Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (1997). Harvard Business Review.


The traditional theory of management is that at each organizational level, managers play similar roles and have similar responsibilities, only for a different size and scope of activities. The metaphor is that of the Russian doll; at each level of the hierarchy, the manager is similar but bigger than the manager a level below. Over the last decade, top-level managers have recognized the limitations of the classic hierarchy. Based on analysis of the experiences of 20 large European, American, and Asian companies, this paper presents a model of the roles that front-line, senior, and top-level managers need to play for companies to achieve the organizational capabilities they are seeking. Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (1997). Harvard Business Review.