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  • Fall 2012
  • Article
  • California Management Review

The Flattening Firm—Not As Advertised

By: Julie Wulf
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

For decades, management consultants and the popular business press have urged large firms to flatten their hierarchies. Flattening (or delayering, as it is also known) typically refers to the elimination of layers in a firm's organizational hierarchy and the broadening of managers' spans of control. The alleged benefits of flattening flow primarily from pushing decisions downward to enhance customer and market responsiveness and to improve accountability and morale. Has flattening delivered on its promise to push decisions downward? In this article, I present evidence suggesting that while firms have delayered, flattened firms can exhibit more control and decision making at the top. Managers take note. Flattening can lead to exactly the opposite effects from what it promises to do.

Keywords

Organizational Structure; Governance Controls; Decision Making

Citation

Wulf, Julie. "The Flattening Firm—Not As Advertised." California Management Review 55, no. 1 (Fall 2012): 5–23.
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More from the Author

    • April 2014
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    Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management

    By: Maria Guadalupe, Hongyi Li and Julie Wulf
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    Pay Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive Compensation

    By: Claudine Gartenberg and Julie Wulf
    • May–June 2012
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    The Rise of the Functional Manager: Changes Afoot in the C-Suite

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More from the Author
  • Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management By: Maria Guadalupe, Hongyi Li and Julie Wulf
  • Pay Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive Compensation By: Claudine Gartenberg and Julie Wulf
  • The Rise of the Functional Manager: Changes Afoot in the C-Suite By: Maria Guadalupe, Julie Wulf and Hongyi Li
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