It's true in lots of work situations besides the military. Also, taking turns to let other people speak and doing things in an orderly fashion is the basis of legislative and court proceedings, as well as more basic things like not driving your car on the sidewalk or ignoring red traffic lights. My personal opinion is that humans in groups tend to engage in lowest-common-denominator behavior by default, and hierarchical structures are useful for preventing crowds from degenerating into mobs.