hierarchical structures
Tiered organizational arrangements
Hierarchical structures are systems organized by rank, with authority flowing downward through levels.
Corporate org charts, military chains of command, and family trees all display hierarchical structure.
The term appears in organizational theory, biology, and computer science: The company's hierarchical structure made decisions slow.
Hierarchical structures contrast with flat or networked arrangements where power is distributed more evenly.
- casteInherited social division
- top dogDominant leader
- pecking orderSocial dominance arrangement
- subcategorySubdivision of classification
- taxonomyScience of categorical arrangement
class · tree · family tree · manager · parent-child relationship · ontology · feudal · nested · stack · chain of command · framework · dominance · rank · clade · stratification · chain · ladder · graph
hierarchical structurescooperatives
Member-owned collective enterprises
collectives · adhocracy · worker cooperatives · lattice structures · communes
hierarchical structuresdemocratic governance
System where citizens hold power
shared leadership · direct democracy · participatory democracy