flat organization

Also found in: Wikipedia.

flat organization

an ORGANIZATION which has only a few managerial layers. This avoids excessive bureaucracy (see TALL ORGANIZATION); decision-making is more closely in touch with customer needs and the organization is able to adapt quickly to changes in its external environment. Small firms are usually flat organizations, but increasingly larger firms have attempted to improve their competitiveness by cutting down on their management structures and by establishing more focused business divisions. See STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNIT, RIGHTSIZING, HIERARCHY, DELAYERING.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

How should sustainment warrant officers use the characteristics of a flat organization to provide commanders with additional leverage?

Mission Command and the Sustainment Warrant Officer: Recent organizational changes have increased the need for sustainment warrant officers to understand and execute mission command

It renders the government with its agencies as nodes connected to other nodes from business and civil society-and these node connections form a spread, that is, a flat organization placing high value on cooperation for development.

Governance challenges for Baguio City's creative economy

I love that we are a flat organization and we can move quickly.

Endcap: Judy Spires is CEO of Parsippany, N J.-based Kings Food Markets and Balducci's Food Lover's Market

We have a very flat organization. There is almost no top-down policy.

SWEDEN: THE ROLE OF THE STATE IN THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

It was always a relatively flat organization and it has gotten flatter.

Seasoned supervisor: as head of UBS' West Division, Lane Strumlauf has his hands full. Fortunately, he has a head full of ideas and the professional experience to help him meet the challenge

A decentralized, flat organization started to emerge--especially on Facebook--and created an opportunity for this movement to prosper.

Remaking social media for the next revolution

In the digital age, you really need to have a flat organization, a flat environment, he said, referring to many of the office structures of Silicon Valley's most successful technology companies.

PLDT wants to move out of Makati CBD, sell property

Its company culture is one that is flat, open and creative." A flat organization is one where there is no (or very few) levels of management in between staff and executives.

The 10 Best Companies on the Culture Scale

Deputy Director Marion Ekpuk succinctly described the structure: "Despite our titles, we operated as a flat organization. We wanted to create an environment that facilitated information sharing and free debate about topics for which there might not be only one right answer." And in the months after the April 2014 launch, the QDDR Office indeed had an academic air about it, one in which theories, possibilities and research trajectories swirled freely.

'Puzzle' solved: QDDR office produces new review

It's an extremely flat organization. The project managers report directly to me, and I have people on my staff who oversee programs.

Light-touch management with social media: Jason Crusan: as director of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division, Jason Crusan takes an open approach to managing the projects that will deliver the next generation of human spaceflight capability

"Because we are young, at the onset [its founders] wanted it to be a very flat organization, that is, very nimble and easy to work with," says Yeigh.