organizational design

The waste of the “reverse” flat organization

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-17-14

I recently wrote about whether “flat” organizational designs are flat or not, along with Zappos decision to eliminate managers. There are many reasons that they are not. But I’ve also encountered a different organizational design that I call the “reverse flat” organization. In a flat organization, each manager has many

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How "flat" should an organization really be? Zappos eliminates managers

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 01-09-14

Lean means getting rid of managers, developing a flat organizational structure, and abdicating all responsibilities to the front line employees. Right? Too many people just read that without twitching. But it’s wrong. That’s not lean at all. Before going too far, lean also doesn’t mean adding organizational layers. There is

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