Manageable or Not? (Step II)

Abstract

In our second diagnostic step, we encounter the First Axiom of Management, which concerns the manageability of operations. Based on Ashby’s law, it states that the variety of the horizontal axis of control (System 1) must be equal to the variety of the vertical axis of control (senior management). This vertical axis has six paths for managing operational complexity. But is it strong enough? This chapter looks at how horizontal and vertical variety are balanced against each other. But we also want to know what exactly should be done if senior management turns out to be too weak. Finally, we want to examine whether we can flatten the organization by one or more levels of recursion so that it still remains manageable.