ABSTRACT
The traditional image of an organizational pyramid and of management being the task of controlling ever increasing numbers of people is redundant. This chapter describes its influence by persisting with the systems and styles of management devised to support it. Much of the industry still designs structures that ignore changes in technology, new skill sets, communication developments and the sheer pace and extent of change that these, and other more economic pressures, impose on organizations. Flat organizations, decentralized decision-making and powerful information technology drive a very different form of management process. The implementation of key decisions becomes extremely important in the new organizations, particularly when they involve major change: the old-style process of a small group of senior managers developing a total 'solution' can no longer be seen as valid. If management is no longer about control, but about gaining commitment through the empowerment of others, then what is required is genuine leadership.
