Case Application 1 | Who Needs a Boss?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is a holacracy?
According to Wikipedia, holacracy is a method of decentralized management and
organizational governance, in which authority and decision-making are distributed throughout a
holarchy of self-organizing teams rather than being vested in a management hierarchy.
Holacracy has been adopted by for-profit and non-profit organizations in several countries.
Holacracy, as defined by HolacracyOne, LLC is a new way of structuring and running
your organization that replaces the conventional management hierarchy. Instead of operating top-
down, power is distributed throughout the organization, giving individuals and teams more
freedom to self-manage, while staying aligned to the organization’s purpose. It involves a new
and evolving organizational structure, innovative meeting practices designed for rapid execution,
a shift in mindset toward greater autonomy and taking action, and much more.
“Holacracy is the first fully-formed alternative to Command & Control that real
companies are using successfully” stated by Adam Pisoni, Co-founder and Former CTO of
Yammer, Founder of Responsive.org.
2. What benefits do you see to an organization where there are no job titles, no managers
and no hierarchy?
An organization where there are no job titles, no managers and no hierarchy are ideas that
most of us are not used to. As I read and studied more about the holacracy method, I started to
see the opportunities and possibilities. It can be very beneficial when we look at it in a way
where the members can have more freedom to think creatively, innovatively, and independently
with the ability to actually implement with , of course, connection to the organization’s mission
and purpose.
When used properly, holacracy can empower people throughout the company to follow
their passions and get more work done. Tristan Boutros, a co-author of The Process
Improvement Handbook: A Blueprint for Managing Change and Increasing Organizational
Performance states that “Organizations can expect holocracy to encourage employee
engagement, change quickly to evolving market conditions, improve transparency, create an
environment that attracts the most talented employees, give talented employees more
