Find a company
which reflects Morning Star and St Luke’s image of a Complex Adaptive System
(CAS) and reflect in your blog what the implications are for you and your
present organization (or any organization you are familiar with). Identify what
you believe are appropriate actions to move your organization forward.
Module three of this course focused on
the movement of the traditional corporate hierarchy. It started with an understanding of the past
(functional silos), to the present model.
We now have a cross-functional matrix, to what Nick Obolensky, author of
“Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty” refers to as what
future innovative companies will call a Complex Adaptive System (2010). In the CAS
system, traditional management levels have been removed, flattening the
organization’s hierarchy. Employees, at
all levels, now have increased responsibility and greater control over how they
perform their job. For this task, I was
asked to find a company that reflects Morning Star and St Luke’s image of a
Complex Adaptive System (CAS). St. Luke
is a small British company that has adapted an aggressive CAS strategy. Some very prominent business critics have
described this company as experiencing a monumental growth spurt. This little company has the determination of
“the little engine that could” when it comes to its goal to reach the global
market.
My first thought process was to look at Zappos,
a shoe company developed by CEO, Tony Hsieh.
His company has gained the reputation of a work environment that is about
people who believe in shoes and the importance of customer service , not about
profit; thus blowing away the shoe industry by breaking the mold. If you research the company and its
organizational core values you will see something different; the ten
organizational core values never mention profit.
However, I soon discovered there was a
company that more closely reflects Morning Star and St Luke’s image of a
Complex Adaptive System (CAS). The
company I am referring to is Valve Corp., a videogame maker in Bellevue, Washington. The company was founded in 1996 by former
Microsoft software developers Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Like St Luke’s, the most astonishing aspect
of life at Valve Corp is that there are no bosses. In this successful
organization, there is no explicit hierarchy. Employees, at every level, are involved in
hiring and firings which can be initiated by something as simple as a
conversation between employees. Here bonuses
are based on peer reviews (not management or leadership) and can be as large as
10 times an employee’s base pay. Now as
great as this may sound, it is important to understand that such based
spontaneous enterprises rely to a large extent on individuals who actually
believe in the social norms that govern their existence.
This system will not work for my current
organization, the federal government for numerous reasons. Having such a system requires taking a lot of
risk. The federal government is not a
profit based organization and cannot operate like a normal everyday business. Yes, success is measured by achieving set
objectives; however, often times the objectives are not tangible. I do however believe the federal government
can learn from the CAS process. The
government could start the process by learning about and implementing better
ways to understand all internal and external stakeholders. Like Zappos, they can learn how to developing
a plan to achieve specific financial and budgetary goals (Glassman, 2013). Last but not least, I feel it is important
that the federal government learn that the company culture is something that
many corporations take for granted, not realizing how important it actually is
to employee morale, work quality, and overall success.
Obolensky, N (2010). Complex adaptive leadership: embracing paradox and uncertainty.
Surrey, England: Gower Publishing Unlimited.
Glassman, B (2013).
What Zappos Taught Us About Creating The Ultimate Client Experience.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2013/05/13/what-zappos-taught-us-about-creating-the-ultimate-client-experience/
Wagreich, S. (2013). A Billion Dollar Company With
No Bosses? Yes, It Exists. Retrieved
from
http://www.inc.com/samuel-wagreich/the-4-billion-company-with-no-bosses.html
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