I quoted Conway’s law, not so long ago on this blog:
Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure.
But now I think about it, it doesn’t go deep enough, I would add this:
Further to this, any organization with a strong hierarchy (defined broadly) will usually have a communication structure that represents the mental state of the highest node of the hierarchy.
What this means very simply is, in a strong hierarchy, if you have a leader with strong silo-ing of the faculties of the brain, so someone who doesn’t balance well between creative and logic, then you will have a company that separates itself into Silo’s of creativity and logic. If you have a leader that does not learn, then the communication structure will represent that in-ability to not learn by never improving. Conversely if you have a leader that’s for example well organized, or has a strong sense of social justice, then the communication structure of the organisation will be well organized, with good channels from top to bottom to allow the flow of communication.