You may observe that a higher-level manager has visibility of an individual and their subordinates within the platform, even when that higher-level manager is not the individual's direct manager. This situation often arises when your organizational structure is configured to allow permission inheritance.
Understanding Permission Inheritance in Hierarchy
The platform's organizational structure is built using a parent-child relationship between Above Units and Units. This structure allows you to manage visibility and permissions efficiently across large parts of your organization.
Parent-Child Relationship: In this structure, a Head of Manager in a parent Above Unit sits higher up the organizational chain than an Head of Manager in a child Above Unit.
By navigating to Academy Workspace> Settings > Organizational Structure, you can locate the “Should Parent-Child Optional Permissions be inherited?” setting.
Note: To access the Organizational Structure setting, apply the Academy filter from the left-hand panel.
Inherited Permissions: When the setting "Should Parent-Child Optional Permissions be inherited?" is enabled, it grants the higher-level manager (in the parent Above Unit) automatic visibility and certain operational permissions over the users and managers in the child Above Units below them.
This design ensures that your organizational leaders have the necessary access to oversee the entire span of their structure, which is the reason the higher-level manager appears to have access to the lower-level manager and their unit.
If your goal is to limit the higher-level manager's visibility or access to the child Above Unit, the parent-child permissions inheritance setting or the specific permissions at each above unit level would need to be reviewed and adjusted. Proper review and configuration of these settings ensure that manager access aligns precisely with your organizational oversight requirements.