked at the door. With one hand she gathered her thin rags across
her bosom, the other unconsciously went to the sick woman's
shoulder, as if at once to reassure her and to bid her be silent.
Again the knocking came, discreet still, but a little louder than before.
Nectaria was still away and busy with the pan of coals, and the sick
woman heard nothing, for she was sound asleep at last. Zoë saw this,
and drew her bare feet out of her patched slippers before she ran
lightly to the door.
'Who knocks?' she asked in a very low tone, clasping her tattered
garment to her body.
The Bokharian's smooth voice answered her in oily accents.
'I am Rustan,' he said. 'I am suddenly obliged to go on a journey, and
I start at dawn.'
Zoë held her breath, for she felt that the last chance of saving her
mother was slipping away.
'Do you hear me?' asked Rustan, outside.

'Yes.'
'Will you make up your mind? I will give half as much again as I
promised.'
The girl's face had been pale; it turned white now, for the great
moment had come very suddenly. She made an effort to swallow, in
order to speak distinctly, and she glanced towards the bed. Kyría
Agatha was in a deep sleep.
'Have your brought the money with you?' Zoë asked, almost panting.
'Yes.'
The hand that grasped the rags to keep them together pressed
desperately against her heart. While Rustan could have counted ten,
there was silence. Twice again she looked towards the bed and then,
with infinite precaution, she slipped out the wooden bar that kept the
door closed. Once more she drew her rags over her, for they had
fallen back when she used both her hands. She opened the door a
little, and saw Rustan muffled in a cloak, his eager face and black
beard thrust forward in anticipation of entering. But she stopped him,
and held out one hand.
'My mother has fallen into a deep sleep,' she said. 'Give me the
money and I will go with you.'
Without hesitation Rustan placed in her outstretched hand a small
bag made of coarse sail-cloth, and closely tied with hemp twine.
'How much is it?' she whispered.
'One hundred and fifty gold ducats,' answered the Bokharian under
his breath, for he knew that if he did not wake the sleeping woman
there would be less trouble.
At that moment Nectaria came back from within, with the pan of
coals. Zoë caught her eye and held out the heavy little bag. The
woman stared, looked at Kyría Agatha's sleeping face, set down the
pan upon the floor, and came forward.

'He has brought the money, a hundred and fifty ducats,' Zoë
whispered, forcing the bag into Nectaria's trembling hands. 'It is the
only way. Good-bye—quick—shut the door before she wakes—tell her
I am asleep in the straw—God bless you——'
'Eleeison! Eleeison!' came the wail of the mad woman on the wind.
Before Nectaria could answer Zoë had pulled the door till it shut
behind her, and was outside, barefooted on the hardening mud, and
scarcely covered. She said nothing now, and Rustan was silent too,
but he had taken one of her wrists and held it firmly without hurting
it. The fleet young creature might make a dash for freedom yet,
foolish as that would be, since he could easily force his way into the
ruined house and take back his money if she escaped him. But he had
nearly lost a young slave once before, and he would risk nothing, so
he kept his strong hand tightly clasped round the slender wrist,
though Zoë walked beside him quietly in the deep gloom, thinking
only of covering herself from his gaze, though indeed he could
scarcely see the outline of her figure.
They went on quickly. For the last time, as Rustan led her round a
sharp turn, she heard the wild cry of the poor mad creature she had
listened to so often by day and in the dead of night. Then she was in
another street and could hear it no more.
She was not allowed time to think of her condition yet. A few steps
farther and Rustan stopped short, still holding her fast by the wrist,
and she saw that they had come upon a group of men who were
waiting for them. One suddenly held up a lantern which had been
covered, and now shed a yellow light through thin leaves of horn, and
Zoë saw that he was a big Ethiopian, as black as ebony. She drew her
tatters still more closely over her with her free hand and turned away
from the light, as well as Rustan's unrelaxing hold would allow.
A moment later some one she could not see threw a wide warm cloak
over her shoulders from behind her, and she caught it gladly and drew
the folds to her breast.

