Can technology replace managers? Explain your answer

Can Technology Replace Managers? Surt-up companies are known for being innovative, chain of command, holocracy organies the best and one of thousans to be the way mess as a res of overlapping, welf-governing they are being managed. A number of the new circles" instead of having jobs, holocracies have firms are trying to minimum headunt and max roles. Each role belongs to a circle rather than mire agility by eliminating management hierarchy a department. The circles overlap, and individ In place of the returning to technol als hold many different roles. Individualsed gy, including wendy wow and low.com roles in these chce worth and their meet web-based services such as Amazon.com's Bedshi Ing outcomes are recorded using web-based soft for storing corporate data analyzing the data and ware called Glass Prog. This wystem allow anyone presenting the results in the form of dashboards In the company to view who's responsible for what that anyone in the firm can use. In the past such role and what they're working on Glass Frog pro data were difficult to required mewn vides a to-do list that teams to define the work managers to cane and interpeet, or could not be supposed to be doing and to hold themes analysed without expensive business intelligence of those tasks systems costing millions of dollars Today we small Although Zappos CEO Tony Wich contacto startups can afford to store and manipulate nearly trumpet self-management, it is unclear employees limides pools of data in near real time widely share his enthusiasm. Some employees wel resample Chubbles, a rapidly growing clothing comed the opportunity for more independence. With start-up targeting college fraternities, doesn't have experience and expertise downplayed, less senice CEO Instead, it has four co-CEO cach in charge of employees with fresh ideas receive more attention his or her own business function. This structures Introverts have benefit from the repeated all the way down the company's hierarchy. everybody speak in meeting Other employees were All Chubbies employees have access to the same date confused and frustrated by numerous mandates, as its top managers. According to Tom Montgomery, endless meetings, and uncertainty about who did one of the Chubbies co-CEOs, when you don't have what. To who would they report to if there were traditional CEO and final decision maker, you have no bom? What was expected of them if they did to trust people to make the right decisions based on not have a job title, and how would they become the information they see. Although it takes time to sted? Within weeks after Zappos embraced holo build up the trust once you do, the company can racy, about 14 percent of employees had left the mewe much more quickly company. The employed has continued Zap Montgomery points out that in the past, an assoch po's turnover rate for 2015 was 30 percent, 10 per ate specializing in events for clients might wport to centage points above is typical analaron a manager in the marketing department in charge of Treehouse Island Inc., a Portland, Oregon, online thinking about why the company should be the coding school als had a flat organisation Sul ing events in the first place. Today, the event plan worked four day week, worked only on projects they ner working alone can use an array of dashboards to liked, rarely had to send email, and had no direct determine exactly how many Facebook like, Inats home However, the businesses, with about gram posts and sales are from a particular event, 100,000 students carolled in its online courses and and she is able to decide on her own whether future 100 employees. Some projects weren't being.com events should be scheduled. With the right data and pleted and employees were unsure of their respons tools to back up her decision, she doesn't need a bilities. Treehouse and by buscacy. manager to validate her choices but we still nevertheless Without managers Web retailer Zappos.com Inc. announced in 2013 to coordinate projects and supervise and encourage that it was eating managers in order to keep workers, The employees weren't do the 1,500 person company from becoming to rigid the as they could have been. According to Trechouse too wieldy, and too bureaucratic as it grows founder Ryan Canon, there was no real reason to Zappos adopted a 'holowy model in which work work hard because no one knew about it. Some of er manage themelves without the aid of middle Trecho's best employees started believing that mot managers. In contrast to a traditional corporate as much was expected of them. Chapter 3 Information Systems, Organization, and Strategy 121 Questions about which subjects to teach would hours. With roles nodarly defined and managers spark much analysis and chatter but resulted in tracking assignments, email is actually enhancing few wees or plans. Michael Watson, who hraded productivity Treehouse finance and operations, estimated that According to say Hwy, probeer of strategy at the decisions about matters such as Theehouse's website Singapore campaaf the paralgies patute tual design took twice as long as they should have nesa school inad, middle managers are often vil The home partially revered course in the spring fied as symptoms of corporate boat, but things of 2005. Employees will work four day weeks, but apart without them they now have managers. Since that change was Didele. The appes de made, revenue has increased along with the number Experimentale, WART of minutes of video count the company produces e Joris Christopher The New The time required for customer support employ Mgr. April 2 and he ces to respond to students who have questions calde de Magos has dropped to these and a half hours from seven CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. How do flat organisations differ from traditional bumaucratic hancha? 