Holacracy and Hierarchy Concepts: Which One is More Effective in an Organizational Leadership and Management System?
Keywords:
holacracy, hierarchy, management, leadership, organizational structure
Abstract
This paper discusses the importance of installing holacracy practices in the organizations’ core values instead of hierarchy. Since the organizational structures of holacracy and hierarchy are different, the current study aims to compare the functions of both concepts in terms of the management system. Holacracy suggests a more decentralized structure, while hierarchy stands on a centralized one. In holacracy concept, power moves from leaders to processes in an organization as a whole. Further, holacracy also provides a concrete framework for encoding autonomy, agility, and purpose-alignment into the organization’s DNA. Somehow holacracy replaces the conventional management hierarchy with a new structure. In holacracy, instead of operating top-down, power is distributed throughout the organization – giving individuals and teams freedom while staying aligned to the organization’s purpose. This concept has recently been accepted & implemented in some organizations worldly. In this case, the current study aims to concentrate on the main values of holacracy and finds out that what it can really bring for the organizations.
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References
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Van de Kamp, P. (2014). Holacracy – a Radical Approach to Organizational Design. Elements of the Software Development Process - Influences on Project Success and Failure, (April 2014), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.3740.8645
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Volberda, H. W. (1997). Building Flexible Organizations for Fast-moving Markets. Long Range Planning, 30(2), 169–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0024-6301(96)00110-0
Walz, A., Lindsay, N., Soni, S., & Libraries, V. T. (n.d.). Chapter 11 : Managing Human Resources. (July 2016).
Weller, E. (n.d.). On Regulating Decentralized Systems.
Archer, I., Forrester-Wilson, S., & Muirhead, L. (2016). Exploring Holacracy’s Influence on Social Sustainability Through the Lens of Adaptive Capacity.
Bernstein, E., Bunch, J., Canner, N., & Lee, M. (2016). Beyond the holacracy hype. Harvard Business Review, 2016(July-August).
Borges Gouveia, L. (2016). Holacracy as an alternative to organisations governance. (November).
Campbell, S. (2003). Achieving goal #6. Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology, 37(5), 306.
Canner, N., Blocks, T. B., & Software, T. (2015). Is Holacracy the Answer ? 1–5.
Davis, J. P., Eisenhardt, K. M., & Bingham, C. B. (2009). Optimal structure, market dynamism, and the strategy of simple rules. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54(3), 413–452. https://doi.org/10.2189/asqu.2009.54.3.413
Disclaimer, L. (2010). Introduction : Holacracy TM Constitution.
Donkor, C., Slobodjanjuk, A., Cremer, K., & Weisshaar, J. (2017). The way we work – in 2025 and beyond. HR Insights - PwC, 1–33. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.ch/en/insights/hr/future-of-work.html
Ehlers, U.-D. (n.d.). Future Skills-Future Learning and Future Higher Education.
Elman, B. (2018). The Coordination Mechanisms of Self-Managing Organizations An Explorative Case-Study of Three Pioneers. 121. Retrieved from http://sh.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1222093&dswid=-3096%0Ahttp://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1222093/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Golden, B., Pandey, A., & O’Rourke, J. (2019). Zappos: An Experiment in Holacracy. Zappos: An Experiment in Holacracy, (January 2017). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526489968
Holacracy, I. (2015). Holacracy.
HolacracyorHolography. (n.d.).
Hollenbeck, J. R., Ellis, A. P. J., Humphrey, S. E., Garza, A. S., & Ilgen, D. R. (2011). Asymmetry in structural adaptation: The differential impact of centralizing versus decentralizing team decision-making structures. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 114(1), 64–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.08.003
Iqbal, S., & Kureshi, N. (2016). Dissatisfaction With Performance Management System in a Bank; Possible Reasons and Remedies. Journal of Strategy and Performance Management, 4(1), 4–23. Retrieved from http://proxy.library.vcu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1778467771?accountid=14780%0Ahttp://vcu-alma-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/openurl/VCU/vcu_services_page?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article
Kinneen, K., Younas, S., & Lücke, G. (2018). Self-Managing Organizations in the context of Entrepreneurial Innovation. 52. Retrieved from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1228343/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Kinneen, Kenneth, & Younas, S. (2018). An Insight into Self managing organizations (SMOs). 1–51.
