Abstract
For the last couple of years organizations have been
urged to flatten their hierarchical structures in order to increase
flexibility of employees and to empower employees with the decision
making discretion. Flattening or delayering of organizational
structures refers to the elimination of layers in a firm’s organizational
hierarchy and the broadening of manager’s span of control. The
decision to push down decision making to the lower levels of the
organization presents employees with the freedom to be responsible
for everything they do and also to be held accountable. Though it
may have been suggested that flattened organizations are flexible and
proactive, this paper will identify that through the flattened
organizations managers still take the major decision regarding the
organizations success and that the goal of flattening hierarchies isn’t
always achieved after implementation.