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One of my MBA classes on designing an organization mentioned a significant change when moving from collectivity stage ("charismatic", "empowering") to formaliza

by bitL 7y ago

One of my MBA classes on designing an organization mentioned a significant change when moving from collectivity stage ("charismatic", "empowering") to formalization stage (bureaucratic, most desired by individual managers, principal-agent at play). It looks like Google was able to delay this jump longer than most companies but in the end couldn't avoid it. From what I've heard recently from former employees, JetBrains is another company that is undergoing a similar shift; in the past half of their "escapees" returned back from Google/Facebook within a year, expressing displeasure with those companies, now they are jumping ship as well...

zozbot234 7y ago
Is there a "unicorn"-sized company which is not highly bureaucratic (dominated by internal politics)? It just doesn't seem logically possible to me. The weird thing, rather, is the extent to which the largest companies do way better than we might otherwise expect, given the obvious drawbacks of these formalized, bureaucratic arrangements.
- bitL 7y ago
  I think one has to follow the life-cycle of a company to have a good time; e.g. Valve used to be awesome company, now that is no longer true. Be in the right place at the right time, all the time, it seems... So to answer your question, one has to view a company in time and likely there will be a time span when company is not dominated by internal politics. Managers push for bureaucracy as their desired form, rank-and-file employees fight against it, at some point power moves to managers and companies slowly die, even while wildly profitable, making disruptive innovation by a next generation of companies possible. Avoid stressful start ups (except when you are co-founder/investor), join once a company has money to invest into crazy things, run away once bureaucracy sets in (or if company passes Bozo event horizon).
- danieltillett 7y ago
  Yes. One person companies. All others are dominated by internal politics.

by bitL 7y ago

zozbot234 7y ago

Is there a "unicorn"-sized company which is not highly bureaucratic (dominated by internal politics)? It just doesn't seem logically possible to me. The weird thing, rather, is the extent to which the largest companies do way better than we might otherwise expect, given the obvious drawbacks of these formalized, bureaucratic arrangements.

bitL 7y ago
I think one has to follow the life-cycle of a company to have a good time; e.g. Valve used to be awesome company, now that is no longer true. Be in the right place at the right time, all the time, it seems... So to answer your question, one has to view a company in time and likely there will be a time span when company is not dominated by internal politics. Managers push for bureaucracy as their desired form, rank-and-file employees fight against it, at some point power moves to managers and companies slowly die, even while wildly profitable, making disruptive innovation by a next generation of companies possible. Avoid stressful start ups (except when you are co-founder/investor), join once a company has money to invest into crazy things, run away once bureaucracy sets in (or if company passes Bozo event horizon).
danieltillett 7y ago
Yes. One person companies. All others are dominated by internal politics.