2. How has information they made it eliminate middle manager positions What management organization, and technology Issues would you consider if you wanted to move from a traditional bureaucracy to a flatter ration 4. Can technology place managers? Explain your INTERACTIVE SESSION: MANAGEMENT Can Technology Replace Managers? Start-up companies are known for being innovative, chain of command, holocracy organizes the busi- and one of those innovations appears to be the way ness as a series of overlapping, self-governing they are being managed. A number of these new "circles."Instead of having jobs, holocracies have firms are trying to minimize headcount and maxi *roles." Each role belongs to a circle rather than mize agility by eliminating management hierarchy. a department. The circles overlap, and individu- In place of managers, they're turning to technol als hold many different roles. Individuals assigned ogy, including user-friendly software and low-cost roles in these circles work together, and their meet- web-based services such as Amazon.com's Redshift ing outcomes are recorded using web-based soft- for storing corporate data, analyzing the data, and ware called Glass Frog. This system allows anyone presenting the results in the form of dashboards in the company to view who's responsible for what that anyone in the firm can use. In the past such role and what they're working on. Glass Frog pro- data were difficult to obtain, required more senior vides a "to-do list that teams use to define the wor! managers to organize and interpret, or could not be they're supposed to be doing and to hold themselve analyzed without expensive business intelligence accountable for those tasks. systems costing millions of dollars. Today even small Although Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh continues to start-ups can afford to store and manipulate nearly trumpet self-management, it is unclear if employees limitless pools of data in near real time. widely share his enthusiasm. Some employees wel- For example, Chubbies, a rapidly growing clothing comed the opportunity for more independence. With start-up targeting college fraternities, doesn't have a experience and expertise downplayed, less senior CEO. Instead, it has four co-CEOs, each in charge of employees with fresh ideas receive more attention. his or her own business function. This structure is Introverts have benefited from the expectation that repeated all the way down the company's hierarchy. everybody speak in meetings. Other employees were All Chubbies employees have access to the same data confused and frustrated by numerous mandates, as its top managers. According to Tom Montgomery, endless meetings, and uncertainty about who did one of the Chubbies Co-CEOs, when you don't have what. To whom would they report to if there were a traditional CEO and final decision maker, you have no bosses? What was expected of them if they did to trust people to make the right decisions based on not have a job title, and how would they be compen- the information they see. Although it takes time to sated? Within weeks after Zappos embraced holoc- build up that trust, once you do, the company can racy, about 14 percent of employees had left the move much more quickly. company. The employee exodus has continued. Zap Montgomery points out that in the past, an associ pos's turnover rate for 2015 was 30 percent, 10 per- ate specializing in events for clients might report to centage points above its typical annual attrition rate. a manager in the marketing department in charge of Treehouse Island Inc., a Portland, Oregon, online thinking about why the company should be throw coding school, also had a flat organization. Staff ing events in the first place. Today, the event plan worked four-day weeks, worked only on projects the ner working alone can use an array of dashboards to liked, rarely had to send e-mail, and had no direct determine exactly how many Facebook likes, Insta bosses. However, the business grew, with about gram posts, and sales arose from a particular event, 100,000 students enrolled in its online courses and and she is able to decide on her own whether future 100 employees. Some projects weren't being com- events should be scheduled. With the right data and pleted, and employees were unsure of their responsi tools to back up her decision, she doesn't need a bilities. Treehouse wasn't burdened by bureaucracy, manager to validate her choices. but work still stalled nevertheless. Without managen Web retailer Zappos.com Inc. announced in 2013 to coordinate projects and supervise and encourage that it was eliminating managers in order to keep workers, Treehouse employees weren't as produc- the 1,500-person company from becoming too rigid, tive as they could have been. According to Treehouse too unwieldy, and too bureaucratic as it grows. founder Ryan Carson, there was no real reason to Zappos adopted a 'holocracy model in which work work hard because no one knew about it. Some of ers manage themselves without the aid of middle Treehouse's best employees started believing that no managers. In contrast to a traditional corporate as much was expected of them. Chapter 3 Information Systems, Organizations, and Strategy 121 Questions about which subjects to teach would spark much analysis and chatter but resulted in few answers or plans. Michael Watson, who headed Treehouse finance and operations, estimated that decisions about matters such as Treehouse's website design took twice as long as they should have. Treehouse partially reversed course in the spring of 2015. Employees still work four-day weeks, but they now have managers. Since that change was made, revenue has increased along with the number of minutes of video courses the company produces. The time required for customer support employ- ees to respond to students who have questions has dropped to three and a half hours from seven hours. With roles now clearly defined and managers tracking assignments, e-mail is actually enhancing productivity. According to Quy Huy, professor of strategy at the Singapore campus of the prestigious graduate busi- ness school Insead, middle managers are often vili- fied as symptoms of corporate bloat, but things fall apart without them. Sources: David Gelles, "The Zappos Exodus Continues After a Radical Management Experiment," New York Times, January 13, 2016; Bour- ree Lam, 'Why Are So Many Zappos Employees Leaving?" The Atlan- tic, January 15, 2016; Christopher Mims, Data is the New Middle Manager," Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2015; and Rachel Feintzeig, "Radical idea at the Office: Middle Managers, " Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2015 CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. How do flat organizations differ from traditional bureaucratic hierarchies? 2. How has information technology made it possible to eliminate middle manager positions? 3. What management, organization, and technology issues would you consider if you wanted to move from a traditional bureaucracy to a flatter organization? 4. Can technology replace managers? Explain your