Definitions>

    "A hierarchy is an organizational structure in which items are ranked according to levels of importance."



    "A system in which members of an organization or society are ranked according to relative status or authority."



    "An arrangement or classification of things according to relative importance or inclusiveness."

Explaination>

    "A hierarchy means an organization with few things, or one thing, at the top and with several things below each other thing. It's like an inverted tree structure. Examples in computing include a directory hierarchy where each directory may contain files or other directories, a hierarchical network, a class hierarchy in object-oriented programming."


    "Hierarchy is simply a group of people or even animals that form a proper chain of command, succession or authority. Such as officers in the military have a pyramid sort of where the higher in rank you are there are more people under you that submit to your authority. Or like wolves in a pack, you have the alpha male who is at the head of the pack and all the others submit to his authority. There are always more at the bottom than at the top."

"Hierarchical Organization"

    "Common, pyramid-like organization where one person is in charge of a functional area (engineering, finance, marketing) with one or more subordinates handling the sub-functions. In an hierarchical organization (whether business, military, political, or religious) higher levels imply greater superiority and domination than the lower ones, and the chain of command extends straight from the top to the bottom."

Example>

    "For example, at a larger business with a hierarchical organizational structure, the marketing department might develop the product and then tell the production department to determine how to make it."


    "An organizational hierarchy structure is a blue print of an organization's employees and job titles. Most organizational hierarchy structures are depicted with boxes, horizontal lines and vertical lines. The boxes represent employees. Additionally, horizontal lines between boxes represent employees who hold similar titles like managers. Employees who fall vertically beneath a certain employee have lower ranks. Companies can use one or of several key organizational hierarchy structures."

Identification>

    Organizational hierarchy structure can be flat, mid-sized or tall. For example, many small companies have flat organizational structures because of the lack of middle management. The president of the company may employ just managers and clerical workers until the organization grows. Therefore, there are very few echelons or tiers in a company with a flat organizational structure. Contrarily, large companies may have many levels of management and are, therefore, considered to have tall organizational structures.

Types>

 

 

 Some key types of organizational hierarchy structure include product and functional structures, according to www.Referenceforbusiness.com. Companies that use a product organizational hierarchy structure divide departments by product categories. Many department stores and retailers use a product organizational structure.

For example, an executive, such as the vice president of men's clothing, may report to the president.

Companies that use functional organizational hierarchy structures split their departments into functional areas, such as accounting, finance, engineering and marketing. Companies with functional organizational hierarchy structures have vice presidents, directors and managers of marketing, for example, instead of product oriented titles.

 

Hierarchical Organizational Structure>