ABSTRACT
Hierarchy is a system in which the members of an organization or society are ranked according to their status or authority. Hierarchical differences create unequal relationships between individuals and groups of people. In a general sense, any relationship in which one party is subordinated to the other may be described as hierarchical. Hierarchies are found everywhere in nature. Pecking orders are common among animals and birds, and wherever human beings live together hierarchies tend to emerge. The larger that human communities are, the more extended and formal their hierarchies tend to be. The sheer ubiquity of organizations in modern societies lends them undeniable significance, and the hierarchies they contain are hugely consequential, not just within organizations but also in the wider society. The fact that hierarchy offers a capacity to manage complexity but at the same time entrenches inequality creates an underlying tension. Any organization or society that is based on hierarchy inevitably has two sides to it.