Kolzow, D. R. (2014). Leading from within: Building organizational leadership capacity. In International Economic Development Council. Retrieved from http://www.iedconline.org/clientuploads/Downloads/edrp/Leading_from_Within.pdf
Kozlowski, S. W. J., & Bell, B. S. (2012). Work Groups and Teams in Organizations. Handbook of Psychology, Second Edition. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118133880.hop212017
Krasulja, N., Radojević, I., & Janjušić, D. (2016). Holacracy - the New Management System. The Priority Directions of National Economy Development, (October), 187–196.
Kristensen, S. S., & Shafiee, S. (2019). Rethinking organization design to enforce organizational agility. 11th Symposium on Competence-Based Strategic Management.
Kumar S, V., & Mukherjee, S. (2018). Holacracy – the future of organizing? The case of Zappos. Human Resource Management International Digest, 26(7), 12–15. https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-08-2018-0161
Lee, M. Y., & Edmondson, A. C. (2017). Self-managing organizations: Exploring the limits of less-hierarchical organizing. Research in Organizational Behavior, 37(January 2017), 35–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2017.10.002
Magpili, N. C., & Pazos, P. (2018). Self-Managing Team Performance: A Systematic Review of Multilevel Input Factors. In Small Group Research (Vol. 49). https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496417710500
Mella, P. (2009). The holonic revolution : holons, holarchies and holonic networks : the ghost in the production machine. In Pavia University Press. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.1954.5922
Nelis, A. M. (2018). Decision Making in Self-Managing Organisations and its Implications on Conflict Management. (487978).
Ravarini, A., & Martinez, M. (2019). Lost in Holacracy? The Possible Role of e-HRM in Dealing with the Deconstruction of Hierarchy. 63–79. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1877-636120190000023006
Reilly, A. J. (1998). Three Approaches to Organization Learning. The Pfeiffer Library, 16(2), 21–25.
Robertson, B. (2007). Feature Article : Holacracy TM in Action : Theory to Practice Example of Double Linking.
Robertson, B. J. (2006). Holacracy : A Complete System for Agile Organizational Governance and Steering Access Experts to the About Cutter Consortium. Management, 7(7), 1–22.
Robertson, B. J. (2007). Organization at the Leading Edge: Introducing HolacracyTM. Integral Leadership Review, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s
Robertson, B. J. (2013). Holacracy® Constitution (v4.0). HolacracyOne, 0–30. Retrieved from https://www.holacracy.org/constitution
Robertson, B. J. (2015). Holacracy - Discover a Better Way of Working. HolacracyOne, 1–10. Retrieved from http://www.holacracy.org/whitepaper
San Cristóbal, J. R., Carral, L., Diaz, E., Fraguela, J. A., & Iglesias, G. (2018). Complexity and project management: A general overview. Complexity, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4891286
Schreiber, R. (1998). Cluein G in : a G Uid E To So Lvin G Th E Pu Zzle. 269–289.
Serrini, L., Turner, K., & Brunetta, F. (2018). Rethinking organizations : the Holacracy practice.
Van de Kamp, P. (2014). Holacracy – a Radical Approach to Organizational Design. Elements of the Software Development Process - Influences on Project Success and Failure, (April 2014), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.3740.8645
Velinov, E., & Denisov, I. (2017). The Relationship between Contemporary Holacratic Models of Management and Company Performance: Evidence from Global Corporations in the World. Global Journal of Business and Social Science Review , 5(2), 10–15. Retrieved from www.gatrenterprise.com/GATRJournals/index.html
Viðarsson, E. R. (2017). Learning Holacracy Fundamentals Through Play.
Volberda, H. W. (1997). Building Flexible Organizations for Fast-moving Markets. Long Range Planning, 30(2), 169–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0024-6301(96)00110-0
Walz, A., Lindsay, N., Soni, S., & Libraries, V. T. (n.d.). Chapter 11 : Managing Human Resources. (July 2016).
Weller, E. (n.d.). On Regulating Decentralized Systems.
Published
2020-12-02
How to Cite
Mosamim, P. and Ningrum, S. (2020) “Holacracy and Hierarchy Concepts: Which One is More Effective in an Organizational Leadership and Management System?”, Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH), 5(12), pp. 257 - 271. doi: 10.47405/mjssh.v5i12.600.
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