3 ms·

Summary: A very interesting essay providing context for Silicon Valley's management style. Google is not as different from GM as we might think, and is trying t

Summary: A very interesting essay providing context for Silicon Valley's management style. Google is not as different from GM as we might think, and is trying to solve many of the same organizational problems. GM was the great innovator in management at one time and there is a long history of celebrating the current management fad as freeing employees, and as being generalizable.

Zigurd 12y ago
There are some interesting similarities. And that could have been the extent of the article. Unlike Google, GM was born in corporate intrigue and the kind of inward-looking backstabbing that hasn't taken hold at Google. It isn't as if there ever was a golden age of GM management culture. Back in Sloan's day it was a huge achievement to make a large, people-powered management hierarchy work at all. Google was born after those large hierarchies became a liability. It would be better to compare Google to a lightwieght management structure like that of the East India Company. It would be interesting to compare the square footage devoted to management at the East India Company (East India House, one of the first buildings purpose-built as a corporate office building), Google, and GM.
- chollida1 12y ago
  > Unlike Google, GM was born in corporate intrigue and the kind of inward-looking backstabbing that hasn't taken hold at Google This is just completely false. Google has just as much backstabing and infighting at the exec level as an company out there. Well at least according the Larry Page: > Finally, Page laid down the law: "If you keep fighting, we'll be very happy to send you to the competition." > During the speech, one of the executives who was in the room turned to a friend and whispered: > "Did he just say, 'zero tolerance for fighting? I've been here for years. All we do is fight." http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-politics-at-google-its-a-game-of-thrones-in-mountain-view-2013-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-politics-at-google-it...
  - presootto 12y ago
    >This is just completely false. Google has just as much backstabing and infighting at the exec level as an company out there. Of course it does. And much more then people outside of the company think. As long as people like Eric Schmidt are on board there will be no shortage of hypocrisy and backstabbing. Disclaimer: I work for TAGA (The Arrogant Google Assholes)
  - Zigurd 12y ago
    That article doesn't say what you think it says. It starts with an HR person tut-tutting about desktop sex. About the only example of overt empire-building it cites is Google+, and we know how that ended. It also cites examples of self-organization and un-management, where leadership emerges bottom up. Argumentative meetings with the CEO are pretty much the opposite of a backstabbing culture.

Zigurd 12y ago

There are some interesting similarities. And that could have been the extent of the article. Unlike Google, GM was born in corporate intrigue and the kind of inward-looking backstabbing that hasn't taken hold at Google. It isn't as if there ever was a golden age of GM management culture. Back in Sloan's day it was a huge achievement to make a large, people-powered management hierarchy work at all. Google was born after those large hierarchies became a liability. It would be better to compare Google to a lightwieght management structure like that of the East India Company. It would be interesting to compare the square footage devoted to management at the East India Company (East India House, one of the first buildings purpose-built as a corporate office building), Google, and GM.

chollida1 12y ago
> Unlike Google, GM was born in corporate intrigue and the kind of inward-looking backstabbing that hasn't taken hold at Google This is just completely false. Google has just as much backstabing and infighting at the exec level as an company out there. Well at least according the Larry Page: > Finally, Page laid down the law: "If you keep fighting, we'll be very happy to send you to the competition." > During the speech, one of the executives who was in the room turned to a friend and whispered: > "Did he just say, 'zero tolerance for fighting? I've been here for years. All we do is fight." http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-politics-at-google-its-a-game-of-thrones-in-mountain-view-2013-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-politics-at-google-it...
- presootto 12y ago
  >This is just completely false. Google has just as much backstabing and infighting at the exec level as an company out there. Of course it does. And much more then people outside of the company think. As long as people like Eric Schmidt are on board there will be no shortage of hypocrisy and backstabbing. Disclaimer: I work for TAGA (The Arrogant Google Assholes)
- Zigurd 12y ago
  That article doesn't say what you think it says. It starts with an HR person tut-tutting about desktop sex. About the only example of overt empire-building it cites is Google+, and we know how that ended. It also cites examples of self-organization and un-management, where leadership emerges bottom up. Argumentative meetings with the CEO are pretty much the opposite of a backstabbing culture.