[defrost]

What works for the Vatican just fine?

It's a long way from being mostly flat, decisions are made at a crawling pace, and is convoluted enough to hide substantial theft, and shield large numbers of pedophiles .. even those rising to the Vatican C-suite level.

[adastra22]

The catholic church is famously held up as an example of a nearly-flat organization in many business schools.

[tsimionescu]

I think it's also possible that says a lot more about the shoddy metaphors of most business schools than the actual level of hierarchy in the Catholic church (beyond the other discussion we were having about how atypical the CC is as an organization).

[defrost]

Yet in reality it has as many layers as other governments and businesses of a similar size.

"Administration" in https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holy-See gives a rough overview.

There's layered mangement for multiple domains of interest.