Broken Hierarchy at Work? Nir Halevy's Level Up Fix

Stanford professor Nir Halevy explains how to diagnose broken hierarchies and rebuild team trust using the research-backed CPR framework from his book Level Up: Why Hierarchies Are Broken and How to Fix Them.

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Why do workplace hierarchies fail, and how can leaders fix them? In this episode of Do Good to Lead Well, Stanford professor Nir Halevy shares how to spot the Three Us of dysfunction, balance power with status, and apply the CPR framework to build thriving teams.

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Why Workplace Hierarchies Break Down and How Leadership Can Fix Them

Most professionals have experienced the frustrating sting of a dysfunctional workplace structure. You might find yourself stuck in endless approval loops or watching talented peers get bypassed for promotions. In recent years, popular management discourse has suggested that the simplest solution is to flatten the organization entirely. Leaders remove job titles, eliminate middle managers, and proclaim that everyone now shares equal standing. Yet across industries, these well-intentioned experiments frequently create confusion, hidden power struggles, and resentment.

During an in-depth conversation on the Do Good to Lead Well podcast with host Craig Dowden, Stanford University professor Nir Halevy presented a refreshing, evidence-based counterpoint. In his book, Level Up: Why Hierarchies Are Broken and How to Fix Them, Nir Halevy argues that hierarchy itself is not the villain. When structured intentionally, hierarchies fulfill fundamental psychological needs for safety, security, and predictability. They provide clear role expectations, establish mentorship pathways, and coordinate complex tasks across growing teams.

The real breakdown happens when organizations construct hierarchies that foster insecurity, arbitrary decision-making, and zero-sum rivalry. In fact, research demonstrates that truly flat organizations do not exist at scale. Even in companies that eliminate formal management, informal hierarchies emerge swiftly based on vocal dominance, social popularity, or recent performance. As Nir Halevy points out, attempting to ignore hierarchy only makes informal power unchecked and unaccountable. The constructive path forward is not dismantling organizational structure, but learning how to diagnose structural flaws and intentionally rebuild them for collective success.

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Diagnosing Workplace Dysfunction Through the Three Us Model

To repair an organizational structure, leaders must first understand where and why it breaks down. Nir Halevy identifies three interrelated warning signs that characterize dysfunctional structures, a diagnostic syndrome he terms the Three Us: ultra-competitiveness, injustice, and instability. When these three conditions intersect, employees feel constant psychological threat, collaboration grinds to a halt, and team performance deteriorates.

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1. Ultra-Competitive Workplace Dynamics

In an ultra-competitive environment, colleagues stop viewing one another as teammates working toward a shared mission. Instead, peers experience constant rivalry for recognition, scarce resources, and career advancement. Rather than expanding the collective pie, individuals focus on defending personal turf. This dynamic produces clear behavioral symptoms:

  • Information hoarding where employees withhold vital context to preserve personal advantages
  • Reluctance to provide constructive assistance when a colleague faces pressing project deadlines
  • Active sabotage, including misleading advice, bad faith critiques, or malicious gossip
  • Pervasive anxiety that degrades psychological safety and employee wellbeing

2. Pervasive Injustice Across Outcomes and Processes

Workplace injustice manifests across three distinct dimensions:

  • Distributive injustice occurs when rewards and promotions appear arbitrary, favoring personal connections over merit.
  • Procedural injustice arises when decisions arrive from the top down without transparent criteria or consistent application.
  • Interactional injustice represents interpersonal disrespect, abusive supervision, or demeaning communication.

3. Structural Instability and Leadership Turnover

Instability represents frequent, unpredictable shifts in organizational standing. In unstable hierarchies, rapid promotions and abrupt demotions create widespread paranoia. When executives continuously undermine peers while vying for executive positions, the resulting friction cascades throughout the workforce, driving turnover and damaging recruitment.

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Power Versus Status: Why High-Power Low-Status Roles Turn Toxic

A pivotal contribution of Nir Halevy's research is distinguishing between power and status. While many organizational discussions treat these concepts interchangeably, they represent fundamentally different psychological forces. Power is defined as objective control over valued resources, including budgets, hiring decisions, compensation, and task assignments. In contrast, status is defined as voluntary respect, admiration, and deference granted by peers and colleagues.

When power and status align constructively, organizations flourish. Legitimate leaders possess both formal authority and earned respect. However, when structural misalignments occur, organizational health suffers, especially in positions characterized by high power but low status.

