

A large company that doesn't limit freedom - neilk
http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/05408

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neilk
I agree with Paul Graham's recent post on how large companies restrict
freedom. His model of how it happens is interesting: as orders flow downwards
through the tree, freedom is partitioned at every node. But does it follow
that large companies must have this flaw? Only if you assume that management's
job is to send orders downwards.

Google has tried to create a culture where management nurtures initiatives
from below, to notable success. But this is only for engineers and only some
of the time. The carrot they dangle is that you'll get to control 20% of your
time at work. One-fifth!

Semco, described in the link, weeds out command-and-control wherever and
whenever it crops up in the organization, and replaces it with free choice and
shared self-interest.

And have you ever heard of a large company that has no IT policies whatsoever,
other than _protecting worker email privacy_?

[http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Expert-Voices/Ricardo-
Semler-S...](http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Expert-Voices/Ricardo-Semler-Set-
Them-Free/)

