Business Without Bosses : How Self-Managing Teams Are Building High- Performing Companies

Rating:
Summary: Readable and thought-provoking case studies
Review: This book describes eight case studies of companies that have used self-managing teams. Each is different; most are fairly successful, but all are illuminating. The book is written well enough that it is a much more engaging read than most business books.

I was particularly interested by their study of W.L.Gore, which has perhaps the most remarkable structure (or lack of it) of any company in America. They provide enough detail to get a sense of a really remarkable company; most of the other case studies, which involve providing autonomy to small groups rather than completely demolishing the traditional company hierarchy, are both less impressive in their achievements and easier to implement.

The book does a good job of making the case for autonomy, and the authors include the necessary caveat that you can only build a crack team out of good quality employees. The fundamental argument is that people work better and harder when they're given autonomy, and that companies can therefore reap big rewards from doing so.

Readers interested in this area might also like to look at Ackoff's "The Democratic Corporation". Both books, however, in reviewing how to improve a company's performance by changing its internal structure, don't address the ownership issue at all--i.e. whether employee ownership is a necessary or at least valuable part of the mix in creating the right incentives for employees to "behave like owners". That aside, however, I can strongly recommend this book: it's a fascinating survey of some unusual but very powerful management strategies.