What is flattening when referring to an organization's structure?

Flattening an organization's structure means removing layers of management from the reporting hierarchy. If there were 10 levels of managers between the CEO and the fellow doing the work, and some layers are removed so that there are only 5 levels of managers between the CEO and the fellow doing the work, then the organizational structure has been flattened. If the reporting structure has gone from: Worker --> Team leader --> Group Leader --> Division Head --> VP division --> Senior VP --> CEO to: Worker --> Group Leader --> CEO then the organizational structure has been flattened.