Chain of command

How seriously is the chain of command taken in your group? In my group the analysts are doing basically every single thing when building out the deck. I just don't get it sometimes because I feel like it takes more effort to type out the comment via email and having to explain it vs. doing it yourself. But I guess that's part of the many joys of being a first year - doing all the grunt work. 

Assume this is pretty standard given we're in an industry that's very hierarchical, but I'm curious how prevalent it is and whether things have changed over the last few years.