What is the main advantage of a chain of command

Chain Of Command Definition, Levels, Features, Advantages

October 27, 2020 By Hitesh Bhasin Tagged With: Management

Managing and running an organisation is a challenging job. It requires a team of people to create discipline in an organisation and to get desired work done from them. Every organisation follows a proper hierarchy in which people are controlled, and reporting is done. This organisational hierarchy is formally known as the chain of command.

In this article, you will learn about what is the chain of command, the definition of the chain of command, features of the chain of command, advantages, and disadvantages of chain of command.

Table of Contents

What is the chain of command?

The chain of command in an organisation is referred to the different levels of management in the organisation. The top position in the chain of command is held by the CEO or owner of a business, and the front-line workers make the lowest level of the chain of command of the organisation.

The chain of command in an organisation clarifies the sequence of reporting in the organisation. Every employee working in an organisation has knowledge of his authority and the responsibility of reporting. With the help of the chain of command, discipline is created in the organisation.

Employees are placed at different levels of the organisation. The chain of command tightly controls the flow of information and decision-making in an organisation. There are three levels of the chain of command in an organisation, such as Top-level managers, middle-level managers, and front-line managers.

The top-level management consists of a board of directors, CEO, president, vice president, and owner of an organisation. Top-level managers control the whole organisation. They are responsible for deciding the goals and objectives of an organisation. They learn about the external environment, such as a change of technology in the industry, and make decisions for the organisation accordingly. They are also responsible for preparing strategies to achieve the goals and objectives of the organisation. They give orders to the managers working at the middle-level of management.

Middle-level managers play an essential role in the organisation. They establish communication between front-line and top-level managers. They take instructions from the top management and pass that information to front-level managers. They supervise the work of front-line managers and make sure that work is being done as required and on time. In addition to this, middle-level managers are also responsible for the allocation of resources to front-line managers.

And the last level of the chain of command in an organisation is the front-line managers. The role of front-line managers in an organisation is to supervise and control the day-to-day activities of employees working in the organisation. They make sure that each employee is completing their work as required and on time. Employees working in the organisation take their problems to the front-line managers, and front-line managers are responsible for providing solutions to them.

The front-line managers actively participate in the day-to-day activities of the organisation. The examples of front-line managers are supervisor, department head, project head, office manager, etc.

Definition of chain of command

The chain of command in an organisation can be defined as a structural hierarchy of authority. A chain of command provides information such as who is in charge of whom? And who should report whom?

Features And Structure

The followings are features of a chain of command.

1. Rank order

The main feature of the chain of command is the order of ranks in the organisation. Different employees are given different ranks. People with different ranks have different roles to play in the organisation. Rank order creates discipline in the organisation.

2. Accountability of decisions

In a chain of command, people at different levels are given authority to make decisions. People are also accountable for the decisions made by them. That means they will take full responsibility for their decisions.

3. Meaning of Unity of Command

Another essential feature of the chain of command is the unity of command. The meaning of the unity of command is that only one person can make one decision, and he has the authority to delegate his work to others. Having the unity of command in the organisation avoids the repetition of decision making in the organisation.

4. Standardized language and methods of communication for your company structure

In an organisation, a standard language should be used for communication purposes among the employees of different levels. A standard language of communication creates a formal environment in the organisation. Along with standardized language, a standardized method of communication is also followed in an organisation.

For example, a front-line manager will report to the middle manager and not directly to top-level management. Similarly, top-level managers give their orders and instructions to middle-level managers. A proper method of communication creates discipline in the organisation and employees know whom to approach in case of emergency without any confusion.

5. Delegation of Authority

Delegation of authority becomes easy when there is a proper chain of command in an organisation. Having a chain of command in the organisation provides clarity to people to whom to give orders and from whom to take instructions.

In this way, a senior manager can delegate his subordinates to attend a meeting on his behalf when he is busy with some other work. Delegation of authority keeps the action moving in an organisation even when somebody is not present.

6. Levels of management

The chain of command helps in creating different levels of management in an organisation. There are three levels of management in an organization, such as top-level management, middle-level management, and lower-level management. Each level of management plays an essential role in the organisation and has a set of duties and authorities.

For example, the role of top-level management is to decide future goals for the organisation and prepare plans and strategies to achieve those goals. The top-level management will be interested in the result and will not get involved in the day-to-day works taking place in the organisation.

Managing the employees and keeping track of the daily activities are job responsibilities the lower-level managers.

