Hierarchy and the Changing Nature of Organizations

Building on recent work on organization design and renewed interest in the role of a hierarchy, this symposium offers a new look at hierarchies and their place in the changing nature of the modern organization. Hierarchies are a pervasive organizational structure in our society. But we have ostensibly seen a rise in alternative forms of “flat” organizing given the growing prevalence of knowledge-intensive work and the diffusion of new technologies. At the same time, many flat organizations – whether loosely coupled, networked, or federalized – still seem to be hierarchical in their structure to some extent. As a new research program, this symposium augments current research, by considering how specifically hierarchies operate in the modern economy, to understand their role alongside forms of flatter organizing. Is their role in creative, high-tech industries different from that in traditional ones? In knowledge-intensive industries, how do hierarchical organizations survive and even thrive? Given the increasing adoption of algorithmic and automation technologies, will those technologies diminish the role of hierarchies? Or will hierarchies evolve? We feature four panelists, Nicolai Foss, Samina Karim, William Ocasio and Phanish Puranam, who have taken different approaches in their examinations of this topic. They will provide their own insight into existing work and discuss new questions for future research in this area.