Reverse hierarchy: Difference between revisions

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A '''reverse hierarchy''' (or '''inverted pyramid''') is a conceptual [[organizational structure]] that attempts to "invert" or otherwise "reverse" the classical pyramid of [[hierarchical organization]]s.

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In the proposed structure, key decisions are made by the [[employee]]s in direct contact with customers, while progressively senior management positions provide support and help to the customer-facing employees.<ref name=Mosley>{{cite book|last1=Mosley| first1=Donald|title=Supervisory Management|date = 2014| publisher=Cengage Learning| page=125|edition=1st|ref = 1}}</ref>

'''Reverse hierarchy''' is a concept pioneered by the [[Total Quality Management]] movement, which attempts to 'invert' the classical pyramid of [[Hierarchical organisation]].

==History and examples==

It promotes the idea that the most important employees are those who deal daily with the organisations' customers, ie those who would normally be at the 'bottom' of the hierarchy. It is then the role of supervisors and managers (normally 'higher' in the hierarchy) to support these employees and to remove the obstacles that hinder them in satisfying their customers' needs. Thus the 'more senior' people are actually 'lower' in the inverted pyramid, as they have more people to support.

The term "invert the pyramid" is attributed to Jan Carlzon, who transformed SAS airlines by giving front line employees authority to make decisions on the spot.<ref>Carlson, Moments of Truth, Harper Business, 1989</ref> The creation of the reverse hierarchy has been attributed to the [[Nordstrom]] retail organization.<ref name=Mosley /> Other notable adopters of this structure include the [[United Parcel Service]] and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.<ref name=Harigopal>{{cite book|last1=Harigopal|first1=K|title=Management of Organizational Change: Leveraging Transformation|date=April 14, 2006|publisher=SAGE|page=154|edition=1st}}</ref>

==References==

Some organisations claim to be operating in this way when in fact all that has happened is that the organisation chart has been drawn in an inverted fashion.

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[[Category:Management]]

[[Category:Theory of constraints]]

[[Category:Production and manufacturing]]

[[Category:Product management]]

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