Corporate Trimming

On 7 Feb., 2022

One of the features of slimmed down corporate organizations is, of course

Corporate Trimming

One of the features of slimmed down corporate organizations is, of course, fewer layers of management. Along with that is the likelihood that many former staff functions have been trimmed back or eliminated completely. This may not affect supervisors who work for small companies which have typically sparse management and staff ranks. On the other hand, if you’re employed in a mid-size to large corporation, the loss of staff and management support can make your job harder.

Although the theory goes that eliminating layers of management makes top-to-bottom communication quicker, there are also some pitfalls that aren’t so readily pointed out. For example, many of the missing middle managers knew how to steer specific requests in the right direction. They were also savvy about what top management was looking for in terms of presentations for such matters as hiring additional people or buying new equipment. Since this form of guidance isn’t readily available today, you may find yourself learning
how to support your own case when seeking something from upper levels of management (wikipedia.org).

Also, with fewer middle managers available as gatekeepers for top management, formal requests for action may become backlogged since they will not have been pre-screened prior to presentation. As a result, individual items may actually take longer to go through the approval process. What can happen is that while something can go from the working level to topside more quickly, the time saved this way can be wasted with items waiting around for top managers to complete their reviews.

A related difficulty you may face is having to work without a great deal of staff support in many areas. Corporate trimming may have eliminated staff functions or sharply reduced their scope. Therefore, much of the expertise you used to call upon in specialized areas of personnel services and other staff functions may no longer be available to you. You may find yourself having to spend more time searching for answers that were formerly furnished by a staff member. So, although any slimmed down management structure may have increased your access to higher management, the loss of staff functions and guidance from middle managers may offset this advantage. However, whatever your personal situation may be, there are tactics you can use to counter this drop in support.

Corporate Trimming
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