You say “It’s hard, for example, to think of an organization where the political appointees are at the bottom of the hierarchy and the technocrats on the top.” How about a political campaign? In the US, at least, a campaign tends to run by a few salaried operators in charge of a bunch of volunteers. The operators make a career of it, moving from campaign to campaign, while the volunteers self-select based on political conviction.
You say “It’s hard, for example, to think of an organization where the political appointees are at the bottom of the hierarchy and the technocrats on the top.” How about a political campaign? In the US, at least, a campaign tends to run by a few salaried operators in charge of a bunch of volunteers. The operators make a career of it, moving from campaign to campaign, while the volunteers self-select based on political conviction.
I don’t see any generalizations to draw here.