'Get into the litter,' said Rustan, sharply but not loudly.
There was nothing soft or oily in his tone now. He had bought her
and she was a part of his property. Four men had lifted a covered
palanquin and held it up with the small open door just in front of her.
She turned, sat upon the edge, and bent her head to slip into the
conveyance backwards, as Eastern women learn to do very easily.
Rustan held her wrist till she was ready to draw in her feet, and as he
let her go at last she disappeared within. He instantly closed the
sliding panel and fastened it with a bronze pin. There were half-a-
dozen round holes in each door to let in air, not quite big enough to
allow the passage of an ordinary woman's hand.
Zoë sank back in the close darkness and found herself leaning against
yielding pillows covered with soft leather. The palanquin began to
move steadily forwards, hardly swaying from side to side, and not
rising or falling at all, as the porters walked on with a smooth,
shuffling gait, each timing his step a fraction of a second later than
that of the man next before him; lest, by all keeping step together,
they should set their burden swinging, which is intolerable to the
person carried.
Four men carried the litter, a fifth, armed with an iron-shod staff, went
before with the lantern, and Rustan followed after. There was nothing
in the appearance of the party to excite surprise or curiosity in a city
where every well-to-do person who went out in the evening was
carried in a palanquin, and accompanied by at least two trusty
servants. For that matter, too, Rustan's business was perfectly
legitimate, and it concerned no one that he should have a newly
bought beauty carried in a closed litter from a distant quarter of the
city to his home.
It was true that he had no receipt for his money, acknowledging that
it was the stipulated price paid for a full-grown white maid between
eighteen and nineteen years old, with brown eyes, brown hair,
twenty-eight teeth, all sound, and a pale complexion; who weighed
about two Attic talents and five minæ, and measured just six palms,
standing on her bare feet. In strict law, he should have had such a

document, signed by the father or mother or owner of the slave, but
he knew that he was quite safe without it. Like all Bokharians, he was
a profound judge of human nature, and he was quite sure that having
once submitted to her fate Zoë would not cheat him by claiming the
freedom she had sacrificed; moreover, he knew that the adopted
daughter of Michael Rhangabé who had died on the stake in the
Hippodrome as an enemy of the reigning Emperor, would have but a
small chance of obtaining justice, even if she attempted to prove that
she had been carried off by force. Rustan Karaboghazji felt that his
position was unassailable as he followed the litter that carried his
latest bargain through the winding streets of Constantinople towards
the narrow lane, one side of which was formed by that mysterious
wall which had but one door in it.
He was well pleased with his day's business, for he was quite sure
that he had netted a handsome profit. Under his cloak he held a
string of beads in one hand, and as he walked he made the
calculation of his probable gains, pushing the beads along the string
with his thumb. He had paid one hundred and fifty gold ducats for
Zoë; but fifty of them were at least a quarter of their value under
weight, so that the actual value of the gold was one hundred and
thirty-seven and a half ducats. He was quite sure that Zeno would
approve the purchase on a careful inspection, and that he would be
willing to give three hundred and fifty sequins, though the girl was a
little over age, as slaves' ages were counted. She should have been
between sixteen and seventeen, yet she was exceptionally pretty, and
spoke three languages—Greek, Latin, and Italian. If Zeno paid the
price, the clear profit would be two hundred and twelve and a half
ducats. The beads worked quickly in Rustan's fingers, and his hard
grey eyes gleamed in the dark. Two hundred and twelve and a half on
one hundred and thirty-seven and a half, by the new Venetian method
of so much in the hundred, which was a very convenient way of
reckoning profits, meant one hundred and fifty-four and a half per
centum. The beads worked furiously, as the merchant's imagination
carried him off into a mercantile paradise where he could make a
hundred and fifty per cent on his capital every day of the year except
Sundays and high feast days. This calculation was complicated, even

for a Bokharian brain, but it was a delightful one to follow out, and
Rustan's blood coursed pleasantly through his veins as he walked
behind his purchase.
He had lost no time after he had left the beggars' quarter late in the
afternoon, by no means sure that Zoë meant to surrender at all, and
very doubtful as to her doing so within the next three days. Yet he
had boldly promised that Carlo Zeno should see her on approval on
the following morning. After all, he risked nothing but a first failure,
for if he did not succeed in buying Zoë in time he could nevertheless
show the Venetian merchant some very pretty wares. Zeno was not a
man to waste words with such a creature as a slave-dealer, and the
interview had not lasted ten minutes. It had taken longer than that to
weigh the ducats in order to be sure that a certain number of them
were under weight. The only thing Rustan now wished was that he
had put many more light ones into the bag, since it had not even
been opened; for he had naturally expected to be obliged to count
them out before old Nectaria, who had a born slave's intelligence
about money.
Inside the litter the girl lay on her cushions in the dark, wondering
with a sort of horror at what she had done. She had thought of it
indeed, through many days and sleepless nights, and she did not
regret it; she would not have gone back, now that she had left plenty
and comfort where there had been nothing but ruin and hunger; but
she thought of what was before her and prayed that she might close
her eyes and die before the morning came, or better still, before the
litter stopped and Rustan drew back the sliding door.
In an age and a land of slavery, the slave's fate was familiar to her.
She knew that there were public markets and private markets, and
that her beauty, which meant her value, would save her from the
former; but to the daughter of freeborn parents the difference
between the one and the other was not so great as to be a
consolation. She would be well lodged, well covered, and well fed, it
was true, and she need not fear cruel treatment; but customers
would come, perhaps to-morrow, and she was to be shown to them

