lucidity
10th May 2015, 04:12
Hi Siblings,
This strikes me as hugely interesting, conceptually.
If you were to have a libertarian corporate culture, would it look like this ?
This company is attempting to make the transition to a boss-less working
environment in which employees self-organise, take responsibility, invest
their own initiative and creativity... etc. And all because there's no "overseer".
The story below isn't just about boss-free working. The story is complicated
by the fact that the CEO decided anyone that didn't want to work there should
just leave. So he offered all employees a cash incentive to quit, ergo, the only
employees that remain, want to be there. Unfortunately for him, 14% of
the workforce have now quit. Ooops! The percentage will almost certainly
rise in the days and weeks to come.
However, "this 14% of the workforce have quit", angle, is really just an
unfortunate distraction. It seems to me that this story's real importance
centers on the experiment to remove the majority of managers across the
company. It raises some very interesting questions:
=> costs will inevitably go down drastically. Managers are the most expensive
employees. What percentage wage reduction will that be ? 25%, 33% .. 50% ?
=> will the remaining employees' 'participation', 'autonomy' and 'job
satisfaction' rise in the anticipated direction ?
(If so, the implication is that the existence of bosses stifles participation, autonomy
and job satisfaction)
=> will productivity rise ?
=> even if productivity falls, given that a massive slice of costs have been
eradicated, will the nett effect be increased profits ?
=> And... not least... if this is experiment turns out a success ....
... could this be the start of a wider trend in bossless working ?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-09/hundreds-leave-boss-less-zappos-get-paid-quit-scheme-backfires
be happy
lucidity :-)
This strikes me as hugely interesting, conceptually.
If you were to have a libertarian corporate culture, would it look like this ?
This company is attempting to make the transition to a boss-less working
environment in which employees self-organise, take responsibility, invest
their own initiative and creativity... etc. And all because there's no "overseer".
The story below isn't just about boss-free working. The story is complicated
by the fact that the CEO decided anyone that didn't want to work there should
just leave. So he offered all employees a cash incentive to quit, ergo, the only
employees that remain, want to be there. Unfortunately for him, 14% of
the workforce have now quit. Ooops! The percentage will almost certainly
rise in the days and weeks to come.
However, "this 14% of the workforce have quit", angle, is really just an
unfortunate distraction. It seems to me that this story's real importance
centers on the experiment to remove the majority of managers across the
company. It raises some very interesting questions:
=> costs will inevitably go down drastically. Managers are the most expensive
employees. What percentage wage reduction will that be ? 25%, 33% .. 50% ?
=> will the remaining employees' 'participation', 'autonomy' and 'job
satisfaction' rise in the anticipated direction ?
(If so, the implication is that the existence of bosses stifles participation, autonomy
and job satisfaction)
=> will productivity rise ?
=> even if productivity falls, given that a massive slice of costs have been
eradicated, will the nett effect be increased profits ?
=> And... not least... if this is experiment turns out a success ....
... could this be the start of a wider trend in bossless working ?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-09/hundreds-leave-boss-less-zappos-get-paid-quit-scheme-backfires
be happy
lucidity :-)