Voss’s Flattened Hierarchy

3rd-level Org Design & Process Change

Casting Time: 1 action, though it is never billed as 1 action
Range/Area: One management layer within a division
Components: V, S, M (a slide titled “Simplifying How We Work,” consumed; a consulting fee, paid regardless of outcome)
Duration: 1 year, or until Voss is re-engaged (see Voss’s Repeat Engagement)
Classes: COO, VP of People, Chief of Staff

This spell functions as Reorg, except its effect is narrowed to a single named layer of middle management rather than an entire org chart. Each manager in the chosen layer must succeed on a Tenure saving throw. On a failure, the manager is dismissed and their direct reports are redistributed one level up; on a success, the manager is redesignated an “Individual Contributor” or moved laterally at unchanged compensation.

For the duration, any creature attempting to identify who approves a given decision has disadvantage on the check, since approval authority was redistributed but not actually clarified. When the duration ends, a layer matching the eliminated one’s function is reported to have re-formed, usually under a different title, at a headcount within 10% of the original.

At Higher Levels. When cast using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, you may target one additional layer, in a division you can perceive, for each slot level above 3rd.

Flavor: “We’re removing a layer of management to get closer to our customers.” — internal memo, eleven months before an open req for “Senior Manager, Customer Proximity”