Well, I think it is very important to note the difference between thickness of the organization, and thickness of the personalities.
Yes, the organization was four layers deep. In my sector, for most of my time there it was me->PM->VP->CEO. But note the VP was always open to my simply walking into their office to chat about whatever was on my mind. They encouraged it. The place was pretty thin and transparent until that last layer, and that was a block of personality (the CEO really wasn't all that interested in our input).
And later on, after our old CEO left, I effectively reported directly to the new CEO - and the structure was still as opaque, as he really didn't care much about my opinions, and apparently was simply waiting for a good time to get rid of me. While technically the structure was less thick, the personalities were still an issue.
The point being - in terms of management strategy you deal with a thickness of personality a whole lot differently from a thickness of actual structure or process.
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Yes, the organization was four layers deep. In my sector, for most of my time there it was me->PM->VP->CEO. But note the VP was always open to my simply walking into their office to chat about whatever was on my mind. They encouraged it. The place was pretty thin and transparent until that last layer, and that was a block of personality (the CEO really wasn't all that interested in our input).
And later on, after our old CEO left, I effectively reported directly to the new CEO - and the structure was still as opaque, as he really didn't care much about my opinions, and apparently was simply waiting for a good time to get rid of me. While technically the structure was less thick, the personalities were still an issue.
The point being - in terms of management strategy you deal with a thickness of personality a whole lot differently from a thickness of actual structure or process.