Transformation at Harley – Davidson Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul – Harley Davidson. During Teerlink's tenure as Harley's Chief Financial Officer, was the organization structure flat or tall? Centralized or decentralized?
It is important for us to get an understanding of this two critical terms,
Flat organizational structure – organization has few levels as possible. Managers have broad authority and responsibility. (They work too hard). Communication is fast.
Tall organizational structure – this type of structure has many levels, many different managers and communication is slow.
During Teerlinks tnure from 1983- 1989 as the CFO of the company the structure was said to be flat as the Harley benched marked it’s self with Japanese manufacturing companies. This type of benchmarking can be termed as external benchmarking where you bench mark yourself with a competitor in the same industry.
According to the productivity triad that occurred in 1983 where line workers were encouraged to contribute to the decision making process because they knew better than management what worked and did not. Therefore we can come to a certain argument that it was a flat organizational structure. It was decentralize, because during his period as CFO he introduced a structure that had Cross-functionality, lifelong learning, and shared leadership fuel the so-called "circle organization" Harley-Davidson Inc. Also all manufacturing workers were required to participate in the newly formed quality circles that were made directly for improving motorcycle quality. Therefore it can be told that the structure was flat.

There is also small facts in the case that can create a certain argument that the this structure was tall due to the fact that as Teerlin became the