What Lessons Should We Learn From Valve’s Innovative Management Model?

Authors

  • Julian Birkinshaw London Business School

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/jod.20175

Keywords:

new forms of organizing, organizational forms, non-hierarchical organizations, self-organizing teams, boss-less organizations

Abstract

Valve is a fascinating example of a company experimenting with a new way of working – one in which there are no traditional managers, and where employees are encouraged to take direct responsibility for choosing their own projects and completing them in an efficient and effective way. Of course, Valve is not alone in pushing a “manager free” model. Zappos (owned by Amazon) is currently experimenting with a similar model they call “holacracy”, and moving further back in time there are such classic examples as W.L. Gore and Associates’ “lattice structure”, Oticon’s “spaghetti organization”, and Brazilian industrial products company, Semco. Nonetheless, Valve’s experiments are note worthy because they are ambitious, visible, and so far very successful.

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Published

2015-06-23

How to Cite

Birkinshaw, J. (2015). What Lessons Should We Learn From Valve’s Innovative Management Model?. Journal of Organization Design, 4(2), 8–9. https://doi.org/10.7146/jod.20175

Issue

Section

Organization Zoo