company, by critically assessing the pros and cons associated with Zappos operating on a holacracy structure.
Zappos uses a holacracy organisational structure, which consist of over a hundred and fifty departmental units, split into numerous teams, amounting to roughly five hundred circles. The holocracy structure implemented has no hierarchy, enabling employees to assign to circles which best compliments their skills. This encourages independence as employees can switch between various roles within the organisation, increasing productivity where needed, unlike in a bureaucratic structure, (Bratton, 2015). Employees can also form new circles where they see fit without the need for approval from a hierarchy system.
The independence and empowerment given to employees generates a vibrant and fluent workplace. As stated by Vroom (1964) in the expectancy theory, employees feel valued by the organisation, which motivates them to achieve goals and tasks assigned to their circles. They are fully in control of planning and choosing the best strategy to execute their tasks, (Latham, 2008). Holacracy organisational structure creates autonomy at Zappos. Enabling decisions to be made locally and promptly which creates capacity. Resulting in a work environment that is motivational, encouraging to individuals with natural leadership skills to become link leads within the organisation, (Schermerhorn, 2011).
Weber (1978) states in his rationality theory, that an organisation needs a
The author takes a fictitious workplace that probably resembles many work environments that we have all experience at one time or another. ZAPP The Lightning of EMPOWERMENT is about the complexity of human
For Tony Hsieh, the Zappos brand is less about a particular type of product and more about providing a good customer service. This means that he largely cares about the welfare of his employees and customers. An evidence of him being such an altruist leader was when the blog search engine Land called him “the
They are more like a big family. At Zappos there are lots of fun activities to get the employees involved, like face painting, wacky parades, and gaming in the lounge on breaks. Employees have the freedom to dress causal and comfortable. The company ensures customer loyalty by closely training and mentoring their team, and at the end of training they offer their employees $3,000 to leave (most of whom do not except the offer after weighing the options). Besides their fun and supportive environment, Zappos offers their employees full health care benefits, free meals, and competitive salaries. Lastly, while many other companies have call centers located outside of the country, (in order to save money) Zappos call center is located in Loss Vegas. Phone calls are not timed or scripted, which gives the employees a chance to interact with the customers on a more personal
The single most important component associated with managing a successful organization, entails the empowerment of employees. People that are empowered are able to make smart decisions without always having to rely on authority, to point them in the right direction. Creating an empowered organization involves interest in the workplace; minimal absence from work, high retention rates; loyal and motivated team members; as well as efficient results and effective communication amongst team members. In the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
This pyramid-shaped hierarchy is the most common organizational structure for HCOs. Size and complexity of the HCOs dictates this particular structure. This form organizes departments and various positions according to employee roles and abilities. Often used by smaller HCOs in stable environments that offer fewer services. This form allows for efficiency and cost control and development of in-depth knowledge and skills. The functional form is, however, not as effective for large, diversified HCOs in rapidly changing environments because decision making is too centralized and would therefore be too slow. This form also lacks horizontal departmental coordination between workers and functional VPs (Olden, 2015).
For the employees to be able to take risks, consequences, and trade-offs, the organization should already had established an approach that built on positive change and high performance. Cooperrider and Whitney (2005) suggested that the Destiny phase “strengthening the affirmative capability of the whole system, enabling it to build hope and sustain momentum for ongoing positive change and high performance” (p.16). Similarly, the ideal organization would continuously search for opportunities to build a relationship with its employees and engage them in making changes that would enhance their performances in the workplace. All in all, when the organization empowers its employees by giving them a sense of ownership as it relates to risks, demonstrate
The ethos of work fast, work smartly and be kind is really the cornerstone of their ability to tackle any job that comes their way. The company employees it would seem to develop a charged charisma in tackling any obstacle. The company’s culture is engrained with these three simple words, “Smart, Fast, Kind.” By understanding that, we as a company leave the baggage at the door, are fully engaged in our product, decision making collectively, and most important is they do not let stress affect themselves negatively. They strive to put forth the best product, production via socially or developing and executing a stellar event for the end user of their services. Smart, Fast and Kind, what a concept, it seems companies forget what these three simple words are being caught in the rat race to produce a product. Simple and elegant in the approach to a modern company that has been in business for over twenty years, happy and successful. Perhaps, this is the start of a business revolution in employee development that is leaps and bounds ahead of the vertical corporate structure. I for one, see that it just might
Zappos is an online shoes retailer that started its business in the year 1999. Later on the company had expanded its business to include the beauty products, clothing and even the housewares within its leading e-commerce website. This case emphasizes on the customer service department of Zappos Company and initially the business focused only on the drop ship method. Later on the company also increased the variety of the products. The company had also created a bricks and mortar storefront to expand the business and increase the sales of the business.
The management team at Zappos must analyze and carefully determine which path will ultimately offer the best growth potential for the company as a whole; whether that is continuing business as usual by remaining independent, or successfully merging with Amazon.com.
Zappos has made the online shopping experience very safe and easy. The marketing strategy used by Zappos has to be one of the best one in any market. Zappos took was given to them and turn the focus to the customer experience. The entire idea was to make the shopping experience better so that customers would return. The promotion of a fun and hip culture for the employees is a big reason this strategy is working. Employees are in good moods and so this passes on the customer. The Zappos atmosphere is fun. There are no sales goals for employee because Zappos wants the relationship between the employee and customer to be genuine.
In the article "Goodbye Hierarchy, Hello Holacracy?”, the author Mark McGraw 2015, writes about whether the Holacracy would work or not in all organizations. Holacracy system is a model that ditched managers, giving to all employees the authority to decided what is the best for the company. According to the article, some specialists defended that with the right environment condition holacracy system could be implemented in some sectors of the company in order to reduce the bureaucracy and increase the communication between different departments (Haynes 2015). In addition to that, Haynes also mentioned that holacracy systems are more likely to succeed in a start-ups or teach companies. However, some specialists said that because is hard to
The Oxford dictionary defines empowerment as, “The authority or power given to someone to do something.” Leaders use empowerment to improve employee reliance and commitment to the company, by providing them with the ability to make decisions when it is needed. By granting them this authority, the employee would be given control of a portion of the business which would provide an incentive to work harder for the company with the chance for more authority and responsibility in the future. In this paper, we shall provide a brief history of a major reference to empowerment leadership styles, ways to empower employees, and the effect of employee empowerment in a company.
Empowerment is the best way to promote a good long-lasting employee-customer relationship (Fragoso, 1999). Empowerment can also bring certain benefits to employees of an organization. It makes the employees give more input to company improvements; it promotes higher productivity, and is a good balance between their personal and professional lives. It exercises employees’ minds to find better solutions to problems on the job and increases the employees’ potential for promotions and job satisfaction. It results in personal growth, feelings of confidence and control in themselves and their companies. It makes workers utilize their potentials and it enables them to stand behind their decisions, assume risks, participate and take actions. It is a win-win-win situation: customers benefit from employees, organization benefit from the employees and the customers, and employees benefit from higher confidence and self-esteem (Fragoso, 1999).
In many companies, operational employees also need information to handle tasks and make decisions that were assigned to supervisors. This trend, called empowerment, gives employees more
The similarities between structured management and Holocracy can cause major catches in implementation. While Holocracy focuses on self-managed teams and individuals, there is still a need for the traditional management techniques in some situations. Therefore, work delegation is something that Holocracy shares with structured management. Teams are self-managed but work is still delegated from a manager or leader. This can be noticed in Zappos, which is one of the most successful companies in adopting Holocracy in the workplace. According