Hierarchy & decisions
階層と意思決定HIER
Who decides and how: the distance between managers and teams, consensus versus top-down calls, and the legal and organisational rules around them.
39 claimsWell attested 4Attested 28Thin 7
Related scales
These scales describe national averages that bear on this theme. They place countries relative to one another; they say nothing about any one engineer.
- Culture MapLeadingEgalitarian ↔ HierarchicalHow much distance is expected between a boss and the team.
- Culture MapDecidingConsensual ↔ Top-downWhether decisions are reached by group agreement or made by the person in charge.
- Culture MapDisagreeingConfrontational ↔ Avoids confrontationWhether open disagreement is seen as productive or as damaging to the relationship.
- HofstedePower distanceLow power distance ↔ High power distanceHow far less powerful members accept that power is distributed unequally.
Japan日本JP3 claims
South Korea韓国KR4 claims
On Meyer's Leading scale, South Korea is placed toward the hierarchical end. The evidence is a secondary excerpt from the book.
Attested1 sourcekr-hierarchy-1
A Substack essay argues that in chaebol such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG, decision rights are concentrated at the top to an unusual degree even by East Asian standards.
Thin1 source2025kr-hierarchy-2
Under Toss's DRI system, discussion is open regardless of rank, but one directly responsible individual makes the final call. Information is shared on a "100 inside, 0 outside" principle.
Well attested2 sources2022kr-hierarchy-3
Kakao has had staff call each other by English names since its founding in 2006, but its affiliate Kakao Games returned to the honorific "-nim" in 2024. News coverage also quotes industry voices saying many companies have flat forms of address but not a flat culture.
Attested2 sources2024kr-hierarchy-4
China中国CN2 claims
Meyer's 2017 HBR article places China in the top-down, hierarchical quadrant. In the case of a US company that expanded to China, Chinese staff saw American managers who did not give detailed instructions as "not just incompetent but arrogant".
Attested1 source2017cn-hierarchy-1
ByteDance is reported to have adopted Zhang Yiming's "Context, not Control", making internal documents open by default, running OKRs on a two-month cycle and sharing information through Feishu (Lark).
Attested2 sourcescn-hierarchy-2
IndiaインドIN3 claims
Meyer's 2017 HBR article places India in the top-down, hierarchical quadrant, together with Brazil, China, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Attested1 source2017in-hierarchy-1
India scores 77 on Hofstede's power distance (PDI), its highest of the six dimensions. The Culture Factor describes this as an appreciation of hierarchy and top-down structure.
Attested1 source2026in-hierarchy-2
A hiring-industry article contrasts services firms, which run on approval chains and hierarchy, with product startups, where engineers can talk to founders directly and decisions are fast.
Thin1 sourcein-hierarchy-3
United StatesアメリカUS2 claims
Meyer classifies the United States as egalitarian but top-down (HBR, 2017). People use first names and are encouraged to speak up, but the boss decides quickly, and the decision can be revisited when new arguments appear.
Attested1 source2017us-hierarchy-1
In the same article, Meyer reports that to Japanese managers an American boss can look flat on the surface yet highly autocratic in how decisions are made.
Attested1 source2017us-hierarchy-2
United KingdomイギリスUK3 claims
In Meyer's 2017 HBR chart, the United Kingdom sits in the same egalitarian and top-down quadrant as the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Attested1 source2017gb-hierarchy-1
In the public sector, the service assessment against the Service Standard acts as a de facto gate. According to DfE guidance, a service can fail its assessment if it does not publish new source code without a good reason.
Well attested1 sourcegb-hierarchy-2
The NAO (2023) identifies as a problem that many digital decisions in government are made by generalist leaders without technical expertise.
Well attested1 source2023gb-hierarchy-3
GermanyドイツDE3 claims
Meyer classifies Germany as more hierarchical than the United States but also more inclined to build consensus before deciding.
Attested1 source2014Datedde-hierarchy-1
Under BetrVG §87(1) no. 6, introducing technical equipment that can monitor employees' behavior or performance requires codetermination by the works council (Betriebsrat). The test is whether it can be used for monitoring, and in 2022 the Federal Labor Court (1 ABR 20/21) treated Microsoft Office 365 as covered.
Attested2 sources2026de-hierarchy-2
At N26 in Berlin, management opposed a works council election in 2020 and fought it as far as a court injunction. A works council was still elected in November and December that year, with turnout of about 30%.
Attested2 sources2020de-hierarchy-3
FranceフランスFR2 claims
The Culture Map places France toward the hierarchical end of Leading and the top-down end of Deciding, yet on the confrontational side of Disagreeing. Read together, the scales suggest that the boss decides, but only after vigorous debate.
