There are lot of startups and companies who say we dont have hierarchy or we follow open door policy, but internally you see things are way different as projected. What are your views on those things?
There is always a hierarchy. Otherwise, there wouldn't be juniors, seniors, managers and C-suite. Each of the higher roles come with different responsibilities and also things they can do. Can you really do hiring decisions or build the next strategic plan for the company at junior level? No. And there are many more things like that.
Open door policy is more about being able to put across your points to anyone directly, say to the CEO, without going in steps. That hierarchical structure is still there but people just don't need to wait for their manager to tell their manager and then to the CEO and so on. Still, in larger companies you may not be able to directly get in touch with the executives which wouldn't be open door policy.
An example much closer to "no hierarchy" company would be Co-Operatives where every person is an equal stakeholder in the company.
I am not saying “no hierarchy” for executive decisions, it more about when people with title get treated differently than others
Being given priority in things like meeting CEO or not allowing others. Or taking design related decisions when the person has no idea what decisions they are taking
From what I see, if your company has 2 parts US and India. US team might still follow some of those principals, but India leadership is like that they dont want anyone near them and hence they will form a group of leadership people and keep others down
Joined a series B funded org last year, the hierarchy was truly flat then. All engineers were Software Engineers, no levels, CTO with 22 yoe chimed in our standups and gave inputs.
Slowly over 6 months, everything changed. Org raised a series C, we got a new "manager", CTOs started throwing around more "managerial" words, micromanagement increased, levels got introduced. So yeah, flat heirarchy only works when org size < 100ish.
I worked in an org with 30 people (including founder), still hierarchy existed and people with title showed they know more than you
Cred Comes to my mind. In their interview they keep on shouting these words only.
They are lying. No hierarchy means the top positions would be secured for sycophants and people who are in good books of top managment, basically A grade chaatukaar .
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