OBJECTIVE: Understand the meaning, in hospital work, of hierarchical structures present in the organizational culture of Brazilian public hospitals. METHODS: The corpus of research was originated in four theses and six dissertations, and was organized, analyzed and interpreted from the perspective of symbolic anthropology interpretation. RESULTS: Hospitals copied the professional mechanistic bureaucracy and hierarchies, from these structures, produce meanings that indicate a fragmentation of relationships, professional disputes and separations, as well as conflicts and subversive behavior at work. CONCLUSION: The hierarchies in each of the bureaucracies created several clashes that disrupt the workers and their work processes. Reorientation strategies and awareness of the hierarchical boundaries should be studied so that the work is optimized.
Hospitals, public; Organizational culture; Personnel administration, hospital; Nursing staff, hospital