Invented at the advent of the industrial era more than 150 years ago, the org chart visualizes a method of coordinating corporate activity through a pyramid of management layers. Information flows up the organization. Decisions cascade back down. Roles are fixed, as are reporting relationships.
Businesses that learn, adapt and create behave in none of these ways. Information flows up, down and—most powerfully—across the organization, through networks. Decision-making is pushed to the autonomous team, which has the best information and must act on it quickly. Roles change, as do the teams that do the work.
Emptied of useful function, the org chart today sustains bad behaviors. Managers retreat to their silos, frustrating collaboration. Layers of hierarchy distort information and impede agility. Left alone in roles of diminishing value, managers pursue pointless and perpetual re-orgs that sap energy and encourage in-fighting.