7. Feedback rules

The last but not least feature of the chain of command is the feedback rule. The feedback rule is an essential part of the chain of command system in an organisation. The people sitting in power take feedback from the employees working at lower levels to learn about the effectiveness of a decision. Feedbacks helps in improving future decision making.

In addition to this, it shows that people in power care about people working at a lower level. Feedbacks are also taken in an organization in a proper hierarchical order. For example, subordinates will give feedback to front-line managers and not to the top-level managers.

Their complaints are solved by their immediately superior and are taken to upper management if only the lower management is incapable of resolving those issues.

Advantages

There are several advantages of the chain of command in an organisation. Because of this reason, many organizations prefer to follow the hierarchy system over other systems. In this section, you will learn about the different advantages of having a chain of command system in an organisation.

Disadvantages

Understanding the Chain of Command in Your Workplace

Hierarchical Structures Have Pluses and Minuses

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Susan Heathfield is an HR and management consultant with an MS degree. She has decades of experience writing about human resources.

Are you interested in knowing more about the chain of command at your workplace? «Chain of command» describes the way in which organizations, including the military, religious institutions, corporations, government entities, and universities, traditionally structure their reporting relationships.

Reporting relationships refers to an organizational structure in which every employee is placed somewhere on an organizational chart. The employees report to the employee who is listed above them on the organizational chart.

When every employee reports to one other employee, decisions and communication are tightly controlled and they flow down the chain of command throughout the organization. This is an intentional, traditional structure for the chain of command in organizations that want to tightly control the dissemination of information and the allocation of power and control. Historically, this was the preferred structure for an organization.

Traditional Chain of Command

In the traditional chain of command, if you look at relationships pictorially presented on an organizational chart, the president or CEO is the top employee in the chain of command. This person’s directly reporting staff members would occupy the second line of the chart, and so forth down through the reporting relationships in an organization.

At each level of the organization moving down the chain of command, the power to make meaningful decisions is diminished. This hierarchical method for organizing information flow, decision making, power, and authority, assumes that each level of the organization is subordinate to the level to which it reports.

Terminology like a «subordinate» to refer to reporting employees and «superior» to refer to employees others report to, such as managers, is part of traditional hierarchical language and thinking. These terms are increasingly not being used as much, as a move to more egalitarian workplaces is the norm. Undoubtedly, the current focus in organizations on diversity and, especially, inclusion, will accelerate this trend.

Command and control are intrinsic in the chain of command within organizations. The further up the chain of command your job is located, the more power, authority, and usually responsibility and accountability you have. Larger organizations are more prone to using this model

Traditional hierarchical structures have plus.es and minuses about how they work in organizations.

Chain of Command Positives

Chain of Command Challenges

The hierarchical order may still exist for ease of organization and reporting relationships, as laid out in a chain of command on an organizational chart. But, the lines and the former rigidity are now blurred.

In the past, if an employee circumvented his or her boss in favor of talking with the boss’s boss, the employee received clear communication that the chain of command was in place for a purpose.

While organizations still retain some of its vestiges, the chain of command is much more difficult to enforce when information is so freely circulating and communication is so easy with any member of the organization.

The span of control of an individual manager has also become broader, with more reporting employees than in the past. This makes the enforcement of the chain of command more difficult.

This change forces the manager to allow more autonomy. Technology has blurred the hierarchy further since information is available all of the time to any employee. Many organizations are experiencing the value of decentralized decision making.

Position Power

Within the concept of the chain of command, position power still plays a role in organizations. It’s a by-product of the traditional hierarchical organization. For example, a quality department supervisor at a small manufacturing company asked to become the quality director in her company. Her stated reason for the change in title was that, if she was a director, people would have to listen to her and do what she wants.

This is a young supervisor, who is still learning how to accomplish work through other people, but her perception that a bigger title would solve her problems was an example of the traditional chain of command thinking.

In another example, a new employee was asked to send out a note with a question and a deadline to the director and VP-level managers in her organization. The request sparked an hour of work over a simple note because it was going to «the biggest, most important people in the company.»

What the Future Holds

Modern management science is exploring other options for organization and customer service delivery in this brave new world. Team-based structures are replacing the traditional hierarchical approach to organizational structure and management. The span of control is increasing so managers have more reporting employees thus decreasing their ability to micromanage decision processes.

The future holds out hope for innovative organizational structures that better serve the needs of employees, organizations, and the marketplace. The rise in popularity of telework and the ongoing trend to employ remote employees and enable worker flexibility, a specific desire for millennial employees (and Gen Z), further escalates the need for better management structures. After all, these employees are doing work that you cannot see them doing.

