How Much Can Tech Firms Flatten Span of Control?

Meta’s effort to flatten management does raise logical questions about effective span of control in technology organizations. The span of control refers to the number of direct reports any single manager can effectively work with.

To be sure, spans might differ from firm to firm, based on the functional activities each engages in. The military span of control, for example, might be different from that of technology organizations.

But span of control always is limited to a small number of direct reports, usually described as topping out around seven people. Any large organization, therefore, is going to have lots of people who are essentially "managing managers." 

The actual span of control arguably varies by the type of tasks to be managed. Highly unstructured work might have a limit of three to five direct reports. 

Highly-structured work, such as in call centers, might allow spans as large as 15 or more. The point is that spabn of control is always sharply limited. So any large organization is going to have many people who are essentially managing other managers.