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Do We Still Need Managers? An Interview with Peter Klein, PhD

In the past 10 years or so, much has been written about moving companies away from traditional hierarchies and toward a “flatter,” or even “bossless,” model.

Peter Klein, professor of entrepreneurship at Baylor University and coauthor of the new book Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company, sat down with Manager360 cofounder Joel Trammell to talk about this trend.

Does it work? The answer isn’t a clear yes or no, but you’ll learn why managers are still, in the vast majority of cases, required for a company to operate efficiently and effectively.

Topics:

• The straw-man argument against traditional organizational structure

• What critics of rigid hierarchy get right

• Can getting rid of bosses turn a workplace into high school?

• How the remote-work revolution influenced the “flat” approach to management

• Does hierarchy stifle innovation, or encourage it?

Alicia Thrasher

Alicia Thrasher

Alicia is cofounder and CEO of Manager360. Previously, she brought her leadership, vision, and strategic oversight to many executive positions, including leading programs for eBay/PayPal, Google, and Anheuser-Busch. She is the coauthor, with Joel Trammell, of The Manager's Playbook: Make Exceptional People Management Your Competitive Advantage.

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