The article feels like it was written on a tight deadline by sleep deprived journalist trying to get something out. Theranos is a case of a place that calls itself flat when it really isn't. If anything the moral issue presented here is more significant in hierarchies than in flat structures. In a hierarchical structure a few bad actors can do a lot without anyone even knowing about it. For this reason, more explicit hierarchies typically have a series of checks to try to curtail this issue. The lack of these checks at Theranos is less about being flat and more about the fact that it was a heirarchical org that refused to act accordingly.

>>journalist

Does the traditional media even employ journalist's anymore? Seems to be most organization are very lacking in journalistic standards

I think the claim is that the flatness enabled the dictatorialness. Or at least made it easier.

I get that, but that's just stupid given how the story actually played out. When people talk about flat organizations and mean it, they also mean transparent, cross-functional teams that understand the full context. If that had been allowed at Theranos, every employee would have puzzled together the fraudulent behavior in 5 minutes. Someone would have leaked it years earlier.