When individuals occupy roles that carry significant decision-making power but receive minimal appreciation, such as regulatory compliance or administrative auditing, negative friction develops. Feeling undervalued, powerholders can become defensive and enforce rules rigidly. Nir Halevy emphasizes that this friction does not stem from personal character defects, but from flawed organizational design.

When organizations intentionally elevate the status of vital oversight functions through public appreciation, mutual respect triggers a constructive cycle of noblesse oblige. Respected professionals reciprocate by exercising authority with empathy, patience, and collaborative care.

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"Fundamentally we are still who we were as humans for millennia." -- Nir Halevy

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How to Fix a Broken Hierarchy Using the CPR Framework

Diagnosing structural dysfunction is only the initial step. Leaders require a practical roadmap to restore balance, engagement, and shared purpose across their teams. Nir Halevy proposes the CPR framework, an actionable organizational model designed to revitalize broken hierarchies through Common value, Pluralism, and Relatedness.

1. Anchor Structure in Common Value

A healthy hierarchy must serve the collective good rather than merely rewarding individuals at the summit. Leaders establish common value by ensuring that organizational milestones, promotions, and recognition criteria reflect principles shared by the entire workforce. When leadership choices transparently reinforce organizational values, every team member understands how their daily contributions support the broader mission.

2. Implement Pluralistic Recognition and Growth Pathways

Organizations often rely on narrow promotion ladders that force skilled individual contributors into management roles they do not desire. Pluralism expands organizational definitions of excellence by establishing parallel career tracks, such as technical mastery tracks alongside managerial paths. By celebrating diverse forms of value creation, companies ensure that behind-the-scenes contributors receive meaningful status and compensation.

3. Cultivate Interpersonal Relatedness and Genuine Empathy

Relatedness focuses on designing communication channels that bring colleagues together rather than driving them apart. To build enduring relatedness, leaders should implement targeted practices:

  1. Compartmentalize competition strictly to creative brainstorming sessions while demanding full collaboration everywhere else.
  2. Establish transparent, public promotion standards modeled after public milestone celebrations.
  3. Act like an investigative journalist by gathering candid feedback from non-dependent stakeholders, including former employees and cross-functional partners.
  4. Supplement traditional performance metrics with a virtuocracy that explicitly rewards active listening, coaching, and team support.

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Leveling Up Together: Balancing Technology and Enduring Human Nature

As artificial intelligence systems enter daily organizational workflows, many corporate commentators predict the rapid elimination of middle management. However, Nir Halevy cautions leaders against making sweeping structural changes without considering workplace psychology. While generative tools automate administrative reporting, effective management encompasses coaching, emotional support, and strategic context that technology cannot replicate.

Furthermore, recent workplace studies indicate that junior team members managing automated agents often experience increased cognitive strain and longer working hours rather than reduced workloads. When organizations remove middle management without adequate preparation, junior staff face rising performance expectations without seasoned mentorship. As Nir Halevy reminds us, while technological tools evolve rapidly, core human motivations for dignity, fairness, and connection remain timeless.

By embracing the CPR framework and aligning authority with peer respect, leaders transform hierarchies into engines of shared growth. Leveling up is not about individual maneuvering to reach the corner office. True leadership success lies in building an organizational structure where everyone rises together as a collective tide.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Hierarchies

Who is Nir Halevy?

Nir Halevy is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University Graduate School of Business and author of Level Up: Why Hierarchies Are Broken and How to Fix Them.

What are the three primary signs of a broken hierarchy?

A dysfunctional hierarchy displays the Three Us: ultra-competitiveness, systemic injustice across decision outcomes and treatment, and structural instability marked by high turnover.

What is the difference between power and status in leadership?

Power represents objective control over resources like budgets and decisions. Status reflects voluntary respect, admiration, and social esteem granted by colleagues.

Why do high-power, low-status roles frequently create workplace tension?

When professionals carry substantial authority but feel disrespected, they experience defensive frustration and enforce authority rigidly, creating interpersonal friction.

What does the CPR framework stand for?

The CPR framework stands for Common value, Pluralism, and Relatedness. It is Nir Halevy's research-backed model for rebuilding dysfunctional hierarchies.

Why do completely flat organizations often struggle at scale?

Informal hierarchies naturally emerge based on social influence or dominance without transparent accountability, making flat models difficult to scale beyond small teams.

How can CEOs avoid living in an information bubble?

CEOs can operate like investigative journalists by seeking feedback from non-dependent sources, such as retired employees, candidate exit interviews, and cross-departmental contributors.

How is artificial intelligence impacting organizational hierarchy?

While AI automates technical tasks, junior employees often face heavier workloads managing automated workflows. Middle managers remain essential for mentorship and psychological safety.

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