Staceys Blog: Week 7

Hierarchy is best described as an arrangement of objects, people, elements, values, grades, orders or classes in a ranked or graduated series. The word is derived from the Greek word hierarchia, hieros meaning sacred and arkho meaning to lead or rule. Best examples of this are in governments, workplaces and even in religion. [1]

Hierarchy is most important in the world of architecture, as it is needed when individuals are working in a group. It helps establish a ladder of authority, with each person in the group assigned a particular job, and a responsibility on that job which must be completed within the group. The importance of hierarchy is that it enables all the people in the group to work effectively, and to help direct each one in there given task. It particularly helps when a person has a problem, as that problem can easily be solved by following the ladder up, to the correct person to address the problem.

Many problems can arise from incorrect hierarchy, especially in group work. The main problem is when there isn’t a clear understanding of the hierarchy established when each member of the group doesn’t fully understand the importance of each person’s role within the group, so the main flow of work isn’t undertaken by each person.

In collaboration, each party accepts responsibility for its own inputs as well as for the equitable sharing of returns on outputs. Collaborative relationships are voluntary. They facilitate knowledge creation. Corporations, however, are typically based on hierarchical, non-voluntary relationships. Corporations are built to exploit knowledge and to appropriate a financial profit from it. Consequently, collaboration is difficult to combine with corporate hierarchy. Nevertheless, there is a growing list of examples illustrating successful co-existence of collaboration and hierarchy. [2]

Below is a simple visual to represent what many of us may be currently experiencing in the workplace. Most companies leverage the traditional reporting hierarchy which has worked for generations. But in addition to this, we are increasingly seeing smaller teams breaking out into streamlined work groups. These teams may be composed of individuals from different “tiers” in the traditional hierarchy representing a variety of disciplines. Some managers have advocated for more smaller, faster, leaner teams. Others advocate for more formality, structure and rigor. Some companies blend both equally. [3]