Glossary
What is span of control?
Span of control is the number of people who report directly to a single manager, used as a measure of how flat or how layered an organisation is: a wide span means few layers and many reports per manager, a narrow span the reverse.
Averaged across a company, span of control shows the shape of the org: a low average means a lot of managers relative to individual contributors, which can mean heavy overhead or careful development, depending on the work.
There is no single correct span. Complex or high-risk work supports a narrower span, routine work a wider one, so the number is a prompt for a conversation rather than a target. A calculator derives it from your headcount and manager counts.
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