BNET Business Dictionary
Business Definition for: Organization Hierarchy
- the vertical layers of ranks of personnel within an organization, each layer subordinate to the one above it. Organization hierarchy is often shown in the form of an organization chart. An extended hierarchy is typical of a bureaucracy, but during the later 20th and early 21st centuries the layers of hierarchical positions within large organizations have often been reduced as part of downsizing exercises. These result in the shallow or nonexistent hierarchies of flexible, flat organizations, within which there is greater employee empowerment and autonomy.
Additional Resources
- Organization Design
- This paper explains organization structure based on optimal coordination of interactions among activities. The main idea is that each manager is capable of detecting and coordinating interactions only within his limited area of expertise. The optimal design of the organization trades off the costs and benefits of various configurations of...
- White papers 2000-02-22
- Enabling the Informal Organization
- With today’s widespread accessibility of information and wall-to-wall communication, the idea of leveraging informal organizations has become much more popular in the board room, as well as such realms as political campaigning and independent music distribution.Grassroots and word-of-mouth efforts on social networking sites like myspace have allowed both politicians and...
- Blog posts 2007-08-20
- Chemical Organization Theory As A Theoretical Base For Chemical Computing
- In chemical computing, the result of a computation appears as an emergent global behavior based on local reaction rules. For programming chemical systems a theoretical method to cope with that emergent behavior is desired. This paper demonstrates how the chemical organization theory can help in designing and understanding chemical computing...
- White papers 2005-11-14
- Maslow's Need Hierarchy
- Employee motivation is the psychological feature that arouses an employee to behave in a certain manner for accomplishing certain organizational goals. The organization constantly looks at ways and means to enhance motivation level of the employees. The sources of employee motivation include setting up of challenging goals and an effective...
- Presentations 2003-01-01
- The Emergence of Hierarchy in Transportation Networks
- A transportation network is a complex system that exhibits the properties of self-organization and emergence. Previous research in dynamics related to transportation networks focuses on traffic assignment or traffic management. This research concentrates on the dynamics of the orientation of major roads in a network and abstractly models these dynamics...
- White papers 2003-03-26
- New Faces in Al Qaeda Hierarchy
- The language picked up on the Spanish phone taps was cryptic and frightening. A mysterious figure, code-named Shakur, was talking to the alleged leader of Osama bin Laden's clandestine organization in Madrid. The date was August 27, 15 days before suicide hijackers attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon....
- Research articles 2001-11-19
- How ambiguity results in excellence: The role of hierarchy and reputation in U.S. Army Special Forces
- This article explores how group reputations get made and unmade within the strictures of an elite military organization. For instance, within teams there are both formal and informal pecking orders. Above teams there exist layers of command and control. "Need to know" and information flows are critical to the construction...
- Research articles 1998-04-01
- Motivating Others during Difficult Times
- There are times in all organizations when the external environment conspires against success. Wider economic and political factors may have undermined the business model; or competitors may have beaten the organization to the market with a new product. The internal environment may also cause difficulties. The hierarchical structure may be...
- Articles 2007-11-09
- Selecting the Best First Job for You
- Your first job sets the tone for the rest of your career. Choosing the right first job takes careful research and planning, and there can be pitfalls along the way. If you aim low, your career path may be limited as a result. If you choose the wrong company, it...
- Articles 2007-04-20
- Understanding Matrix Management
- Matrix management is a system based on multiple employee reporting structures. It emphasizes both "vertical" organizational hierarchy and "horizontal" relationships. In other words, any employee within a matrix organization reports upwards to superiors and, based on geographic requirements, may also report sideways to peers. It came about as organizations recognized...
- Articles 2007-04-23
- Donald Sull: Manage by Commitments, Not Hierarchies
- Donald Sull of the London Business School knows what makes your organization tick. He is an authority on the kind of changes companies need to make in order to respond more quickly to changing markets, global trends and even crises. It seems like quite a few...
- Blog posts 2009-03-04
- Preparing for the Future
- Succession planning is preparation for the future—understanding what the future demands of the market will be and preparing the people in your organization to meet them. Many organizations find it challenging enough to meet present demands, but, in terms of people development and organic growth, such planning is critical to...
- Articles 2007-10-24
- Weighing Your Career-Break Options
- If you're thinking of taking a break from your job or career, you'd be well advised to do some advance planning. As with most things in life, you will get the most out of this endeavor if you give it careful consideration. While some career breaks are dictated by circumstance—such...
- Articles 2007-04-20
- Winning Your Next Promotion
- After Jack Welch retired as the legendary C.E.O. of General Electric, he wrote a book on Winning.Now, one would think he was sharing advice in that book for the benefit of other chief executives; but he states up front that he is more interested in how to make “winners” out...
- Articles 2007-02-15
- When Teams Can't Decide
- When cross-functional teams have trouble making decisions, leaders blame psychological factors like mistrust or poor communication. But the problem isn't the team's people; it's the decision-making process. Each member has constituencies in the organization. So each...
- Articles 2008-12-10
- More on Hamel: Five Models for Business Innovation
- In the first two parts of his "Future of Management," Gary Hamel has been a witty, engaging visionary, beguiling and impressing managers into thinking they must change (indeed, I find myself randomly rethinking my own approaches to problematic issues here at Fitzgerald Enterprises). In part three, the...
- Blog posts 2007-11-29
- Office Design: How to Build a Better Office
- A well-designed office is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to retain workers and make them more productive. Size Up Your Current Space Goal: Understand how well — or...
- Articles 2008-02-29
- Managing Multicultural Teams
- If your company does business internationally, you're probably leading teams with members from diverse cultural backgrounds. Those differences can present serious obstacles. For example, some members' lack of fluency in the team's dominant language can lead...
- Articles 2008-02-15
- Delegate & Move Up
- Delegation is an integral part of every employee's work. Delegation is independent of the size of the organization, and an employee requires either upward or downward delegation, based on his/her position in the organizational hierarchy. Delegating downwards is more commonplace and it stems from the employee's position in the hierarchy....
- White papers 2009-01-01
- 5 Essential Concepts For E-Commerce SEO
- Perhaps the biggest challenge for an e-commerce SEO is that all e-commerce sites are conceptually identical. Virtually any site consists of products organized into categories, a shopping cart, and a checkout page. Accordingly, search marketing success for e-commerce sites is predicated less on innovation than possessing an expert understanding of...
- News items 2009-12-17
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