Individual Assignment

Course Title: Management of Organizations & Systems

Submitted To: Dr. Md Asadul Islam

Assistant Professor

BRAC University

Name: Md. Mezbah Uddin Chy

ID: 22264043

Course Code: MGT 501

Section: 02
 Table of Content

Serial No. Name of Content

1 Introduction

2 What is Holacracy?

3 Effective Interpersonal skills &

Leadership style

4 Difficulties and Challenges in

Holacratic structure

5 Opinion on working in an
organization like Zappos

6 Conclusion

7 Reference
 Executive Summary

This report has been prepared based on secondary research and the purpose of this research is to
clear the concept of Holacracy management practice.

Holacracy is a new Management Concept that replaces the traditional management practice in
jobs but, it is done without laying off employees that are productive and contributes to the
organization. Authority is being distributed among the employees through transparent roles &
rules guided by organization’s purpose & goal. Everyone is set free to perform their best staying
aligned with the organization’s big picture. To do so Employees must have some interpersonal
skills too. Such as: Leadership Skill, Conflict Resolution skill, Team work skill, Decision
making skill, communication skill to work in a company that practices Holacracy Management.

Nevertheless, the concept Holacracy has some difficulties and problems too. We are going to
discuss about those in this writing.

Considering everything, I would definitely like to work in a company that follows Holacracy
Management.
 Introduction

This report firstly explains the concept of Holacracy. What is it, how is it done, the advantage
and disadvantages of Holacracy management system and more.

Moreover, this report highlights the interpersonal skills and leadership style an entrepreneur or
employer or a manager may have in an organization where Holacracy Management is practiced.
In addition, it also represents some difficulties or challenges an employer may face because of
the Holacracy practice in organizations and the challenges employers face in in corporate
organization in Bangladesh.

This report also contains discussions about my opinion, whether I would or would not prefer
working in an organization like Zappos where Holacracy is practiced and the reasons behind.

Finally, it covers a summary of the necessary topics related to the Holacracy concept.
 What is Holacracy?

The introducer of Holacracy was a software executive “Brian Robertson” and it was made
famous by Zappos an online retailer in 2007, that aimed to help organizations to become self-
organized, independent and self-managed. It is one of the most hyped management systems in
today’s world.

It is an organizational structure that removes the management hierarchy from organization

providing employees’ equal power across distinct roles to achieve company- wide goals.
Holacracy plans to distribute authority of innovation through teams that govern themselves and
the authority of decision-making, instead of the traditional hierarchy system where authority and
positions are encouraged highly. This method removes the traditional practice of hierarchy of
formal titles and distributes freedom to the employees as well as managers. Moreover, it
develops some circles of partners where employees are free to choose their desired roles and
encouraged to help others existing in their circles. Anyone can initiate any project and implement
their innovative ideas as there are no hierarchies or titles remaining.

These pictures portray the Holacracy structure and circles within an organization
 Effective Interpersonal skills & Leadership style

As the Holacracy System declines hierarchy and management level, employees themselves need
to be properly skilled and experienced in some areas to run the organization in order to achieve
the organizational purpose. The employees will have to act and play their role as an entrepreneur.
They will be held accountable for their tasks. Some effective psychological characteristics
employees need to develop in a Holacracit organizations are:

 Personal productivity

The main purpose of Holacracy is making organizations capable of getting every task done
accordingly. The productivity of an organization depends on the people that lead it. Holacracy
ideally eliminates the bureaucracy that frequently hinders individual productivity. Employees
that have a strong sense of self-leadership and a tireless passion for success will contribute even
more to the team. (2017, December 25).

 Self-Leadership

When they know they need to do something, people with strong self-leadership are able to do it
even when they don't really feel like it. When there is no direct instruction from a superior in an
organizational structure, it is up to the individual employees to decide what must be done and
then to make sure that it is achieved. Employees who have skill of self-leadership can manage
their own conduct with little supervision. Self-leadership may come in a variety of ways, such as
implementing self-punishment or reward as behavioral methods, finding happiness in work,
designing your surroundings to assist your work goals, and a lot of other strategies. (2017,
December 25)

 Tolerance for Ambiguity

By delivering job assignments and feedback, managers frequently help employees by removing
any uncertainty. Holacracy eliminates this, thus you must become much better at handling
uncertainty. Although it may feel safe and comfortable in the moment, it is practically impossible
to eradicate ambiguity. Instead, employees must become more efficient at aligning their
perception of complexity with their desire for distinct tasks and observable advancement. (2017,
December 25).

 Decision making

The capability to decide between two or more options in order to get the optimal outcome.
Employees must make choices in a Holacracy management system without the assistance of a
manager. With the knowledge and comprehension of the task in hand, this competency enables
the employee to select the optimal course of action for the organization's objective. Alam, Md.
N. (2022)

 Teamwork

It refers to the capability to relate to one another and cooperate successfully in any situation in a
large group. Employees must collaborate in a circle team under Holacracy management, where
employees have the same responsibilities. Alam, Md. N. (2022)

 Communication

The ability to communicate and understand concepts and information. Holacracy necessitates
that employees have a solid comprehension of the job because there is no managerial monitoring.
They need to pay close attention to what the other person is saying.

So, these are some skills and styles that can be effective for an entrepreneur or a manager under a
Holacratic approach. Alam, Md. N. (2022)

Difficulties and Challenges in Holacrtic structure

In spite of being the hottest management system, Holacracy creates some difficulties and
challenges in organization for employees and managers. Some of those are described below:
  Holacracy does not instruct how to run an organization

Many of us may believe Holacracy would dictate us how to run an organization. But Sadly, NO.
The majority of the constitution's principles deal with determining how to operate business.
However, as a result of those regulations, your organizational structure does evolve. The
challenge in this condition is that you may experience a lack of direction or uncertainty. This
may resemble the feeling you get when you play a new game and are unsure of the rules; all it
takes is little practice. (2020, December 2).

