The World May Be Flat, But Organizations Shouldn’t Be
By Michelle Malay Carter on January 21, 2009
In my last post, I said all work levels have something to contribute to the organization.? When organizations intentionally structure themselves?to be flat, they tend to leave out work level 3.? When de-layering was en vogue, sometimes organizations cut too much, and level 3 was often the layer cut that should not have been.
What Is The Work of Level Three?
There some high level professional roles as independent contributors at level 3 (senior engineers, project managers), but mostly level 3 represents middle management, i.e. the managers of the first level managers.? What do they do besides offering leadership to the first level of management??
Processes
This work level contributes operational processes.?They create processes so that operations must not continuously re-invent the wheel.? They bring uniformity and consistency to operations, and then they continue to tweak the processes to make them cheaper, faster, better.?? Level 3 managers are the creators of best practices, and they write the contingency plans for operations.
What Does It Feel Like to Work in an Organization with No Level Three?
In two words, inefficient and inconsistent.? Without serial processes and contingency planning, every day can feel like a new day for employees.? And?each interaction with customers can leave them feeling like they are interacting with you for the first time as well.? Things are?done, and then redone, frequently without much documentation.? Different managers have different processes for their teams.? Many things are not seen coming.
If a level 4 manager exists, s/he must dip down and do the work at level 3, but that leaves the strategic, future focus work at level 4 undone.
To Tinker or To Design?
When you tinker with organization design without understanding requisite?work levels, you are doing just that, tinkering, not designing.
Have you ever worked for an organization that was missing level 3?
Filed Under Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Strategy, Talent Management, Work Levels
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2 Responses to “The World May Be Flat, But Organizations Shouldn’t Be”
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Back in 1992, the company I worked for at the time laid off my department manager (we developed and delivered employee and customer software and operations training) and eliminated her position. About a year before, our group had been transferred from the marketing division (customer focus) to the maintenance division (repair focus) on the basis that the maintenance division had a training department (to train field repair reps). When our department head was removed, we found ourselves reporting to her former boss, the head of the maintenance training unit.
The new boss was a nice guy, but had no idea what it was that we did–he didn’t understand our software systems, and his group developed training based on their experience as repair techs, whereas our group consisted of trained instructional and graphic designers. Consequently, we were pretty much told “develop this training course” then left to our own devices to figure out who would do it and how we would collaborate and coordinate to get it done.
To his credit, the new boss knew that he couldn’t really direct our work, but his solution was not so fun for me–he took me aside in a private meeting, told me that he expected me to lead our group, but that there would be no promotion and no pay increase (because that would mean restoring the department head’s position that had just been eliminated, and corporate wouldn’t go for that…). Further, he couldn’t tell my peers what his expectation was, because that would set up a defacto situation where I could go to HR and say that I was serving in a role for which I was being paid below grade. He expected me to lead by influence, not by positional authority.
I survived, but it was rough work–I gradually won over two of my peers, while the fourth member of my group begrudgingly went along (but only with a lot of grumbling and resistance). Eventually I did get some small pay raises that put me over the top of my official pay grade–but the price to pay for that was when I was laid off in a subsequent round three years later (I was the tallest blade of grass, after all). I felt like I did what I had been asked to do with honor, but I also felt used and abused. I did not regret leaving that company in the least little bit.
Hi Will,
What a misinformed shame! Glad to hear you got out!
Regards,
Michelle