Mind the gaps! exploring the relationship between hierarchy and creative cognitive climate

The role of hierarchy in organizations is under attack, particularly from those focused on organizational creativity and the digital transformation (DT). The call for flatter structures, reduced bureaucracy and network organizations, with the appropriate dispersion of authority, responsibility and power to achieve high levels of employee engagement, is the current rage. However, according to Elliot Jaques (1990), hierarchy itself is not to blame for our problems. He argued that we need an improved understanding of both hierarchy and human nature. The aim of hierarchy should be the improved deployment of human talent and energy. Despite attempts to reduce hierarchy in modern organizations, formal and informal hierarchies persist, in fact, even thrive in today’s DT environment. We investigated the relationship between creative cognitive climate at three levels of hierarchy: leaders, managers and staff. Exploring creative cognitive climate allowed for examining a deeper level of diversity. Using an assessment of these style differences across multiple industries and organizations, we found distinct gaps in collective style preferences across the three levels of stratification. Those at higher levels tended to prefer more novelty and less detailed structure and concern for authority. Those as lower levels tended to prefer novelty that fits the system and more structure and access to authority in dealing with their tasks. Based on these gaps, we identified four general and interrelated implications for improving communication, coordination, and collaboration across and within levels of various kinds of hierarchy.