Question

one of the current trends in organization is flatter organization structures. what types of businesses do you think benefit most from this type of structure? do you think a flat structure coild work for a very large organization with several thousand employees? why or why not?

Answer 1

Flat organization or horizontal organization is new trend in the market where there will be no or less middle management positions exists. Most of Information technology companies / research companies and companies which requires high education qualifications such as post graduation (MBA) would get benefited with this type of structure. Reason is the employees are highly educated, need NO or less supervision as they are self reliant and behave professionally. Flatter organization removes unnecessary layers in the hierarchy which helps in improving the communication. This is very much needed for companies mentioned above as it leads to improve the speed of execution and more insights in designing and developing a product.

It may work or may not work for large organizations as it depends on the industry and its employees. This type of organization structure cannot be implemented in factories as most factory workers need a supervisor or proper hierarchy to report.It does not mean all IT companies can be Flat organizational model. Latest trend in project "Agile" says teams should be self managed and there shouldn't unnecessary clutters and no multiple bosses for a team. This gives more clarity to the team what should they work on and when. So, before implementing it, companies should consider their industry model, business structure, project/operation methodology and employee qualifications.