We’ve all related to the comedic portrayals of underlings and higher-ups in the Sunday funnies, but those laughs will be harder to come by as those hierarchical relationships begin to disappear. Sure, there’s still a boss, but today you’ll probably find the head honcho sitting at the same cafeteria table with the broom pusher.
The traditional hierarchical arrangement of boss and underling has slowly morphed into more of a linear crew of collaborators. This change has been so rapid, and so widespread, it no longer seems odd to us.
There’s a couple reasons why management has changed in recent years. First, technological advancements have done away with many rote tasks that used to require people hours. And second, collaboration is now considered more effective than the top-to-bottom way of doing things.
This change has been in the works over the past decade, flattening out those hierarchical relationships that once reigned supreme. It used to be that the typical middle manager operated under a vertical structure, with the entry-level workers at the bottom, the CEO at the top, and a range of management sandwiched in between.
Walking into a company today, it may be hard to figure out who is actually in charge. You can no longer depend on dress code or nameplates to identify the middle manager — if they still work there at all. Perhaps these changes stem from the need to respond quickly to a mercurial business environment, in which major innovations occur not just once every few years, but in some cases, weekly or daily.
For the most part, the vanishing middle management position won’t be missed. For today’s businesses, it’s not about being the boss or the underling. It’s about moving forward using every available resource and working as a team.