It’s true. I have to admit, this is a hard scenario for me to imagine. I learned about this fact through Change or Die by Alan Deutschman, an excellent volume outlining the human nature to change (or rather what actually makes/convinces us to change).
“Your team is your boss, because you don’t want to let them down. Every one’s your boss and no one’s your boss (p.114)” Really?? Deutschman uses Gore as a classic (and the only real) example of Theory Yphilosophies, contrasted with the rigid, heirachal practices of Theory X, which states that people really don’t want to work and that they will really only looking out only for themselves.
So, how would this boss-free structure look in most of the situations that I am familiar with (i.e. hospitality and food service)? Is the desire to please your team and take ownership enough to really sustain these operations? What would happen when the proverbial disgruntled customer wants accountability? There’s nobody to pass the buck to. Though I’ve done my fair share of diffusing tense situations at a non-managerial level, usually to the point where a manager was not even required. So perhaps the idea has merit.
But what would the hiring process look like? And even more, the firing process? If it takes so long just to realize what roles within this type of organization are, AND they are constantly changing, then how does somebody actually get weeded out?