 Having faith in people

Adoption of Holacracy requires a lot of trust among everyone. The existing "power holder" must
have a lot of confidence in his ability to adopt holacracy, and his coworkers must have faith in
him to do so. Additionally, it needs trust amongst coworkers for everyone to follow the rules and
support or even defend one another when uncertain about the proper procedure. (2020,
December 2).

 When Holacracy gives you lemons make lemonade!

Most people in a holacracy end up adopting multiple roles and are responsible for many tasks
that fall within their roles. Because of the division of authority, it may be challenging to
immediately alter courses or compel everyone to put their efforts on the same common item.
(2020, December 2).

 If it looks like a manager, smells like a manager

Old habits sometimes resist change, despite the best of intentions. A lot of behaviors associated
with the previous way of doing things need to be unlearned in order to succeed in the Holocracy.
Managers are used to tell employees what to do or what not to. But in this holacracy approach if
a manager asks an employee to do something he may consider it as an order and be offended.
Even though he feels responsible, he must resist the urge to take charge and direct others. (2020,
December 2).

 The grapevine cannot be out-evolved

Since some of your coworkers might not comprehend, approve of, or even trust Holocracy,
gossip and traditional business politics will still be a part of your day-to-day work life. Holacracy
places a strong emphasis on the belief that roles, not people, are what matter. In order to avoid
criticizing a specific individual, you should be able to feel free to address any issues you have
with how a certain job functions. In meetings, participants must put aside their personal feelings
in order to concentrate on their difficulties and work to ease them. (2020, December 2).

In the context of Bangladesh, for example Walton has the traditional hierarchy management. If
they plan to replace this with Holacracy they may face many obstacles in the journey. As the
organization has been practicing the old method since its birth, introducing a new concept would
be a little bit difficult to adapt. Employees may face difficulty in understanding the new concept.
In this regard, employees should be trained properly according to the need. They should be
prepared to face the challenges and solve any issues if arises. So, keeping all the above facts in
mind any organization in Bangladesh can adopt Holacracy Management and be successful.

Opinion on working in an organization like Zappos

To my opinion, I will love to work in an organization like Zappos where Holacracy is being
practiced. As in this system there are no specific rules of reporting only to the immediate
superior, anyone can share their thoughts and innovative ideas to any group of people. This idea
is so broaden and lets the free flow of concepts and thoughts among partners. Some of the
advantages for which I want myself employed in a Holacratic approached organization are
below:

First of all, with this kind of structure, workers may concentrate on the task at hand rather than
how it will be presented to upper management. Moreover, People's positions are equal here,
which creates a corporative environment that is favorable for the creation of innovative
approaches and tactics. As long as there is no requirement for multi-level consideration in
several departments, the implementation of projects is intended to be simplified.
Providing authority and giving employees the tools they need to make decisions on their own in
their areas of responsibility is undoubtedly a promising direction for all kinds of organizations.
Finally, since employees may choose which tasks to do, the holacracy method is likely to
encourage the team to accept themselves in the new professional sector. This fact may encourage
members of the workforce to exhibit new talents. Therefore, holacracy is projected to establish a
new form of organization in which every employee values their individual and collective
contributions to the task they do. For example In Zappos the hieriarchy is flattened where anyone
can report to anyone, can share thoughts to anyone, choose their own role according to their
talent and interest and they are accountable for their tasks. This structure is so flexible and more
favorable to the employees as they are not pressured by their superiors and take commands on a
regular basis. Me as an employee will love working in such organization where, I can contribute
my innovative ideas, where my thoughts matter, where my ideas will not be distorted in the
process of flowing person to person. There will obviously be many challenges but the advantages
and flexibility weighs more and matters.

Conclusion

Overall this report firstly highlighted the concept of Holacracy. How it was done, the pros and
cons of this approach.

Also this report highlighted the interpersonal skills and leadership style an entrepreneur or
employer or a manager need to have in an organization where Holacracy Management is
practiced. It also represented some difficulties or challenges an employer may face because of
the Holacracy practice in organizations and the challenges employers face in in corporate
organization in Bangladesh.

I have discussed about my opinion, whether I would or would not prefer working in an
organization like Zappos where Holacracy is practiced and the reasons behind.

Finally, a summary of the necessary topics related to the Holacracy concept was covered in the
report.
 Reference

 Explore. (n.d.-a). Holacracy. https://www.holacracy.org/explore

 Holacracy. (2022, October 17). Corporate Finance Institute.

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/management/holacracy/

 (2017, December 25). People and Holacracy: Four Necessities for Success - The Ready.

Medium. https://medium.com/the-ready/people-and-holacracy-four-necessities-for-

success-2320c3dd3d7c

 Alam, Md. N. (2022). Individual Assignment on Holacracy. www.studocu.com.

https://www.studocu.com/row/document/brac-university/management-of-organizations-

systems/holacracy-report/35594267

 Holacracy’s 8 challenges. (2020, December 2). Springest - for Life Long Learners.

https://springest.com/blog/holacracy-8-challenges/

 Holacracy Basics: Advantages and Disadvantages | Free Essay Example. (2022, March

8). StudyCorgi.com. https://studycorgi.com/holacracy-basics-advantages-and-

disadvantages/