Rethinking Spans and Layers

Session leaders: Alexis Fink and Alec Levenson

Tuesday, October 27, 2026 8:00 am PDT (Los Angeles) | 11:00 am EDT (New York) | 3:00 pm GMT (London)

(1.5 hours duration)

What if the problem with most “spans and layers” exercises is that they optimize for cost reduction while undermining the very organizational effectiveness they are meant to improve?

“Spans and layers” is back. Rising costs, productivity pressures, and demands for greater efficiency mean many organizations are once again turning to organizational structure as a lever for cost reduction. But in many cases, the conversation is being framed far too narrowly.

Traditional spans-and-layers exercises often default to blunt cost-cutting logic: reduce management layers, increase spans of control, remove headcount, and assume efficiency follows. Yet organizations frequently discover that these approaches create unintended consequences—decision bottlenecks, leadership overload, weaker capability development, reduced coordination, and declining organizational effectiveness.

Join us for a live 90-minute Enterprise Effectiveness Network session in which Alexis Fink and Alec Levenson (Senior Research Scientists) will examine how organizations should really think about spans and layers in today’s operating environment. Rather than treating spans and layers as a simplistic cost-reduction exercise, this discussion will explore how leaders can make more deliberate, evidence-informed decisions about structure, management load, coordination, capability development, and organizational performance.

 Who should attend:

• CHROs and senior HR leaders responsible for organizational structure, workforce effectiveness, and operating model decisions
• Organizational effectiveness and organization design professionals examining spans, layers, decision rights, and coordination mechanisms
• Business leaders navigating cost pressures while seeking to maintain performance, capability, and execution quality
• HR strategy and workforce planning leaders evaluating how structure shapes organizational agility and effectiveness
• Transformation and operating model leaders redesigning workflows, accountability, and leadership structures
• People analytics leaders interested in moving beyond simplistic structural benchmarks toward evidence-informed organizational design

What’s the Enterprise Effectiveness Network (EEN)?

The Enterprise Effectiveness Network (EEN) is a dynamic peer-to-peer community where we discuss and address talent, organizational, and strategy execution challenges. Led by USC’s Center for Effective Organizations (CEO) experts Alec Levenson, Jennifer Deal, Sharna Wiblen EEN sessions are 90-minute virtual sessions founded on research-backed insights. By joining us for our EEN sessions, you’ll gain access to expert and research-led discussions and practical tools and be part of a network of like-minded professionals committed to advancing enterprise effectiveness. Together, we tackle real-world issues at a depth that drives meaningful, lasting impact.