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Zusammenfassung von Why Managers Matter

Name: Why Managers Matter
Rating: 3.5 (178 reviews)
Author: Nicolai J. Foss & Peter G. Klein

Nicolai J. Foss & Peter G. Klein

The Perils of the Bossless Company

3.5 (178 Bewertungen)

19 Min.

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'Why Managers Matter' by Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein highlights the essential role of management in creating and sustaining successful organizations. It challenges the common misconception that managers are merely 'overhead' and presents strong evidence to support the idea that effective management is critical to a company's success.

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What’s in it for me? Discover the benefits and drawbacks of both hierarchical and bossless company organizations.

How is your workplace structured? Is there a clear hierarchy, with employees and bosses, and orders handed out from higher-ups? Or does every employee have a sense of autonomy, free to make the rules as they work?

Whether your workplace is one or the other, how well do you think that current structure is working?

Chances are your company has fluctuated – or will at some point – between different styles of internal organization. Often, these changes come as a response to the company’s growth – or its failures.

Recently, the idea of a bossless company has exploded in popularity. Supporters of the idea advocate for a company without managers or leaders. Instead, the employees are autonomous and empowered, work cooperatively together, and hold no authority over anyone but themselves.

In their book Why Managers Matter, Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein explore the popularity of a flat, bossless company structure. They show that the real-life examples touted by supporters of the idea aren’t actually as flat and leaderless as they seem. Nor, as it happens, is hierarchy as terrible as it’s made out to be.

In this Blink, we’ll look at what hierarchy actually is, explore the idea of a bossless company, and compare some of the benefits and drawbacks of each type of organization.

Ultimately, we’ll see why neither hierarchy nor bosslessness is the perfect organizational solution and why that’s no reason to despair. There are many examples of how finding the right balance of organizational qualities can help companies excel and we’ll explore a few later in this Blink. But first, let’s start with what actually defines hierarchy.

What does it mean to have a hierarchical or bossless structure?

When you think of hierarchy, what do you picture? Feudal overlords making life miserable for peasants? Overpaid CEOs? Layers of middle management that slow down all communications in a company?

These are examples of hierarchy, to be sure. But they’re extreme examples of ineffective implementation of hierarchy.

According to Foss and Klein, hierarchy is a response to the difficulties of building a complex organization that involves many people. Hierarchy is needed to effectively manage relationships and cooperation among workers and to keep people’s varied motives and interests aligned.

Hierarchy isn’t as simple as giving certain people command and control over others. Although it is giving power over others to some people, the purpose and extent of that power must be carefully defined.

Hierarchy establishes procedures and policies. It gives people a blueprint for managing the complexities of working together and solving problems or disputes. A satisfactorily arranged hierarchy involves not just power distribution but also provides structural support for a company’s operations.

So if that’s what a standard hierarchy model looks like, then what are the key aspects of a bossless company? This organizational style is also known as a flat structure or a leaderless company. Taking away layers of management within a company is known as decentralizing, and it’s a key aspect of a flat organizational structure.

At its most basic, this structure sets every employee equal to every other employee. Decisions are made using consensus or a vote. No one has any authority over anyone but themselves, and everyone works together equally to both set and achieve the company’s goals.

At its most extreme, a flat organization might not even have any job titles or specific responsibilities attached to any one person. Everyone is equally responsible for completing tasks as they see fit in order to achieve the company’s goals, which would, theoretically, also be set by everyone in agreement with everyone else.

Proponents of the bossless structure argue the bad outweighs the good when considering hierarchy’s effects. But is that really true? In the next section, we’ll explore the benefits and drawbacks of a hierarchical business structure.

Benefits and drawbacks of hierarchy.

If you were to rate hierarchy on a scale of good to bad, how would you personally rate it?

For many people, the answer falls toward the negative side of the scale. And it’s no wonder! Hierarchy often comes with a lot of negative connotations – consider the stereotypes of a micromanaging boss, out-of-touch higher-ups who demand the impossible of their employees, and so on. But if this were all hierarchy had to offer, it wouldn’t so naturally crop up in human societies.

Benefits and drawbacks of a leaderless organization.

If you haven’t personally experienced the frustration and resentment a bad boss can cause, you’re one of the lucky ones. But you’ve probably at least heard of someone else’s bad boss, right? If managers are so often ineffective – or worse, outright hindrances – why not do away with them altogether?

This is much of the motivation behind the push for a flat, bossless structure.

Finding a balance.

So we’ve covered the qualities of both hierarchical and leaderless companies. But, as with many things in our world, there’s not a true dichotomy here. Most companies exist somewhere along the spectrum of a hierarchical to leaderless structure. The trick is finding the right balance for each company.

According to Foss and Klein, no business can truly exist without some kind of hierarchy. As we saw in the last section, Valve is often touted as an example of a leaderless company but still has an informal ruling class.

Final Summary

In the end, there’s no clear answer to whether a hierarchical or flat organizational structure is better. As we discovered, both structures have their benefits and drawbacks. Ultimately, neither a strictly hierarchical nor a fully bossless company is completely practical. The best balance of these styles can only be determined for each individual business on its own. Employees often don’t need input from their managers to accomplish day-to-day tasks and even some small-scale, unusual situations. But in times of upheaval and struggle – or with great growth in a company – the supportive structure of managers and top-down decision-making can be essential.

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Worum geht es in Why Managers Matter?

Why Managers Matter (2022) outlines the benefits and drawbacks of different company organizational styles. It explains when and why a company might prefer hierarchies vs. a bossless environment depending on its workflows.

Wer Why Managers Matter lesen sollte

Business executives deciding on the best structure for their companies
Scholars and leaders comparing hierarchical structures and flat organizations
Anyone interested in organizational structure and managerial strategy

Über den Autor

Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein are professors of strategy and entrepreneurship, respectively. Both have completed extensive research and writings on business strategy and organization studies. They’ve been collaborating for over 20 years and are also coauthors of Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment and Austrian Perspectives on Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Organization.

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