When I quit my job a year ago I suggested to my boss that his five employee business could run equally as well, if not better, if the manager wasn't there and it was just the four workers managing themselves.
Well today I caught up with my friend who's still working there and he told me they got rid of the manager two months ago and split her salary between the four workers. The business is doing better than ever and they're about to hire a fifth worker.
I know managers aren't always bad, and can be essential sometimes.
But there are probably many businesses that would be more efficient if they reduced their management-to-worker ratio and simply paid the workers the unneeded manager's salary.