Self-organizing Systems - Publications - Faculty & Research

Research Summary

Self-Management & Self-Organizing Systems

Self-management serves as a foundational theme for much of my research; many of my interests were forged while working to enable self-management in organizational settings. Self-managing systems rely heavily on interpersonal relationships, peer regulation and... View Details

Keywords: Self-Managed Organizations; Self-organizing Systems; Hierarchy; Control

2017
Article

Self-Managing Organizations: Exploring the Limits of Less-Hierarchical Organizing

By: Michael Y. Lee and Amy C. Edmondson

Fascination with organizations that eschew the conventional managerial hierarchy and instead radically decentralize authority has been longstanding, albeit at the margins of scholarly and practitioner attention. Recently, however, organizational experiments in radical... View Details

Keywords: Self-Managed Organizations; Self-Managed Teams; Self-organizing Systems; Self-managing Organizations; Flat Organization; Decentralization; Organization Design; Non-hierarchical Organizations; Less-hierarchical Organizing; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Research

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July–August 2016
Article

Beyond the Holacracy Hype: The Overwrought Claims—and Actual Promise—of the Next Generation of Self-Managed Teams

By: Ethan Bernstein, John Bunch, Niko Canner and Michael Lee

Holacracy and other forms of self-organization have been getting a lot of press. Proponents hail them as "flat" environments that foster flexibility, engagement, productivity, and efficiency. Critics say they're naive, unrealistic experiments. We argue, using evidence... View Details

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11 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 11

PublicationsBlock-by-Blockbuster Innovation Author:Rosabeth Moss Kanter Publication:Harvard Business Review 88, no. 5 (May 2010) An abstract is unavailable at this time. Preview the Article: http://hbr.org/2010/05/column-block-by-blockbuster-innovation/ar/1/ Between... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Five Ways to Make Your Company More Innovative

this kind of flexibility. And some of those self-selected, self-organized projects might even result in a blockbuster product or line of business. For 3M, it was the Post-it note. Recognize innovation in every part of the company. To... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons, Julia Hanna & Roger Thompson

06 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Strategic Intelligence: Adapt or Die

behavior. There is interesting research that humans are able to self-organize and become very effective without formal bureaucracy in units of up to 100 to 150 people. If you can create components and then effectively create bridges... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

05 Jul 2016
First Look

July 5, 2016

July–August 2016 Harvard Business Review Beyond the Holacracy Hype: The Overwrought Claims—and Actual Promise—of the Next Generation of Self-Managed Teams By: Bernstein, Ethan, John Bunch, Niko Canner, and Michael Lee Abstract—Holacracy and other forms of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 2

change. Encouraging self-organizing networks to let them investigate whatever they want to through company channels can produce new business ideas, as IBM found in the early days of virtualization. When talented employees leave to start... View Details