They actually learned it from tech. The whole Agile, self-organizing teams and flat structure was sold by HR consultants to tech, and years later (because pharma doesn't move very fast and because "innovative" tech did it) they adopted it. Bayer is actually one of the last ones.
It's just the flavor of the month. Matrix organizations were a decade ago. Something new will come along later.
The structure makes some problems better (less bureaucracy because fewer decision makers - no need to get 6 levels of middle management to approve) but creates new problems (lack of visibility across organizations so dumb decisions get made because of a lack of information). The workers basically have to keep doing the same job with fewer resources.
I can't wait until we come full circle and go back to a pyramid org chart structure a la 1950's. It'll be fun to see how the HR consultants sell it.
It's just the flavor of the month. Matrix organizations were a decade ago. Something new will come along later.
The structure makes some problems better (less bureaucracy because fewer decision makers - no need to get 6 levels of middle management to approve) but creates new problems (lack of visibility across organizations so dumb decisions get made because of a lack of information). The workers basically have to keep doing the same job with fewer resources.
I can't wait until we come full circle and go back to a pyramid org chart structure a la 1950's. It'll be fun to see how the HR consultants sell it.