Process‐ Versus Function‐Based Hierarchies

Julio Rotemberg

Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 1999, vol. 8, issue 4, 453-487

Abstract: I consider a firm's choice between having people who carry out complementary tasks report to the same manager and having them report to separate, function‐based managers. Even supposing that the former enhances coordination, the latter may be preferred because it improves the firm's control over employees. I show that, because switching from a function‐based hierarchy to a process‐based hierarchy reduces the firm's direct control, it raises the attractiveness of making the employee pay more sensitive to performance. Also, this switch tends to raise the profitability of fostering altruism between employees. I extend the analysis so that it deals with the relative benefits of IT‐ and M‐form organizations. I show that the M form becomes more profitable as the firm gets large.

Date: 1999
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1430-9134.1999.00453.x

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:8:y:1999:i:4:p:453-487

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... ref=1058-6407&site=1

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Economics & Management Strategy from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().