My first ‘real’ job out of college was with a group of solicitors in Manchester, England. Equipped with my law degree and an attitude, I arrived for work on Monday with a chip firmly planted on my shoulder. New to office politics, I quickly figured out how to navigate the jungle that is corporate culture.

It was a good learning experience, but I initially found it difficult to grasp the hierarchy entrenched within the organization. The mail clerks and copy center folks mingled with another. The legal secretaries gossiped all day. The paralegals who failed their Legal Practice Course were typically bitter and disgruntled. The associates in their early years drank pints of coffee and looked haggard from training to obtain the minimum billable hours required; they complained exclusively to each other how painful the job was. And at the top of the food chain sat the partners, who with many years under their belt at the firm, moved at a comfortable pace and took long lunches with their peers. The pecking order was fairly absolute, although I did my best to make friendships at all levels of the organization.

I observed the order of command with a good deal of amusement, as I genuinely did not see the value and benefit in being so categorized. Each layer of the onion had its own distinct role, and tasks never blurred. Rarely did I see people working together as a team, but rather as distinctly separate part of a well oiled machine.

The qualification surrounding the practice of law is merely that – a qualification. It’s not a special skill. It’s merely a learned knowledge. However, I want to explicitly point out that it’s not an honor earned lightly or easily. Law is a vocational education - not exclusively reserved for any particular sect or creed – and I therefore am often confused by the stigma of prestige it carries.

Back to this observation surrounding the hierarchy. I started to wonder, why is seniority so coveted and valuable? As a bright young person, I wanted to be rewarded on the merits of the work I did. Yes, I ‘may lack experience’ – but look at my results! Surely that’s all that matters, isn’t it?

Sadly no. That’s a rather naïve way of thinking. There’s many other factors that contribute to this ideal of seniority.

1. Fear of elimination at the management level for starters - jeapordy of job security is not to be taken lightly

2. If someone new to the workforce can be brought on board for cheaper, a smart company might give a costly employee the axe

3. Hesitance to give up control - a company that’s been operating at a certain pace for a long time will be resistant to change

4. In some industries, there’s also concern over trade secrets being leaked - a newbie does not possess the same allegiance to an organization that a veteran staff member does.

When trying to incorporate collaborative technologies into hierarchical organizations, there’s bound to be some resistance. And can you blame them? No. But can you want to try to convince them to change? Absolutely.