Primary and/or secondary communication groups can be assigned to users with communication devices arranged in a hierarchy (FIG. 4). A set of humans are assigned to a role in a role-based hierarchy. A communication device (404) is assigned to the set of humans for communication over a network. One or more secondary communication groups are determined for the communication device (120). The one or more determined secondary communication groups are primary communication groups of other devices used by one or more other humans assigned roles in the role-based hierarchy. Secondary communication group settings are programmed for the communication device (124), where the group settings are consistent with the determined secondary communication groups.