komentoketju

Komentoketju is a Finnish term that denotes the formal line of authority and responsibility within an organization, or the sequence of commands that are issued and carried out. The concept is used especially in military, governmental, and corporate contexts to describe how orders flow from the top down through intermediate managers to frontline staff. The structure is typically a vertical hierarchy, with each level having defined roles and reporting relationships, ensuring accountability and coordinated action. A clearly defined komentoketju helps prevent conflicting instructions and facilitates decision-making, delegation, and supervision. In practice, it may be codified in organizational charts, procedures, or operating guidelines, and it can adapt to different scales—from a small team to a large bureaucracy.

In computing and information technology, komentoketju can also refer to a sequence of commands or instructions that are executed in a specific order. This usage appears in scripts, batch processes, or pipelines, where the output of one command becomes the input for the next. The underlying idea is the same: an ordered chain of control and actions that accomplish a task.

Etymology: compound of komento 'command' and ketju 'chain'. See also chain of command, hierarchy, authority, and scripting.