The Concept Of Approach Would Be Useful When Organizations

Discuss How Contingency Factors Of Organisational Design Are At Work In The Case Of Zappos?

In the article, author explained that concept of holacracy and the need of holacracy. author explained that the new and innovative companies in the Silicon Valley wants to shift from traditional approach of leadership to a flat approach. The latest management trend to sweep Silicon Valley requires CEOs to formally relinquish their authority and grants special protection for every employee to experiment with ideas. It's called holacracy and big name tech leaders have jumped on the bandwagon. Author argued that holacracy is an important driver of innovation. The holacracy approach advocates that people should not be managed by anyone in the organization and people should be set free to think, only then they can come up with best ideas and innovations. It was Zappos’s plan to have a holacracy structure in the organization. The focus on this approach has helped Zappo’s to emerge as a flexible organization (Ferenstein, 2014). This approach can work best only when organization have an agile and open culture in place. The holacracy approach also acts as a platform for innovation. In the article, author suggested that the innovative companies should follow the path of Zappos to use holacracy approach.

Application of key learning

The concept of holacracy approach would be useful when organizations have to focus on innovation. The learning from this week activity could be applied to Google Inc. When it comes to innovation and creativity, Google is one of the best company in the world. The learning from this week activity would suggest that Google should remove the vertical hierarchy in its structure or it should at least reduce the vertical hierarchies. It would ensure that people or employees are able to speak up their mind. It would ensure that Google is able to continue its innovation across different projects. It is also important to mention that Google can not shift its focus on holacracy approach in a short period of time. In fact, a systematic plan and an integrated approach would be required to practice holacracy. It is important that the leaders and managers of Google must communicate the drivers and objective of holacracy approach to its employees and other stakeholders. The shift from current organizational structure to holacracy approach would require certain changes in the organization and the leaders of the organization should be ready and willing to manage this change (Martins & Rindova, 2015). However, it can be said that the shift to holacracy approach would be beneficial for the company in long term.

Solomon Asch and Group Conformity

In the video, author discusses the importance if decision making process. There could be various ways of decision making. Organizations and leaders can have an objective way of decision making or they can have a subjective way of decision making. In the video, author suggested that organizations and leaders should focus on objective style of decision making. The problem with subjective style of decision making is that different people can have different interpretation of the decision. The video explains an experiment in which subjects were asked to give their judgments. The video explains that the influence is a big thing when it comes to decision making. Individuals can ignore their knowledge and can stick to other’s view point while making any decision. In an organizational setting, it typically happens in the case of mid-level management. The mid-level managers may get easily influenced by the senior management and top leaders and as a result their decision can get influenced (Ford & Richardson, 2013). It is important that the employees should not get their decision influenced by other stakeholders. The theory of influence is bound to work in large organizations where people work and function as per the set hierarchy. However, the focus of leaders should be to create a culture where the impact of influence due to hierarchy can be minimized.

Application of key learning

The learning from this activity could be applied to wide variety of organizations. Let’s apply the learning to the case of Google Inc. In the current organizational structure, Google Inc. has a vertical hierarchy system. In the current eco-system, Google has various influencers in the organization. While, it is good to have influencers but the influence of the people should not hinder the decision-making skills of employees (Muller, 2014). It is suggested that Google should give freedom in the hands of employees so that they can come up with innovative solutions. At the same time, employees should be encouraged to think independently without the influence of other people.

Conclusion

The above paper discusses week four and week five learning activities. Based on above discussions it can be said that organizations must focus on innovation through a flat organizational culture. At the same time, it is important that leaders and employees should make decisions based on the combination of internal and external factors and they should not get carried away by the judgment of other people.

Air, O., Asch conformity experiments. 2012. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyDDyT1lDhA (2^nd May 2012)

 Ford, R.C. and Richardson, W.D., 2013. Ethical decision making: A review of the empirical literature. In Citation classics from the Journal of Business Ethics (pp. 19-44). Springer Netherlands.

Ferenstein, G. Zappos just abolished bosses. Inside tech's latest management craze. 2014. Retrieved from: https://www.vox.com/2014/7/11/5876235/silicon-valleys-latest-management-craze-holacracy-explained (3rd May 2017)

Martins, L.L., Rindova, V.P. and Greenbaum, B.E., 2015. Unlocking the hidden value of concepts: a cognitive approach to business model innovation. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 9(1), pp.99-117.

Muller, R., 2014. Ethics and Governance in the Temporary Organization. Advancing Human Resource Project Management, pp.489-512.