The Bottom Line

But hierarchical thinking, a chain of command, and attributing power to position and titles all still exist—despite the increasing evidence that they are less functional in today’s workplaces.

The Chain of Command & Why It’s Important

What is the Chain of Command?

All organizations—even those that don’t know it—have an overarching structure that dictates the reporting relationships between different employees.

In many cases, individual reporting relationships depend on where employees are placed on an organizational chart. Employees will generally report directly to those who are listed above them on the org chart, and the most popular, tried-and-tested way of building these reporting relationships is through a corporate chain of command, also known as the “ hierarchical structure ”.

A chain of command is an organizational system where instructions are passed from one person to another. It’s widely used in military and other disciplined organizations (e.g., police departments) in addition to civil organizations.

In civil organizations, a chain of command tells employees who they should report to and when they should consult their supervisor or another manager for things like project decisions and passing information.

How Does a Chain of Command Work?

In a traditional chain of command, one person sits at the very top. In an organization, this is usually the Chairman or Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Below this person on the second line, you’ll typically find other C-level positions (i.e., CFO, COO, CDO) who are the CEO’s directly reporting staff members.

Moving further down the chain, you’ll typically find regional managers, department heads, mid-level managers, team leaders, supervisors, and, at the very bottom, regular staff members.

At each level of the chain of command as you move downwards, autonomy and decision-making power is diminished. This hierarchical method for organizing power, authority, decision making, communication, and information flow assumes that each level of the organization is directly subordinate to the one above it, i.e., the level to which it reports.

In larger companies, the chain of command is often split into many levels across three distinct tiers: senior management (e.g., CEO, Director, Senior Vice President), mid-level management (Regional Manager, Department Heads, Supervisor), and regular employees who don’t manage other employees.

5 Advantages of an Organizational Chain of Command

Here are five key advantages of an organizational chain of command:

1. It’s Highly Efficient

The chain of command tells employees who they should report to and when they should consult their supervisors with key information like project decisions. It also tells employees where they fit within the organization and what their remits are.

2. It Supports All Employees

Every employee within an organization, regardless of where they sit on the organizational chart, is at a different point in their career with their unique levels of experience. However, those lower down often need more support as they develop within their roles.

A chain of command supports employees with less experience and tenure because it shows them where they fit in and who they can turn to for assistance. This enables a general feeling of confidence and empowerment among lower-level employees, which in turn leads to a greater potential for growth and development.

3. It Simplifies Delegation

Delegating authority is a lot easier when there’s a chain of command in place because it clearly tells employees who to give their orders to and who to take their orders from. In this way, it becomes possible for senior managers to delegate tasks and responsibilities to a subordinate where necessary.

For example, a senior manager may have to skip a meeting due to an unforeseen schedule clash. Instead, the manager can delegate a subordinate to attend on their behalf, helping to ensure continuity of projects and the organization itself.

4. It Creates Accountability & Clarity

In a chain of command, responsibility and accountability are clearly assigned; each manager has their own ultimate oversight and responsibility for a group of employees performing a specific function.

This not only means that employees are not confused about whom to approach for things like resources, feedback, and assistance, but decision making is given a lot more careful thought and scrutiny because managers have their own skin in the game.

5. It Standardizes Communication

In an organizational chain of command, there are usually more standardized methods of communication, which create a more formal internal environment.

This creates a form of “discipline” within the organization when it comes to communication, with orders, instructions, and information flowing down or up a clearly defined pathway: higher-ups pass their orders down the chain and employees pass information up it.

& 3 Challenges

The organizational chain of command does come with its own set of unique challenges, however. These include:

1. A Disconnect Between the Top & Bottom

In an organizational chain of command, the decision-making power is heavily concentrated at the top and begins to dwindle as you move further down.

This means that there’s an inherent disconnect between the top & bottom of the chain because the people making all the important decisions are not necessarily aware of the realities and problems faced by those working at a lower level. Teams may be tasked with unrealistic goals and face other problems like insufficient budgets as a result.

2. It’s Not Always Efficient

While the chain of command is efficient in many ways, it’s inefficient in others. Most notably, the chain of command slows down the decision-making process because of the long hierarchical chain along which information and instructions must pass.

A decision that could be made by a lower-level employee relatively quickly—e.g., expensing a train ticket—will find itself slowed down by the bureaucratic nature of the chain of command because permission for the decision must be requested up the chain and then approved back down it.

