Two cents worth, one from each of practitioner and scholar points of view:
1. As a management consultant, doing a health-of-the-organization project
several years ago, I found a lot of 1:1 and 2:1 reporting structures -- and
a lot of compartmentalism, jealousy politics, interpersonal tensions, etc.
that seemed out of line. I recommended to the CEO that he move to a
flatter design, based on the idea that a manager ought to be able to handle
5-10 reporting positions, depending on their diversity and his/her skills.
He made some radical changes as a result, and a lot of the problems
appeared to clear up once the adjustment period ended.
2. As entrepreneurs grow their organizations, they appear to go through a
series of management crises related to span / delegation issues. To make
their organizations reflect their beliefs and passions, i.e., to recruit
other people so they can extend their organizational spans effectively,
they have to delegate and train and supervize and inspire in different ways
as the orgs. grow. Larger orgs. seem to have entrepreneurial teams in
place, even if the lead entrepreneur continues to serve as CEO/Chairman,
etc. There are clearly differences in relationships and competences, as
well as roles, when a firm is dependent on one leader-manager, vs. the
situations when teams are able to cross-rough their members' weaknesses.
E. One of my beliefs at this point is that humans differ in their
abilities to inspire and manage. Most empirical studies have failed to
identify any specific organizational size at which a founder over-extends
himself or herself. Entrepreneurs have different abilities to manage
spans. As a result, I no longer use a firm arithmetical definition of
optimal span. I do assess each manager's abilities, relative to the
challenges in front of her or him, and try to coach them toward a mix of
direct authority, delegation&supervision, and recruiting-training of future
delegates that allows the organization to move forward effectively. That
formula becomes more dynamic as organizational environments become more
turbulent, so high growth firms need the most flexible, fastest developing
leaders.
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Prof. Thomas A. Bryant, Ph.D.
Director of Entrepreneurial Management Programs
State of New Jersey Chair in Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Faculty of Management, MEC 326
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
111 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 17102-3027, USA
Tel: (973) 353-1062; e-mail:
tabryant@andromeda.rutgers.edu