Zappos says good-bye to managers. No more managers required. Become more productive by getting rid of managers. Similar headlines appeared in almost all of the world media devoted to management in the first week of 2013.
Articles under these headlines discussed how the company Zappos, which is a synonym for freedom at work, introduced a new, even more radical management structure. The structure is called "holacracy".
The "holacracy" model was created by American software entrepreneur and management consultant Brian Robertson. The model's name is derived from the term "holarchy" which was introduced by American philosopher and psychologist Arthur Koestler in the 1960s.
It refers to a set of "holons", i.e. entities that exist and operate both as parts and wholes, like for example cells in the human body.
The idea of the holacracy model is to replace the traditional hierarchy of management in companies by self-governing "circles" of employees. In practice, this management model is supported e.g., by the Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, who uses it in his company Medium, and by the world-renowned expert in time management David Allen and his company the David Allen Company.
However, the largest company to get rid of managers is Zappos - the online retailer selling footwear, clothes and fashion accessories, with 1,500 employees.
Delivering happiness
Zappos is a typical example of a company operating on the principles of freedom. Its vision is literally to "deliver happiness" to its employees and customers. Its original corporate culture is based on the following ten principles:
- Deliver wow through service.
- Embrace and drive change.
- Create fun and a little weirdness.
- Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded.
- Pursue growth and learning.
- Build open and honest relationships with communication.
- Build a positive team and family spirit.
- Do more with less.
- Be passionate and determined.
- Be humble.
You can read more information about this corporate culture in the successful book called Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose written by the CEO of Zappos Tony Hsieh. The Czech translation entitled Štětší doručeno was published by the PeopleComm company.
Traditional managers are useless
The holacracy model organizes the company based on the work that needs to be done, not around the people who do it. Employees have no job titles. They hold multiple roles, while having specific requirements at the same time. They do not work in only one team, but in more circles which have different functions.
Managers in the traditional sense are not here. Employees are assigned their roles by other employees known as "lead links" who are, however, not in a position to tell them what to do.
Members of the particular circles decide what exactly the different roles will include and what work will be done in the circles. The absence of traditional managers does, however, not mean that the company would not be able to identify employees with poor performance.
On the contrary, poor performers will come out naturally within their circles, as they will not have enough roles to perform. Natural leaders will emerge and take leading roles.
Ten per cent of Zappos employees have tried this new system of work during the period from April to the end of 2013. All employees should be following it by the end of 2014.
More information about this model of work can be found on http://holacracy.org.
-Kk-