In the Future, hierarchical management structures will be less Essay

In the Future, hierarchical management structures will be less evident. The management of intellectual capital will require ski - Essay Example 230). The tall structure has many levels and many people that are answerable to supervisors. The hierarchy is big such that there is loss of information during communication from the top down and vice versa through the structure. The advantage associated with this is the increase in coordination. Leaning on the background of economic change, many of the traditional approaches to management can no longer be applicable. Higher positions are not given to someone simply because of their hierarchy. Thomas suggests that currently, knowledge and expertise are prioritized (2007). Rao and Krishna define a flat management structure as a â€Å"structure characterised by an overall broad span of control and relatively few hierarchical levels† (2002, p. 357). In recent years, flat structures have been adopted in â€Å"response to the downsizing of businesses in order to increase efficiency and profitability† (Bowyer and Martinelli, 2004, p. 62). Communication takes a smaller route; the messages do not have to travel through larger levels and hence limits the chances of being distorted. Hierarchical management is associated with many disadvantages; as listed by Meehan (2013), communication across departments tends to be less effective, multiple layers increase the salaries at different layers of management, the organization speed is hindered and clients may take longer time before they are attended to, and there could be possibilities of rivalry between departments due to competition. Despite the disadvantages, there are advantages associated with it, but in overall, the disadvantages â€Å"far outweigh the actual and alleged advantages† (Diefenbach, 2013, p. 4). Hierarchical management structures need to be abolished in favour of the more modern management that accommodates creativity and innovation in workforce (Hinks, 2013). This is because the hierarchical management structures and the processes that it implements fail to properly handle change (Kott er, 2011). Case study The case study covers a story of innovation of masking tape as explained by Dawson and Andriopoulos (2009), There was researcher by the name Dick Drew in Minnesota working for a company called 3M which was dealing in sandpaper, one time while he was sent to a body repair shop to do some research on the new release of sandpaper, he found the workers being troubled by a bungled paint work, the workers were working with an auto body and thus they were applying one colour after another while covering the other surfaces with a butcher paper. The problem arose with the use of a very intense adhesive tape which would erase some of the paint job when removing it; this gave an idea to Drew, as noted down by Dawson and Andriopoulos (2009), Drew is suspected to have regarded this event as an ordeal, but went on with his sandpaper testing. After feeling the customers burden, he thought of having one that would be peeled off without affecting the paint so when he went back to his work at 3M, he started the project at their laboratory, the project did not pick up well and the company management directed him to go on with his normal duty while leaving the project, he did not give up rather he decided to keep working underground., It reached a point whereby the manager noticed that Drew was not complying to his orders but he did not summon him, the fortunate thing was that Drew was closing in on an innovation that was going to put the company on high profile. After some time, the