Pharmaceutical giant is getting rid of bosses and asking staff to ‘self organize’ to claw back $2.15 billion

In a bid to claw back $2.15 billion, the struggling pharmaceutical giant Bayer CEO is doing away with middle managers and 99% of the company’s 1,362-page corporate handbook, allowing nearly 100,000 employees to self-manage. Bayer, the 160-year-old German company known for inventing aspirin, has been stuck in a rut; Its market cap has plunged to two-decade lows—spurred by its so-far disastrous acquisition of Monsanto—and its CEO Bill Anderson believes that flatting hierarchy and slashing corporate bureaucracy could be key to turning it around. When Anderson took the helm last June,...