The steepness of hierarchy in a bureaucratic organization refers to
A)the number of functional units in the organization.
B)the social distance between the lowest-ranked employee and the highest- ranked executive.
C)the ratio of the number of top management to the number of first-line supervisors.
D)the number of layers of supervision.
E)the number of people supervised by a manager.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The steepness of hierarchy in a bureaucratic organization refers to the number of layers of supervision, which is option D. The term describes the number of levels in a hierarchy and can indicate how far removed lower-level employees are from top management. The greater the number of layers, the steeper the hierarchy, and the longer it takes for information to pass up and down the chain of command.

The Steepness of Hierarchy in a Bureaucratic Organization Refers to