Attested1 source2014Datedfr-hierarchy-1
How the right to disconnect (Labor Code L2242-17, in force since 2017) is applied is a matter for collective bargaining within each company. If no agreement is reached, the employer drafts a charter after consulting the CSE, the staff representative body.
Attested1 source2026fr-hierarchy-2
The Nordics北欧NORD5 claims
Hofstede's power distance (PDI) is low in all four countries, lowest in Denmark at 18. Meyer also cites Denmark and Sweden as examples of egalitarian cultures on her Leading scale.
Attested2 sources2026nordics-hierarchy-1
Lämsä (Review of International Comparative Management, 2010) contrasts the fast, authoritarian Finnish management style, "Management by perkele," with the slower, consensus-seeking Swedish "Management by ack herreguuden."
Attested1 source2010Datednordics-hierarchy-2
Sweden has a practice called förankring: building agreement through informal groundwork before a decision is made. It is often said to slow decisions down but reduce resistance during implementation.
Thin1 sourcenordics-hierarchy-3
Former Spotify PM Jeremiah Lee (2020) wrote that the squad model was an aspiration never fully implemented inside Spotify, and that no single person was accountable for engineering delivery. Former agile coach Joakim Sundén called it "part ambition, part approximation."
Thin1 source2020nordics-hierarchy-4
The Law of Jante (Sandemose, 1933) is treated as a symbol of Nordic egalitarianism, while some commentators argue that it holds back entrepreneurship.
Thin1 sourcenordics-hierarchy-5
NetherlandsオランダNL3 claims
Meyer cites the Netherlands, along with Denmark and Sweden, as an example of an egalitarian culture on her Leading scale. A study guide to The Culture Map places it on the consensual side of the Deciding scale, alongside Sweden and Japan.
Attested2 sourcesnl-hierarchy-1
A study in Contemporary Management Research (2018) analyzed data from 808 managers using structural equation modeling. It found that polder values, reaching pragmatic agreement through consultation and debate, strongly shape the leadership styles Dutch managers prefer.
Well attested1 source2018nl-hierarchy-2
Woldendorp and Keman (2007) reviewed Dutch corporatism from 1965 to 2000 and argue that the polder model has been overrated. Bargaining between the social partners was tough, and the rate of central agreements was low.
Attested1 source2007Datednl-hierarchy-3
IsraelイスラエルIL3 claims
Hofstede's power distance (PDI) is 13, among the lowest in the world. The Culture Factor describes bosses as easy to approach and managers as relying on their team's expertise. A Culture Map review also puts Israel at the most egalitarian end of the Leading scale.
Attested2 sources2026il-hierarchy-1
Unit 8200 screens conscripts for math and programming aptitude and gives young soldiers difficult tasks with little supervision. The founders of Check Point, Palo Alto Networks, CyberArk, Wix and Wiz include alumni of the unit.
Attested2 sources2025il-hierarchy-2
Drop Site News has reported critically on the 8200 alumni network as a closed club and on the export of surveillance technology by firms such as NSO.
Attested1 sourceil-hierarchy-3
BrazilブラジルBR2 claims
Talaera says decisions tend to be made top-down and junior staff tend to wait until invited before speaking. The basis is the company's own observations as a trainer.
Thin1 source2026br-hierarchy-1
Brazil's Hofstede power distance (PDI) score is high at 69. Yet a study of two agile teams at financial firms in Rio de Janeiro (SBQS '24) found almost no effect of high power distance. It is a small, preliminary study.
Attested2 sources2026br-hierarchy-2
PolandポーランドPL2 claims
Poland's Hofstede power distance (PDI) score is 68. Talaera says that in traditional organizations people avoid openly contradicting a manager in meetings, and approvals often need a senior signature. Differences by sector and ownership are large.
Attested2 sources2026pl-hierarchy-1
Foreign-owned centers account for 84.3% of employment in the business services sector. Of the 61 centers opened between January 2024 and March 2025, 42.6% were in IT (ABSL 2025).
Attested1 source2025pl-hierarchy-2
UkraineウクライナUA2 claims
Ukraine scores high on both Hofstede power distance (PDI 92) and uncertainty avoidance (UAI 95). Edge Executive Services (2024) links this to multi-layered organizational hierarchies and a large number of rules.
Attested2 sources2026ua-hierarchy-1
The outsourcing firm Jappware claims that Ukrainian IT companies were early to drop rigid hierarchy and formal communication.
Thin1 sourceua-hierarchy-2