TMTPost published a commentary by consultant Mu Sheng arguing that AI has changed the basic conditions of organizational design: real-time data and AI analysis let executives manage a wider, deeper span of control, while AI underpins much of front-line analytical output, squeezing out middle managers whose main job was relaying information. The piece cites Amazon's plan to cut roughly 30,000 corporate roles (about 14,000 in a first round), with more than 78% of disclosed cuts concentrated at L5–L7, and notes that Microsoft and others deny reducing managers by widening spans of control; in China, JD.com Retail stripped managerial status from its C4 and C5 ranks and Tencent piloted a "project owner" system in some business lines. The author argues middle management will be compressed rather than eliminated, leaving people who can design systems or deliver offline value, and that organizational model — not technology — is the real moat.

Amazon·Microsoft·GitLab·+5