Cisco Systems Develops a Collaborative Approach to Organizing

Until the mid-2000s John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, had a “control and command,” mechanistic approach to organizing. Chambers was forced to reevaluate his approach when Cisco’s market value shrunk by $400 billion after the dot.com crisis. He implemented a new collaborative approach which involved a more organic structure that allowed Cisco’s different teams and divisions to plan long-term strategies and work together to achieve them. To facilitate collaboration Chambers created cross-functional teams of managers from its different divisions.

1. How you describe Cisco’s organizational structure? How has the structure changed through its life cycle?

2. Explain the Greiner’s growth model and relate `Cisco Systems` changes to the stages in Greiner’s model.