3. It Doesn’t Always Fit the Modern Organization

The chain of command is generally representative of a time when the world of work was far more mechanical and habitual with less information communication. Today, organizations are more agile and liberal, jobs are less rigidly defined, and organizations are beginning to promote employee empowerment and autonomy.

The means that the modern organization clearly doesn’t mesh as well with the chain of command as it once did, and we’re starting to see more and more organizations use alternative structures like the matrix or flat organizational structure as a result.

Build Your Own Chain of Command

Despite these challenges, it’s still possible to make a chain of command work for any organization when you build one that focuses on supporting employees at all levels rather than strictly govern them. This helps to build a strong culture where it’s easy to communicate and information flows freely.

As with anything, building the right chain of command for your organization is a matter of experimenting until you have something that works for your organization. Think carefully about the roles that equipped to guide other members of the team and be careful not to overload the chain with too many layers.

Looking for a tool to build your chain of command with? Check out our organisational chart builder which can be used to map out your own chain of command hierarchy.

An Introductory Guide to the Corporate Chain of Command [+Examples]

If there’s one management process that can foster collaboration, innovation, productivity, job satisfaction, and more, it’s a well-designed and thoughtfully implemented chain of command.

A chain of command describes who employees should report to and when they should consult their supervisor with project decisions. Not only is it part and parcel of a company’s hierarchy, but it’s essential to creating an efficient and enjoyable work environment for your employees. The right chain of command can make employees feel supported, respected, and excited to contribute new ideas to the company.

This guide covers the basics of the chain of command so you can better incorporate the process into your organization’s hierarchy and org chart design. We’ll cover:

The Importance of Chain of Command

Every member of your company is at a different point in their career and has different levels of experience. A chain of command provides support to less experienced employees so they can feel confident enough to suggest innovative ideas and develop their skills.

A chain of command also creates a culture of collaboration and an environment of physical and emotional safety, all while protecting the company from unnecessary risks

A chain of command also creates a culture of collaboration and an environment of physical and emotional safety, all while protecting the company from unnecessary risks.

A company in any industry, whether it’s software or construction, likely has or needs a chain of command in order to operate at its best.

The Hierarchy of Corporate Titles

Many large businesses and organizations are split into three tiers: senior management, middle management, and regular employees. Any additional tiers, and the chain of command may become too complex to work efficiently.

Common corporate job titles include:

Senior Management

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Chairman of the Board

Middle Management

Regular Employees

These are the individual contributors who don’t manage other employees, such as financial analysts, HR generalists, or sales reps. Their titles and specialties tend to be industry-specific. It’s worth noting that the smaller the business, the less likely it is to have distinct tiers, as employees take on multiple roles to help the company reach its goals.

Chain of Command Advantages

A clear chain of command promotes:

Responsibility – Everyone knows what they are accountable for.

Clarity – At any given time, employees know who they report to and which decisions need their managers’ approval.

Job Satisfaction – Employees who work in stable environments experience less stress and more productivity.

Efficiency – The decision-making process happens in a predictable manner, while the chain of command itself can highlight any potential redundancies that slow down workflow.

Career Goals – Upper-tier jobs give employees clear career goals to work toward.

Specialization – Employees can focus on what they do best and develop skills relevant to their interests and career goals.

Chain of Command Disadvantages

Implemented thoughtlessly, chains of command can create:

Reduced collaboration – Employees may feel confined to their department and resist sharing ideas or project decisions with people outside their division unless their managers invite them to do so.

Slow communication – Decisions have to travel up the chain of command, then responses must travel back down, which can slow projects to a crawl.

Reduced innovation – Employees whose ideas are frequently shot down by risk-averse managers may be hesitant to share potentially innovative ideas in the future.

Internal competitiveness – Managers may feel territorial over their employees or decision-making power, creating an environment of competition and distrust.

Examples of Chain of Command in Business

The exact chain of command will depend on your company’s industry and what duties are essential to running the business, but these examples should help you get started:

Marketing Agency

п»їThe above is an organizational chart for a marketing agency. There are multiple chains of command, each grouped by division, with three levels in each. Individual contributors report to their director, who in turn reports to the CEO.

Tech Company

п»їThe org chart example for tech companies above shows two chains of command within the sales division. Both the Sales Manager and the VP of Sales have employees who report to them, and they in turn report directly to the Chief Revenue Officer, who reports to the CEO.

Large Restaurant

п»їп»їIn this restaurant org chart template, there are three chains that funnel up to the General Manager, who answers to the Restaurant Owner.

