# Upsetting the Organizational Hierarchy By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-10-20 Many people get upset within an organization when someone goes around them and directly to their boss. This is especially true if the content is perceived as that person's responsibility. For example, a lower-level employee finds an interesting insight into how the customer service system isn't performing optimally. Instead of passing it through the hierarchical chain of customer service command, this lower-level employee tells a senior executive who has expressed great interest in these kinds of things. In most organizations, this is a major faux pas. How dare this person not tell their supervisor and pass it through them? Bypassing this culturally approved communication channel short circuits the organizational hierarchy and sends shocks that make nearly every manager "unhappy." The cause of their unhappiness has nothing to do with the breaking of protocol and everything to do with power, control, and perceptions of expertise. If an employee can go around them, what is the point of their managerial position? If an employee can come to their conclusions and present it to the head boss, is the manager just a pointless go-between? If the employee knows something the manager does not, does the manager know what is happening? It all comes down to an existential crisis of the insecure manager. Rarely is it that direct communication with the head manager is organizationally inefficient and the primary cause of unhappiness. Filters exist in all systems for a reason, as only some things are important or needed. But any organizational veteran immediately knows the consequences of going over someone's head, and those who do not conform will be punished somehow. The question is whether these sets of behaviors and processes are organizationally effective. One could argue that it impedes information flow. One could also argue the real problem is the role and response of the middle manager during such situations. The management structure may be innately flawed since nearly every middle manager gets upset in these situations. While we work on systemic and structural progress, it's best to go through the proper channels unless one wishes to be an outcast or a good analyst. #### Related Items [[Organization]] [[Analytics]] [[Systems Thinking]] [[Management]] [[Information]] [[Work]] [[Efficiency]] [[Progress]]