Organizational Design and Workforce Analytics
Our expertise
Our general expertise covers the entire spectrum of designing organizations – defining relevant units and reporting lines – and job profiles – including skills, responsibilities, accountabilities, and rights.
Our specific expertise lies in designing human-centric organizations that excel in meeting strategic goals. We are particularly well-known for our work on novel forms of organizing – notably organizations that rely less on hierarchical control and focus on employee self-organization. For more information, also visit www.betterflatter.com
Conceptually, we pursue so-called micro-organizational approaches. Here, instead of picking standard solutions – divisional, functional, or matrix forms – from the shelf, we design custom-tailored collaborative structures based on objective strategic needs, people’s preferences and abilities to work more or less autonomously, applicability of artificial intelligence, and recruiting constraints and opportunities.
“Get better at flatter – a guide to shaping and leading organizations with less hierarchy,” Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2022.
Our methods
Methodologically, we
- Engage in question-driven workshops with practice partners, and we
- Complement this approach by using state-of-the-art large data-based organizational design and workforce analytics developed in-house. For more information on one of our key benchmarking tools, see the short flyer below.
Benchmarking Organizational Design and Workforce Characteristics
Unlocking potential through and optimal organizational structure and talent strategy
Further Readings
Non-technical
Reitzig, M., Heiss, K., “People Follow Structure: How a Flatter Hierarchy Changes the Workforce”, Sloan Management Review, Summer 2025.
Reitzig, M., “How to Get Better at Flatter Designs: Considerations for Shaping and Leading Organizations with Less Hierarchy”, Journal of Organization Design, 11 2022, 5-10.
Technical
Alexy, O., Pötz, K., Puranam, P., Reitzig, M. "Adaptation or Persistence? Emergence and Revision of Organization Designs in New Ventures," Organization Science, 32/6 2021, 1439-1472.
Klapper, H. Reitzig, M. "On the Effects of Authority on Peer Motivation: Learning from Wikipedia," Strategic Management Journal, 39/8 2018, 2178-2203.
Reitzig, M., Maciejovsky, B. “Corporate Hierarchy and Vertical Information Flow within the Firm - a Behavioral View,” Strategic Management Journal, 36/13 2015, 1979–1999.
Puranam, P. and Alexy, O., Reitzig, M. “What's 'New' about New Forms of Organizing?,” Academy of Management Review, 39/2 2014, 162-180.
Lecuona Torras, R., Reitzig, M. “Knowledge worth having in 'Excess': The Value of Tacit and Firm-specific Human Resource Slack,” Strategic Management Journal, 35/7 2014, 954-973.