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Fascination with organizations that eschew the conventional managerial hierarchy and instead radically decentralize authority has been longstanding,...
Self-management serves as a foundational theme for much of my research; many of my interests were forged while working to enable self-management in...
- October 2018
- Case
P-Will at DISCO
By: Ethan Bernstein, Naoko Jinjo and Yuna Sakuma
From the outside, DISCO—a Japan-based manufacturer of precision tools for semiconductor production devices—appeared to be a rather ordinary company that had achieved rather extraordinary success: it had simultaneously achieved 70% global market share, had lifted its...
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- 2017
- Article
Self-Managing Organizations: Exploring the Limits of Less-Hierarchical Organizing
By: Michael Y. Lee and Amy C. Edmondson
Fascination with organizations that eschew the conventional managerial hierarchy and instead radically decentralize authority has been longstanding, albeit at the margins of scholarly and practitioner attention. Recently, however, organizational experiments in radical...
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- July–August 2016
- Article
Beyond the Holacracy Hype: The Overwrought Claims—and Actual Promise—of the Next Generation of Self-Managed Teams
By: Ethan Bernstein, John Bunch, Niko Canner and Michael Lee
Holacracy and other forms of self-organization have been getting a lot of press. Proponents hail them as "flat" environments that foster flexibility, engagement, productivity, and efficiency. Critics say they're naive, unrealistic experiments. We argue, using evidence...
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Keywords:
Self-Managed Organizations;
Self-Managed Teams;
Reliability;
Adaptability;
Holacracy;
Organization Design;
Organization Structure;
Organizational Charts;
Organizational Architecture;
Organizational Forms;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Performance Effectiveness;
Performance Productivity;
Management Practices and Processes;
Management Systems;
Managerial Roles;
Human Resources;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Retail Industry;
Public Administration Industry;
Technology Industry;
North America
- August 2014
- Case
Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (A)
By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats
Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee...
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Keywords:
Valve;
Self-Managed Organizations;
Organization Design;
Strategy;
Flat Organization;
Video Games;
Organization Alignment;
Family Business;
Steam;
Steam Machine;
Design;
Games, Gaming, and Gambling;
Human Resources;
Collaborative Innovation and Invention;
Technological Innovation;
Leadership Style;
Management Practices and Processes;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Organizational Culture;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Groups and Teams;
Alignment;
Software;
Hardware;
Video Game Industry;
Seattle
- August 2014 (Revised August 2015)
- Supplement
Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (B)
By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats
Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee...
View Details
Keywords:
Valve;
Self-Managed Organizations;
Organization Design;
Strategy;
Flat Organization;
Video Games;
Organization Alignment;
Family Business;
Steam;
Steam Machine;
Design;
Games, Gaming, and Gambling;
Human Resources;
Collaborative Innovation and Invention;
Technological Innovation;
Leadership Style;
Management Practices and Processes;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Organizational Culture;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Groups and Teams;
Alignment;
Software;
Hardware;
Video Game Industry;
Seattle
- September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
- Background Note
Leadership and Teaming
By: Ethan Bernstein
Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail...
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Keywords:
Teams;
Teaming;
Leadership And Managing People;
Leadership;
Team Effectiveness;
Team Performance;
Team Design;
Team Leadership;
Teamwork;
Team Process;
Team Function;
Team Launch;
60/30/10 Rule;
Team Boundary;
Distribution Of Leadership Authority;
Self-Managed Teams;
Virtual Teams;
Unbounded Teams;
Acts Of Leadership;
Execution Teams;
Decision Making Teams;
Creativity Teams;
Team Size;
Task Design;
Team Timeline;
Team Roles;
Team Representation;
Diversity;
Team Familiarity;
Collective Intelligence;
Team Stages Of Development;
Team Coaching;
Performance Pressure;
X-Teams;
Team Focus;
Interaction;
Management Teams;
Managerial Roles;
Management Systems;
Management Style;
Management Skills;
Management Practices and Processes;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Performance Effectiveness;
Performance Efficiency;
Performance Productivity;
Groups and Teams;
Networks;
Social Psychology;
Behavior;
Conflict and Resolution;
Creativity;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Satisfaction;
Prejudice and Bias;
Power and Influence;
Personal Characteristics;
Familiarity;
Cognition and Thinking;
Attitudes;
Projects;
Organizational Culture;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Leadership Development;
Leadership Style;
Leading Change;
Knowledge Use and Leverage;
Knowledge Sharing;
Collaborative Innovation and Invention;
Innovation and Management;
Innovation Leadership;
Design;
Interpersonal Communication;
Accommodations Industry;
Accounting Industry;
Advertising Industry;
Aerospace Industry;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Air Transportation Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Auto Industry;
Banking Industry;
Battery Industry;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry;
Bicycle Industry;
Biotechnology Industry;
Chemical Industry;
Communications Industry;
Computer Industry;
Construction Industry;
Consulting Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Distribution Industry;
Education Industry;
Electronics Industry;
Employment Industry;
Energy Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Fashion Industry;
Financial Services Industry;
Fine Arts Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Forest Products Industry;
Forestry Industry;
Green Technology Industry;
Health Industry;
Industrial Products Industry;
Information Industry;
Information Technology Industry;
Insurance Industry;
Journalism and News Industry;
Legal Services Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Media and Broadcasting Industry;
Medical Devices and Supplies Industry;
Mining Industry;
Motion Pictures and Video Industry;
Motorcycle Industry;
Music Industry;
Pharmaceutical Industry;
Public Administration Industry;
Public Relations Industry;
Publishing Industry;
Pulp and Paper Industry;
Rail Industry;
Real Estate Industry;
Retail Industry;
Rubber Industry;
Semiconductor Industry;
Service Industry;
Shipping Industry;
Sports Industry;
Steel Industry;
Technology Industry;
Telecommunications Industry;
Tourism Industry;
Transportation Industry;
Travel Industry;
Utilities Industry;
Video Game Industry;
Web Services Industry;
Asia;
North and Central America;
South America;
Atlantic Ocean;
Central Asia;
Europe;
Latin America;
Middle East;
Oceania;
West Indies
- August 2003 (Revised October 2003)
- Case
C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Tejal Mody and David Ager
Rick Cohen, president and CEO of C&S Wholesale Grocers, is trying to decide whether and how to implement the self-managed teams concept in his warehouse. Eight months earlier, C&S had begun to act as principal wholesaler to A&P throughout New England, a decision that...
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- July 1998 (Revised March 2000)
- Case
Champion International
By: Michael Beer and James Weber
Richard Olson, a long-tenured employee, was named CEO of Champion in 1996. Champion had been conducting an organizational transformation since the early 1980s that could be considered successful on most operational and social measures. However, due to industry...
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- November 1988 (Revised July 1997)
- Case
Technology Transfer at a Defense Contractor
By: Linda A. Hill
At a time of great changes in the corporate environment, Larry Yoshino, a design lab manager at Parsons Controls Corp., faces a delay in a costly defense project due to the inability of one of his subordinates to gain the cooperation of engineers at Parsons'...
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