Command hierarchy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:23, 26 June 2025

Latest revision as of 14:02, 29 August 2025

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* [[rank]] – especially [[military rank]] – "who outranks whom" in the [[power structure]]

* [[unity of command]] – each member of the hierarchy has one and only one superior, precluding the possibility of contradictory orders

* strict [[accountability]] – those who issue orders are responsible for the consequences, not those who carry them out (with the exception of illegal orders, as previously noted)

* strict [[feedback]] rules – complaints go up the hierarchy to those with power to deal with them, not down to those who do not have that power

* detailed rules for [[decision making]] – what criteria apply and when

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Companies and non-military organizations often have command lead by [[Business executive|executives]] and [[upper management]], with lesser authority delegated to employees in the lower ranks.<ref name=":0" />

== Problems ==

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People of compatible views often have similar [[systemic bias]]es because they are from the same culture. Such problems as [[groupthink]] or willingness to accept one standard of evidence internal to the group, but require drastically higher evidence from outside, are common.

In part to address these problems, much modern [[management science]] has focused on reducing reliance on command hierarchy especially for [[information flow]], since the cost of communications is now low, and the cost of management mistakes is higher. It is also easier to replace [[Management|managers]], so they have a personal interest in more distributed responsibility and perhaps more [[consensus decision making]].

Ubiquitous command and control posits for military organizations, a generalisation from hierarchies to networks that allows for the use of hierarchies when they are appropriate, and non-hierarchical networks when they are inappropriate. This includes the notion of ''mission agreement'', to support "edge in" as well as "top-down" flow of intent.

==See also==