A flat management structure was all the rage through the 90s and into recent times. It works well for the CEO as she can stay in touch with people at the bottom of the organisation. People in the lower ranks also like it as it allows them access to people right at the top.
However to be flat each people manager has to have a big team. This means they have to go well beyond the 5 which is recommended by expert experience and academic study.
This means that they may sacrifice control and knowledge for the flat structure. Each manager will feel she is sitting on a powder keg and will be only partially aware of issues and personalities in the team. This may not matter when their jobs are relatively simple, but difficult when their jobs are complex.
It will be interesting to see which type appears in the Top 20 b2b customer rating page at https://gibli.com/top-20 when larger organisations become better recommended.
At the moment it is almost all small businesses which are being rated as fantastic by their customers.
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