You Have an Org Chart, but Work is Ad Hoc: Can This Organization Keep Growing?

If reporting brings no decisions, or if a designated leader finds priorities shifted by someone else's instructions, the organization's operational foundation for sustainable growth needs review. Unclear reporting and decision-making systems can lead to repetitive delays, rework, and heavy reliance on specific individuals. While an organizational chart alone cannot determine growth potential, consistent operation—knowing who decides, who is notified, and how conflicts are resolved—is essential to sustaining performance even as workloads grow and personnel change. What Flattened Hierarchies Replaced Bayer's experience shows that simplifying an organizational chart is quite different from simplifying organizational operations. In its 2025 annual report, the company explained the introduction of an operating model called Dynamic Shared Ownership (DSO) starting in 2024. While the direction i…