A method (300) and a corresponding system for allocating resources in a hierarchical data processing system are proposed. The system includes a plurality of nodes that are arranged in a tree. Each leaf-node, or client, controls corresponding local resources, while each intermediate node, or domain manager, controls global resources that are visible to all its dependent nodes; the global resources defined on a root node, or master domain manager, are then visible to all the nodes of the system. Whenever a job, being submitted (306) on a generic client, requests a set of resources for its execution, the request is sent (309,318,327) through the tree to the master domain manager. The master domain manager allocates (339) the corresponding global resources as soon as they are all available; this event enables (345) its child node (in a path to the client) to perform the same operations, and so on down to the client itself. Once the client has allocated (357) the corresponding local resources, the execution of the job can be launched (360).