Bob Moore, the owner of Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods celebrated his 81st birthday by giving the company that he founded to his employees. Moore announced the new Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) at an all-company meeting at the headquarters office in Milwaukie, Oregon.
Moore said, “It’s been my dream all along to turn this company [...]
Archive for the ‘Democratic Principles’ Category
Owner gives company to employees on 81st birthday
Posted in Democratic Principles, Management Innovation, democratic company, employee-owned companies, workplace democracy, tagged Bob Moore gives Bob's Red Mill company to employees as ESOP, Democratic Companies, employee ownership at Bob's Red Mill, Employee Stock Ownership Plan, Management Innovation, Operations VP Dennis Vaughn, sharing ownership, workplace democracy on March 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Netflix takes a vacation from its vacation policy
Posted in Democratic Principles, Management Innovation, employee engagement, tagged Brian Carney, Freedom Inc, great workplace, Management Innovation, Netflix no vacation policy, Reed Hastings ends vacation policy at Netflix, workplace democracy on January 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Contrary to most companies, the vacation policy at Netflix is quite simple: “there is no policy or tracking.” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings referred to vacation limits and face-time requirements as “a relic of the industrial age.”
Several years ago, employees had argued that it wasn’t logical for the company to track vacation days since employees’ hours [...]
An argument against ‘totalitarian’ IT policies
Posted in Democratic Principles, Gary Hamel, Management Innovation, democracy at work, employee engagement, workplace democracy, tagged creativity, engagement, Gary Hamel, innovation, IT departments, IT policies, Management 2.0 blog, Management Innovation, productivity, totalitarian IT policies on December 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In his Management 2.0 blog, Gary Hamel shares some thought-provoking questions about counterintuitive, yet common, IT policies that seem to discourage productivity and innovation:
How is it that companies are willing to trust employees with their customers, their expensive equipment, and their cash, but are unwilling to trust them when it comes to using the Web [...]
The end of the ‘rock star’ CEO
Posted in Democratic Principles, Management Innovation, democracy at work, workplace democracy, tagged anonymous bosses, Bob Nardelli of Home Depot, Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, decentralized democratic organizational model, Democratic Companies, Democratic Principles, Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco, Jeff Skilling of Enron, Management Innovation, rock star CEOs, Sarbanes-Oxley, the cult of the faceless boss, top-down hierarchcal system, workplace democracy, workplace jerks on November 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A story published earlier this month on the Economist discussed the recent trend of companies preferring “anonymous” bosses to the “rock star” CEOs who were popular in previous decades. “The corporate world is increasingly rejecting imperial chief executives in favour of anonymous managers.”
We believe that this shift represents another stage in the ongoing evolution in [...]
Interview with WorldBlu Founder Traci Fenton
Posted in Democratic Principles, democracy at work, workplace democracy on September 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The following is an interview that WorkplaceDemocracy.com conducted with Traci Fenton. Traci is the Founder and CEO of WorldBlu, a non-profit organization that champions the growth of democratic organizations worldwide. She is also author of the forthcoming book, Democracy at Work.
What makes a company ‘democratic’?
A company is democratic when it operates using the principles of [...]
The Invisible Hook: What Managers Can Learn from Pirates
Posted in Democratic Principles, Management Innovation, workplace democracy, tagged Adam Smith, democracy, economics, invisible hand, Peter Leeson, pirates, The Invisible Hook, University of Chicago on September 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
WorkplaceDemocracy.com conducted an interview with Peter Leeson, economics professor at the University of Chicago and author of The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. The Invisible Hook is a fascinating book that explores why and how lawless and violent pirates organized themselves into what may have been the world’s first democratic workplaces.
The Invisible Hook shows how pirates’ search [...]
Investors Benefit from Zappos Democratic Work Environment
Posted in Democratic Principles, Management Innovation, tagged Amazon.com, decentralized workplace, democratic workplace, great workplace, Management Innovation, Tony Hsieh, Zappos on July 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Zappos, the online shoe retailer famous for its quirky company culture and unconventional management practices, recently announced that it is being acquired by Amazon.com for $847 million. Founded in 1999, it took Zappos less than a decade to achieve revenues of over $1 billion, and the company has been profitable since 2006.
Tony Hsieh, Zappos’ CEO, [...]
Workplace Democracy at GM and Chrysler?
Posted in Democratic Principles, Management Innovation, workplace democracy, tagged Chrysler, democratic company, General Motors, Management Innovation, workplace democracy on May 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
There has been a lot of discussion going on about whether the workers at General Motors and Chrysler will become the owners of their respective employers and about the kind of impact that this ownership stake will have on the future of the two car manufacturers.
Without decentralizing the management structure and decision-making processes, simply turning [...]
How to be a “good boss”
Posted in Democratic Principles, Management Innovation, workplace democracy, tagged democratic workplace, electing leaders, good boss, leadership, Management Innovation, workplace democracy on April 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A recent post on USNews.com listed some nice tips on how to be “a good boss in bad times.” While things such as smiling, listening, and providing feedback would certainly the workplace environment a bit more pleasant, the root causes of most employee disengagement and employee-boss problems stem from a deeper, structural level.
The main reason [...]
CEO Seeks Employee Input, Prevents 450 Layoffs
Posted in Democratic Principles, Management Innovation, tagged Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, democratic management, layoffs, Management Innovation, Paul Levy, preventing layoffs, shared decision making on April 6, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Last month Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, found his organization facing a $20 million budget shortfall caused by the economic crisis. Instead of ordering the layoffs of the 600 workers necessary to cover the $20 million deficit, Levy decided to discuss this problem with his employees and to solicit [...]
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- Oregon company owner to workers: Surprise, you own the company http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC0w-hwel6U http://fb.me/5RXNkrA 2 weeks ago
- Netflix takes a vacation from its vacation policy:... http://fb.me/4s0IQZk 1 month ago
- An argument against 'totalitarian' IT policies:... http://fb.me/3nYGfFF 3 months ago
- The end of the ‘rock star’ CEO: http://workplacedemocracy.com/2009/11/22/the-end-of-the-rock-star-ceo/ http://fb.me/3gK8VS5 3 months ago
- Memo to Michael Moore: Workplace Democracy and Capitalism Go Together:... http://fb.me/36KzLsf 4 months ago
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