No more bosses?: A multi-case study on the emerging use of non-hierarchical principles in large-scale software development
Paper in proceeding, 2016
Organizations are increasingly adopting alternative organizational models to circumvent the challenges of traditional hierarchies. In these alternative models, organizations have leaders instead of the traditional boss and teams operate using self-management and peer-to-peer advice processes. Although the adoption of these models have primarily been seen in smaller companies and startups, examples of long-established organizations that have adopted these models to restructure themselves and move away from their traditionally slow hierarchies are starting to appear. In this paper, we explore how seven large software-intensive companies in the embedded systems domain are adopting principles of non-hierarchical organizations in order to increase empowerment. Based on our empirical findings, we provide recommendations for how to manage this transformation and we develop a model that outlines the steps that companies typically take when transforming from hierarchical towards empowered organizations.
Human resource management
Embedded systems
Societies and institutions
Process engineering
Organizational models
Software design
Empirical findings
Non-hierarchical principles
Autonomy
Hierarchical organizations
Self-management
Peer to peer
Empowered organizations
Hierarchical systems
Self management
Author
Helena Holmström Olsson
Malmo Hogskola
Jan Bosch
Chalmers, Computer Science and Engineering (Chalmers), Software Engineering (Chalmers)
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
03029743 (ISSN) 16113349 (eISSN)
86-1019783319490939 (ISBN)
Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Computer and Information Science
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-49094-6_6
ISBN
9783319490939