Boundary conditions for effective delegation in flat structures

For flat structures to succeed, managers need to delegate decision-making authority to their employees and grant them more autonomy. However, for such high-delegation regimes to work, certain boundary-setting parameters or guardrails must be put in place to guide employees’ decisions and actions. The literature has already identified several guardrails that can be used by any organization facing the challenge of delegating decision-making authority without losing control. In this essay, we discuss two that are especially suited for flat structures.