Well, it does kind of lead to that situation. But as long as the hierarchies are clearly defined and orthogonal it need not be that bad. In the military you of

Well, it does kind of lead to that situation. But as long as the hierarchies are clearly defined and orthogonal it need not be that bad. In the military you often find people having to play different roles at different times (we call it "wearing different hats"), and there are various types of hierarchies that might exist simultaneously, and you could be involved in some of those with different roles in each. It can be taken to an extreme (and I want to say there was a Union General in the American Civil War who got famous for that), but it can also help very large organizations function properly in situations where a person has to fill multiple roles.