Why Managers Matter matters: replies and reflections

The editors of the Journal of Organization Design invited several organization design scholars to provide brief reflections on our book Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company. The contributors have raised a host of interesting and important issues related to the theme of the book, including thoughtful objections to some of our arguments as well as suggestions on different roads forward for research in organization design. These include the need to distinguish more strongly between top and middle management, to include broader psychological ramifications of bossless companies, to treat in greater detail the implications of self-selection into distinct kinds of organizations, to consider more carefully the implications of our argument that to some extent humans are biologically hardwired for hierarchy, and to explore the particular challenges for flat organizations that pursue “social” goals. In this brief comment, we summarize some reactions to the essays, clarify a few misunderstandings, and suggest additional work to be done.