Create Your Company’s Chain of Command

When you design a chain of command with the intention of supporting employees at all levels of your org, you start to build a culture of clear communication, efficient workflows, and mutual respect.

When you design a chain of command with the intention of supporting employees at all levels of your org, you start to build a culture of clear communication, efficient workflows, and mutual respect

The key is to think critically about which roles are best equipped to serve and guide the team at each tier, and to not overburden the chain with more layers than are absolutely necessary.

Looking for more org chart samples? Check out Pingboard’s templates, which are based on data from thousands of org charts in multiple industries.

The Chain of Command

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When an organisation gets to a certain size, it becomes necessary for the higher ups to start delegating to subordinates since it becomes harder and harder for them to keep track of everything going on. It’s one thing for the Big Good to issue instructions directly to the Five-Man Band when it’s just a small La Résistance of a few dozen people, but that becomes unwieldy when you get to the level of The Federation and the Big Good now commands thousands or hundreds of thousands of people.

A chain of command refers to formal (or sometimes informal) ranking systems where people at the top and bottom of the chain generally don’t communicate directly. Instead, if the person at the top wants something done he or she issues the command to their direct subordinate, who then passes the order down to their subordinate, who then passes down the order to their’s, until it reaches the people who actually execute the task (this being akin to the links in a chain, hence the «chain» in chain of command). Similarly, someone wanting to report something would be expected to report to their direct superior, who would then pass it up to their superior up the chain until it reaches someone who can actually do something about it.

While this most often appears in Military and Warfare Works, this can be seen in just about any work that involves organisations, such as Crime Fiction (on both sides of the law), School Stories Example in real life a Class Representative would bring up student concerns to a Student Council President who’d then bring them up to their advisor, who’d then pass it up to the school administration or even businesses. A common breach of protocol can involve a subordinate bypassing their direct superior and going right to their superior (described as «going over someone’s head»). Similarly, it can be considered poor form for a superior to bypass their direct subordinate to issue commands directly to the subordinate’s subordinates, even if it’s technically allowed. Example the President of the United States of America, in the role of Commander-In-Chief, could give orders directly to a sergeant. but considering that bypasses the entire military chain of command between the President and the sergeant it would make for a very poor look. In addition, it’d be a faux pas for an officer to give orders to the subordinates of another officer directly without consulting the other officer. The chain of command means that individual members take orders from only one superior and only give orders to a defined group of people immediately below them, in order to maintain clarity and to avoid confusion.

As far as the military is concerned, however, there are some basic rules to the chain of command (which can also apply to organisations based on the the military model like police):

There are, naturally, problems with a chain of command. The longer the chain, the more time it takes for orders and reports to go up and down the chain, resulting in a slowed reaction time. An Obstructive Bureaucrat or two can add to the slowed reaction time, especially if they’re sticklers for protocol. Right Hand Versus Left Hand can come about because the people lower down the chain don’t know what others are doing and so accidentally get in each others’ way. The Peter Principle occurs when someone is promoted up the chain beyond their ability to perform, thus also affecting the smooth running of the organisation. Jurisdiction Friction and Interservice Rivalry can also result (especially when a particular unit or group is placed outside the regular chain of command, breeding resentment), as well as a Delegation Relay when people don’t want do deal with something and so use the chain of command to pass the buck (either upwards or downwards). Part of the reason a Bavarian Fire Drill can work is when people are so accustomed to following a chain of command they forget a crucial step (which is to confirm the person giving orders is actually authorised to do so). And that’s before getting into the possibilities of The Mole or worse a Mole in Charge.

Expect to see this in media involving a Command Roster or The Squad, while Mildly Military works might at least pay lip service. Repeat to Confirm is one way the chain of command can be shown as moving smoothly, as it makes sure there’s no ambiguity about orders coming down. That’s an Order! and That Wasn’t a Request are two ways how orders can be delivered via the chain of command (the former being more formal than the latter). This trope is also why Straight for the Commander and Decapitated Army exist, since even if the opposing force isn’t a Keystone Army the disruption that comes about from reestablishing the chain of command opens opportunities that can be exploited. You Are in Command Now, Field Promotion even Closest Thing We Got are scenarios that can happen when the regular chain of command is disrupted or broken, forcing people to repair the chain or form a new one as best they can. Inappropriately Close Comrades can be Played for Drama specifically because of fears of disruption to the chain of command.

Not to be confused with The Chains of Commanding, which can overlap with this due to that trope being about how being higher up the chain can lead to much heavier mental stress. Also nothing to do with Slave Collar (which was formerly named Chain Of Command).