like a valuable horse; they would judge her points and discuss her
and the sum that Rustan would ask; and if they thought the price too
high they would go away and others would come, and others, till a
bargain was struck at last. After that, she could only think of death as
the end. She knew that many handsome girls were secretly sold to
Sultan Amurad and the Turkish chiefs over in Asia Minor or in
Adrianople, and it was more than likely that she herself would fare no
better, for the conquerors were lavish with their gold, whereas the
Greeks were either half-ruined nobles or sordid merchants who
counted every penny.
The men carried the litter smoothly and steadily, never slackening and
never hastening their pace. The time seemed endless. Now and then
she heard voices and many steps, with the clatter of horses' hoofs,
which told her that she was in one of the more frequented streets,
but most of the time she heard scarcely anything but the shuffling
walk of the men in their heavy sandals and the firmer tread of
Rustan's well-shod feet where the road was hard. She guessed that
he was avoiding the great thoroughfares, probably because the
people who thronged them even at that hour would have hindered
the progress of the palanquin. Zoë knew as well as the dealer that
there was nothing as yet in the transaction which need be hidden;
possibly, if she were afterwards sold to the Turks, she would be taken
across the Bosphorus secretly, for though there was no law against
selling Christian girls to unbelievers the people of the city looked upon
the traffic with something like horror, and an angry crowd might
rescue the merchandise from the dealer's hands. Zoë did not expect
that rare good fortune, for Rustan was not a man to run any risks in
his business.
As she lay among her cushions, dreading the end of the journey, but
gradually wearying of the future, her thoughts went back to the first
cause of all her misfortunes, of Michael Rhangabé's awful death, of all
the suffering that had followed them. One man alone had wrought
that evil and much more, one man, the reigning Emperor Andronicus.
Zoë was not revengeful, not cruel, very far from bloodthirsty; but
when she thought of him she felt that she would kill him if she could,

and that it would only be justice. Suddenly a ray of something like
hope flashed through her darkness. Nectaria had told her how
beautiful she was; perhaps, being so much more valuable than most
of the slaves that went to the market, she might be destined for the
Emperor himself. It was just possible. She set her teeth and clenched
her little hands in the dark. If that should be her fate, the usurper's
days were numbered. She would free her country from its tyrant and
be revenged for Rhangabé's murder and for all the rest at one quick
stroke, though she might be condemned to die within the hour. That
was indeed something to hope for.
The litter stopped and she heard keys thrust into locks, and felt that
the porters turned short to the left to enter a door. Her journey
through the city was at an end.

CHAPTER IV
Rustan stayed behind to shut the outer door, and Zoë felt that she
was carried as much as twenty paces forward and upwards before the
bearers stood still at last. Then the sliding panel opened, letting in
light, and a strange voice told her to get out. She turned inside the
palanquin and thrust out her naked feet. As she put them down,
expecting to touch bare earth or a stone pavement, they rested on a
rough carpet; at the same instant she sat on the edge of the litter
bending her head to get out of it and looking round curiously.
Rustan was not there, and in his place she saw a huge young negress
with flaming red hair and rolling eyes, who roughly ordered the
porters to take away the palanquin and at the same time caught Zoë's
wrist, whether to help her to stand upright or to secure her person it
was hard to say. The girl was much more fearless than Omobono, the
Venetian secretary, and she was not frightened by the gigantic
woman's appearance, as he had been. In getting out she had
managed to gather the cloak round her, so that the men should not
see her in her rags; for there was light in the large room where she
found herself, and now that she could look about her she saw a dozen
or more girls and young women standing in small groups a few paces
behind the negress. They surveyed the new arrival curiously, but with
different expressions. Some seemed to pity her, others smiled as if to
welcome her; one good-looking girl had noticed that she had no
shoes, and her lip curled contemptuously at such a proof of abject
poverty, for she herself was the daughter of a prosperous Caucasian
horse-thief who had brought her up in plenty and ease in order that
she might fetch a high price. The bearers had now left the room and
there were no men present. Zoë vaguely wished that they would
come back, even the black bearers of the litter, for she felt a very

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Fundamentals of Management Essential Concepts and Applications 14th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual

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