• The Zappos Exodus Continues After a Radical Management Experiment
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[b]The Zappos Exodus Continues After a Radical Management Experiment[/b] Via [url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/after-a-radical-management-experiment-the-zappos-exodus-continues/?_r=0]New York Times - Bits[/url] ____________________ [quote][img]http://i.imgur.com/gE7F6tK.jpg[/img] [i]The exodus from Zappos began after its chief executive, Tony Hsieh, announced that the company was going to adopt the management system Holacracy, which is supposed to promote collaboration and abolish hierarchy.[/i] - - - Zappos, the online shoe retailer experimenting with the radical self-management system Holacracy, is continuing to hemorrhage employees. In a post on the company’s website, Arun Rajan, the chief operating officer, said 18 percent of the company, or some 260 people, had left the company since March. The exodus began after the chief executive, Tony Hsieh, announced that the company was going to adopt Holacracy, which is supposed to promote collaboration and abolish hierarchy. Anyone who did not accept the change could take a generous buyout, Mr. Hsieh said at the time. Within weeks, about 14 percent of the company, or 210 employees, had left the company, an Amazon subsidiary known for its playful corporate culture, convivial atmosphere and ample perks. When The Times visited Zappos headquarters in Las Vegas last summer, employees were just getting familiar with Holacracy. Some said they were excited about contributing to new areas of the company and many welcomed the opportunity for more autonomy.[/quote] That's a lot of people leaving the company...
It's the general run of "New Management". People used to telling other people what do with no chance for feedback or interoperability as it turns out, don't like having to listen to their former peons and hack-workers as equals. Turns out millenials aren't as different as claimed despite all the journalistic rhetoric coming Inc and Wired and Forbes.
Could just be pruning the douchebags and middle-management types in accordance with what 27X said- 18% is a lot, but it isn't catastrophic considering other companies lay off that many people and still operate- while this is voluntary.
Looks like it may work, but [URL="http://www.holacracy.org/"]the website advertising it[/URL] is mostly a fluff piece. (Not that the other management or planning systems would be different in this regard. This one at least uses plain English though.) To be honest (assuming there are "circles" mostly doing management, since it's still explicitly hierarchical), I think this resembles a less binding form of council democracy. Pretty sure it's also more vulnerable to cliques forming, but that's really just a hunch I definitely don't have enough specific knowledge for to broadcast confidently. In any case it looks interesting/curious. I'll try to find some interviews with people who work(ed) in such an environment and don't have an interest in promoting it. [editline]16th January 2016[/editline] I read through [URL="http://www.holacracy.org/constitution"]the legalese[/URL][URL="https://archive.is/fcw2N"].[/URL] (They say they use "natural language" since the last revision, but it's still not that great. Definitely needs some pictures.) Assuming there's working transparency, I don't think there are any glaring loopholes in the process beyond the general (i.e. subtle favouritism and the impact of individual charisma). The dispatching of tasks seems reasonably efficient too, but since I don't have practical experience around this stuff I can't exactly tell. It's an interesting and likely fairly efficient scheduling algorithm. To me the whole thing still reads as utterly devoid of regard to the human factor though. I assume that falls under "tensions", but I can see why people would get stressed out and leave instead of actively admitting something they may perceive as personal weakness.
Honestly, in spite of the statistics, the idea of moving away from the traditional business model in favor of less hierarchy is commonly associated with interesting work, i.e. Valve. I was already going to put in my application next year to work as an intern and now I'm even more motivated to do so.
[QUOTE=Tamschi;49543653]Looks like it may work, but [URL="http://www.holacracy.org/"]the website advertising it[/URL] is mostly a fluff piece. (Not that the other management or planning systems would be different in this regard. This one at least uses plain English though.) To be honest (assuming there are "circles" mostly doing management, since it's still explicitly hierarchical), I think this resembles a less binding form of council democracy. Pretty sure it's also more vulnerable to cliques forming, but that's really just a hunch I definitely don't have enough specific knowledge for to broadcast confidently. In any case it looks interesting/curious. I'll try to find some interviews with people who work(ed) in such an environment and don't have an interest in promoting it. [editline]16th January 2016[/editline] I read through [URL="http://www.holacracy.org/constitution"]the legalese[/URL][URL="https://archive.is/fcw2N"].[/URL] (They say they use "natural language" since the last revision, but it's still not that great. Definitely needs some pictures.) Assuming there's working transparency, I don't think there are any glaring loopholes in the process beyond the general (i.e. subtle favouritism and the impact of individual charisma). The dispatching of tasks seems reasonably efficient too, but since I don't have practical experience around this stuff I can't exactly tell. It's an interesting and likely fairly efficient scheduling algorithm. To me the whole thing still reads as utterly devoid of regard to the human factor though. I assume that falls under "tensions", but I can see why people would get stressed out and leave instead of actively admitting something they may perceive as personal weakness.[/QUOTE] We know from Valve, Microsoft and Bungie that cliques are pretty much inevitable unless you're diligent about working outside the box.
[QUOTE=27X;49561863]We know from Valve, Microsoft and Bungie that cliques are pretty much inevitable unless you're diligent about working outside the box.[/QUOTE] Yes, I haven't seen a single system that wasn't vulnerable to this (except if you outright let a computer run it, but that's a whole other can of worms). I think my point here is that this one is probably at least as vulnerable to gaming by charisma/favourable to "assholes" than classic or truly flat structures are, while also likely putting more [I]perceived[/I] pressure on certain individual employees low in the circle hierarchy. That's only if it actually follows the "constitution" on the official website though.
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