Delayering Camille + Conor The process of removing levels of hierarchy from an organisation's structure. Delayering has become an effective way of improving overall efficiency of an organisation. Sometimes used as a convenient term to replace ‘redundancies’. UK businesses these days emphasise the need to diversify or differentiate to maintain sales and market share or to create awareness. A way to do this would be to empower staff and encourage team-working that will create ideas.

Santa’s Workshop Levels of Hierarchy: Mrs Claus Assistant Head Elf Levels of Hierarchy at Santa’s workshop. Each level gets 10 gingerbread men more than the level below it for salary. Rudolph Reindeers and Elves

Santa Santa is having problems with the efficiency of his workshop. Sales of gingerbread men aren't very high and he only produces many of them as salary for his workers. He wants to reduce production of gingerbread men to save money and allow focus elsewhere in the workshop.

The Elves Upon evaluation, the assistant head elf actually does the same job as the normal elves almost. The only difference, he does constant checks of the elves work which actually slows production and is unnecessary due to the fact Santa’s elves already have QC checks in place as part of their job descriptions. His supervisory role is not needed and its costing Santa’s workshop in efficiency and gingerbread men. Santa removes the assistant head elf. The Head Elf now has an increased span of control, but it is Santa’s orders that all reindeers and elves take responsibility for their work as a team so this does not affect production, but with assistant head elf gone it actually increases efficiency and reduces costs.

Advantages It offers opportunities for delegation. It can improve communication. It can remove departmental rivalry. It can reduce costs. It offers opportunities for delegation this can give employees empowerment and motivation as the number of managers is reduced and more authority is given to shop-floor workers. If shop-floor workers are given more power then they may feel that they want to rise to the challenge and this can result in the business having a more effective work force. The workers who are lower down in the hierarchy may also feel more valued with their new responsibilities. It can improve communication within the business as messages have to pass through fewer levels of hierarchy It can remove departmental rivalry if department heads are removed as the workforce is organised in teams It can reduce costs as fewer employees are required and employing middle managers can be expensive

Disadvantages Not all organisations are suited to flatter organisational structures. A period of disruption may occur. Those managers remaining will have a wider span of control. Not all organisations are suited to flatter organisational structures for example mass production industries with low-skilled employees may not adapt easily as it may be harder to find suitable employees to delegate new responsibilities to. A period of disruption may occur as people take on new responsibilities and fulfil new roles, as they may not be experienced and need some help with being able to handle their responsibilities Those managers remaining will have a wider span of control which, if it is too wide, can damage communication within the business and may lead to managers making bad decisions as their work load may become too heavy