Unmasking Hidden Structures: How Flat is the Flat Organization?
(2023) BUSN49 20231Department of Business Administration
- Abstract (Swedish)
- This study explores the idea of flat organizational structures, which are gaining popularity due to their capacity to foster innovation and collaboration. Nevertheless, social interactions inside these organizations can still result in the emergence of social hierarchies, and some employees may hold positions of greater authority and status than others. Therefore, we examine how social hierarchies are created within a flat organizational structure. Further, we use a theoretical reference frame, including informal feedback and social hierarchies, where informal feedback will be used as a theoretical lens to investigate how social hierarchies are created. The study aims to advance our knowledge of how social hierarchies are created within a... (More)
- This study explores the idea of flat organizational structures, which are gaining popularity due to their capacity to foster innovation and collaboration. Nevertheless, social interactions inside these organizations can still result in the emergence of social hierarchies, and some employees may hold positions of greater authority and status than others. Therefore, we examine how social hierarchies are created within a flat organizational structure. Further, we use a theoretical reference frame, including informal feedback and social hierarchies, where informal feedback will be used as a theoretical lens to investigate how social hierarchies are created. The study aims to advance our knowledge of how social hierarchies are created within a flat organization. This study will utilize a qualitative design, specifically semi-structured in-depth interviews with an abductive methodology, emphasizing interpretive traditions and the symbolic interactionist viewpoint. The result shows that there are several ways that social hierarchies can be constructed within a flat organization. We also found that even though the organization is thought to be flat, some people often establish hierarchies based on social norms. However, social hierarchies appear to be challenging to avoid in flat organizational structures. Our study will therefore contribute to the existing literature about the emergence of social hierarchies and how a flat organizational structure is perceived by employees. We will also contribute to the research field of informal feedback since we use informal feedback as a theoretical lens and, therefore, put this concept in a new context. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9129523
- author
- Dreyer, Maja LU and Jensen, Linn LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BUSN49 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9129523
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-27 08:52:21
- date last changed
- 2023-06-27 08:52:21
@misc{9129523,
abstract = {{This study explores the idea of flat organizational structures, which are gaining popularity due to their capacity to foster innovation and collaboration. Nevertheless, social interactions inside these organizations can still result in the emergence of social hierarchies, and some employees may hold positions of greater authority and status than others. Therefore, we examine how social hierarchies are created within a flat organizational structure. Further, we use a theoretical reference frame, including informal feedback and social hierarchies, where informal feedback will be used as a theoretical lens to investigate how social hierarchies are created. The study aims to advance our knowledge of how social hierarchies are created within a flat organization. This study will utilize a qualitative design, specifically semi-structured in-depth interviews with an abductive methodology, emphasizing interpretive traditions and the symbolic interactionist viewpoint. The result shows that there are several ways that social hierarchies can be constructed within a flat organization. We also found that even though the organization is thought to be flat, some people often establish hierarchies based on social norms. However, social hierarchies appear to be challenging to avoid in flat organizational structures. Our study will therefore contribute to the existing literature about the emergence of social hierarchies and how a flat organizational structure is perceived by employees. We will also contribute to the research field of informal feedback since we use informal feedback as a theoretical lens and, therefore, put this concept in a new context.}},
author = {{Dreyer, Maja and Jensen, Linn}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Unmasking Hidden Structures: How Flat is the Flat Organization?}},
year = {{2023}},
}