What does vertical management mean?

Answer 1

Vertical management is the traditional Western management structure where each person (except the ultimate boss) reports to someone more senior than them in multiple layers. For example:

Operator->Supervisor->Shift Mgr->Production Mgr->Operations Mgr->President

It has the advantage of clearly defined responsibility with each manager responsible for a relatively small number of direct employees but it can lead to an inflexible system where ideas moving from the top to the bottom of the structure and vice verse pass through so many hands that they get lost or changed on the way. It can also inhibit initiative, for example cooperation between people at the same level in an organisation who report to different managers.

The opposite approach is a horizontal management where the management structure is broken down into as few layers as possible. This approach also has its problems. As always in management there is no single correct answer.....