[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Designing for Complexity: Using Divisions and Hierarchy to Manage Complex Tasks

## Details

**Authors** Zhou, Yue Maggie

**Year** 2013

**Publisher** Organization Science

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Business & Management

**Secondary disciplines** Economics

**Applied** false

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0744) 
10.1287/orsc.1120.0744

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To examine how task complexity and the decomposability of task systems affect how far firms divide management into divisions and how much hierarchy they use.

### Who or what was studied (sample)

U.S. equipment manufacturers, 1993 to 2003. Number of firms not obtained.

### How they did it (methods)

Empirical test on panel data of the relationship between task complexity, task decomposability, divisionalization and hierarchy.

### What they found (results)

Divisionalization increases with task complexity and decreases as task systems become less decomposable. Hierarchy increases with both greater task complexity and lower decomposability.

## Commentary

### In short

A study of U.S. equipment manufacturers finds that firms split management into more divisions when their tasks are more complex, but less so when the tasks cannot be cleanly separated. Hierarchy grows in both cases.

### Response

The finding turns on parts and wholes (how far a task system can be decomposed into divisions) and on the interdependence among the parts that limits decomposition, which is why hierarchy is added. Systems and relationships therefore both carry weight. The study does not address distinctions or perspectives. This record rests on the abstract and publisher page.

**Patterns it shows** S, R

Shows the structure is there

**Added** 2026-10-14

**How to cite this** Zhou, Yue Maggie (2013). Designing for Complexity: Using Divisions and Hierarchy to Manage Complex Tasks. Organization Science.