In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about the skills gaps in our workforce and raised the issue of the stripped out middle management level of our organization charts where development toward senior leadership often occurs. I received a lot of feedback. One of my friends, who must be kept anonymous because he does consulting for management in India and doesn't want to offend anyone, described some real nightmares of flat org charts.

Here is his story. Many organizations in India and other countries compete based on efficiency which has led to very, very flat org charts. This means that a single manager could have 50, 100 or, in some cases, 150 direct reports. He said this results in never getting decisions from management on new initiatives for improvement, thus their efficiency advantage is eroding. The model is broken.

Based on my experience, the problems with this type of organizational design manifest themselves in many ways. My consultant friend and a few of my contacts, faced with the burden of a flat org chart, confirmed these problems are real.

1.       Managers often don't conduct any type of performance review with employees, because they do not know the individuals well enough to accomplish a review, and the volume is overwhelming.
2.       With no personal engagement from your boss because he or she is spread too thin across too many employees, your loyalty to management and company can be non-existent, thus turnover is huge.
3.       Managers are dealing with turnover and hiring at such excessive levels that they have no opportunity to attend to the strategy of the organization or to the innovation which might help the company leap forward.
4.       Employees see little opportunity for advancement within the organization, as there is no where to advance, so they leave.
5.       As mentioned in my earlier blog, without sufficient levels of middle management who can develop their leadership skills, communicate the needs of the organization to senior management, or have time to spend on innovations and business improvements, the organization develops large gaps in skill sets for leadership, especially senior leadership.

The world is not flat; your org chart shouldn't be either.

Cheers,
Lois

Lois Melbourne is CEO and Co-Founder of Aquire, Inc., a provider of visual workforce planning and management solutions based in Irving, Texas.