Research: Quantifying Managerial Span-of-Control and Its Influence on Team Performance ...

Research question: How does manager span-of-control affect team performance and employee engagement outcomes in knowledge-based organizations?

Background & Motivation: Managerial span-of-control—the number of direct reports per manager—is a central variable in organizational design, with implications for communication, oversight, and employee experience. As organizations grow and adapt to hybrid and remote work, understanding how managerial oversight scales is increasingly relevant.

Research Gap: While organizational theory suggests both wide and narrow spans have trade-offs, empirical evidence on their concrete impact on team-level performance and engagement metrics remains limited, especially in contemporary, knowledge-intensive environments. There is a lack of large-scale, quantitative studies integrating people-analytics data with organizational outcomes.

Approach & Expected Contribution: This study will integrate people-analytics datasets (e.g., HRIS, engagement surveys, performance reviews) from selected organizations to examine the relationship between span-of-control and team outcomes. It will employ regression analysis and, where appropriate, causal inference methods to control for confounders such as team function, tenure, and industry. The project aims to identify optimal ranges of span-of-control for maximizing performance and engagement, providing actionable insights for organizational leaders and HR professionals.

Why It Matters: The findings can inform evidence-based management and organization design, supporting HR policy decisions on team structuring, talent management, and the future of effective leadership in dynamic work environments.