ABSTRACT
By analyzing the general shape of a hierarchy it may be possible to come to conclusions regarding the effectiveness of processes at work within that hierarchy. Although all hierarchies evolve and change over time, when we look at them in the present, a basic distinction we can make is whether they are currently rigid, structured and unchanging, or whether they are unstructured and loosely organized. Furthermore, information flows should always be considered in the context of control and authority in the hierarchy. In the study of hierarchies there is an interest to see where the new innovation is first adopted, and then to see how it spreads and diffuses through the hierarchies of which it is a part. Although several examples of three-dimensional hierarchies have been discussed, we have not pointed out explicitly that they have this unusual dimensionality.
