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

Journal of Organization Design JOD, 3(2): 8-9 (2014) DOI: 10.7146/jod.20175

2 Pages Posted: 18 Jul 2019

Date Written: 2014

Abstract

What can we learn from outliers? While statisticians rightly warn us against their non-representativeness, we believe it is also true that thinking carefully about what makes them atypical may improve our understanding of the typical case. This is the premise behind the Organization Zoo series. Valve Corporation (Valve) is an unusual firm. It is a rare example of a firm that appears to operate without any formal hierarchy in its organization. What can we learn about the viability of authority hierarchies from Valve’s way of organizing? We wrote a brief account of Valve based on public information sources and asked several renowned organizational experts to comment on this unusual firm. We asked them to write a short commentary on what the Valve example means for organizational theorists and practitioners. Thankfully, they all accepted, and we are excited to present the results of their thinking in this first “exhibit” in the Organization Zoo.

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

Suggested Citation

Birkinshaw, Julian, What Lessons Should We Learn From Valve’s Innovative Management Model? (2014). Journal of Organization Design JOD, 3(2): 8-9 (2014) DOI: 10.7146/jod.20175, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3420917

Julian Birkinshaw (Contact Author)

London Business School ( email )

Sussex Place
Regent's Park
London, London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom

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