Boss Free at VALVE
Valve is a video gaming company based in United States. It was founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees. The firm is self-funded; owns its intellectual property; and aspires to be more than a gaming company: it aspires to greatness. “We’re an entertainment company. A software company. A platform company. But mostly, a company full of passionate people who love the products we create.” From ‘The Valve Handbook for New Employees’.
WHAT IS THIS HR INNOVATION ABOUT?
From ‘The Valve Handbook for New employees’: Valve’s culture and is built on the premise that there are no managers, with each member of staff able to choose the project he or she is working on. Other peculiarities include:
allowing for mistakes "Even expensive mistakes, or ones which result in a very public failure, are genuinely looked at as opportunities to learn."
rewarding employees: a year company paid vacation is offered to employees and their families.
WHY WAS THIS INNOVATION IMPLEMENTED?
There is no benefit in keeping the hierarchy in a context of small company, highly innovative. Hierarchical management doesn’t help with that, because it bottlenecks innovation through the people at the top of the hierarchy, and there’s no reason to expect that those people would be particularly creative about coming up with new products that are dramatically different from existing ones – quite the opposite, in fact. So Valve was designed as a company that would attract the sort of people capable of taking the initial creative step, leave them free to do creative work, and make them want to stay.
WHAT ARE ITS MAIN BENEFITS?
Having such a radical management style and a very specific company culture it is easier to recruit, attract and retain a very specific target of candidates. Having no hierarchy also allow employee to self manage themselves and to reduce the administrative activity in HR.
WEBLINKS/FURTHER INFORMATION
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2012/04/27/a-glimpse-at-a-workplace-of-the-future-valve/#b3abb41424bc
http://www.gamification.co/2013/05/10/a-lesson-in-the-importance-of-innovation/
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-24205497
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/04/16/valves-michael-abrash-hierarchical-management-bottlenecks-innovation/#7f5a689a126e
USA, 1996