A firm's organisational structure is the result of many things – history, strategy, value chain, product line, competition etc to name but a few.

Flat hierarchies tend to foster creativity but why? What if an entity has a tall hierarchy – drastic transformation is often not an option. Imagine you are the CEO of a large multinational, what are you going to do, ask them to alter their organisational structure?

Flat hierarchies work because of properties such as a) fast links to decision makers, b) fast feedback processes and c) greater intimacy with the problem.

These can be implemented in tall hierarchies too - by implementing cross-linkages, direct links to decision makers and skunkworks.

Other alternatives include asking senior management to sit in open plan offices, reducing the distance and physical barriers between groups, MBWA (management by walking about), managing status differentials and so forth.

From our research athttp://www.creativity-management.com.

Learn more…

Download the MBA research, learn about this topic at http://www.creativity-management.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author's name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

Download the MBA research, learn about this topic at http://www.creativity-management.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kal_Bishop