“We don’t have a traditional corporate organizational chart,” states Heather Robertson, Finagle A Bagel’s director of marketing, human resources, and research and development. When she hires new employees, Robertson draws the usual type of organization chart showing the copresidents on the top and the store employees on the bottom. Then she turns it upside down, explaining: “The most important people in our stores are the crew members, and the store manager’s role is to support those crew members. Middle management’s role is to support the store managers. And the copresidents’ responsibility is to support us,” referring to herself and her middle-management colleagues.

1. What does Finagle A Bagel’s upside-down organization chart suggest about the delegation of authority and coordination techniques within the company?
2. Is Finagle A Bagel a tall or flat organization? How do you know?
3. What values seem to permeate Finagle A Bagel’s corporate culture?
4. Why would Finagle A Bagel build a dough factory that has more capacity than the company needs to supply its stores and its wholesale customers?