Tall and Flat

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The structure of business organizations can be described as either tall or flat. While both tall and flat organization structures have there advantages and disadvantages, the main difference is the layers of management. Smaller companies are more likely to have flatter structures than larger ones. The reason for this is that smaller companies have fewer levels of management than larger companies. In a tall organizational structure there are multiple layers of authority between the CEO and low-level employees. Larger companies hire more employees. For example the United States military needs a tall structure so that employees can be supervised with maximum control. Although In a flat organizational structure there may be just one top manager who is an owner or CEO of the company, overseeing a handful of other employees, all with equal levels of authority. This leads to greater employee empowerment and innovation. Tall or flat organizations structures have different organizational complexity which leads to differences in employee motivation, flexibility, communication, management, and costs. There are many pros and cons to tall organizational structure. Taller organizational structures center decision-making responsibility at the upper layers of a company. Tall structure gives a clear line of responsibility and promotion structure with many layers of middle management between top management and employees. Each layer of management often develops its own rules and procedures. Employee satisfaction may be lower in a tall organization because of the many layers of bureaucracy. By having many layers of management communication takes a long time to travel from the bottom to top and it can be very difficult for decisions to be made. This leads to higher costs because of the large number of managers, supervisors and employees. Beaureucracy can make employees frustrated by

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