Why does the reporting chain matter? They're separate roles and jobs so the manager is leveled differently. If I'm a jr engineer reporting to a director does t

Why does the reporting chain matter? They're separate roles and jobs so the manager is leveled differently. If I'm a jr engineer reporting to a director does that give me more authority then a staff engineer reporting to a manger? Management is a different job, it would be leveled differently. Maybe a high level IC needs to work closely with a team for a bit so they just report to the manager of the team.