BBC Take Away English (The compa

你中意自己的上司吗？有时候，你是否觉得没有管理者的企业更有效率？一家瑞典公司对其管理构架做出了彻底地改变，他们把所有的管理者都“请走”，让员工们分担决策的责任及自由。本集《随身英语》探讨扁平化的管理模式是否有助于员工和企业的发展。

a company without boss

article

What would work be like if you had no boss? Imagine you could make all your own decisions and no one told you what to do.

One company decided to find out if it could work. The staff at Crisp, a Swedish software consultancy, chose to get rid of their CEO and create a completely flat organisation. Having trialled several different management structures, the firm agreed to take the radical step of having no single leader.

First, they needed to establish what a CEO actually did. Then they shared those duties out amongst staff and board members. Employee Yassal Sundman told the BBC: "When we looked at it we had nothing left in the CEO column, and we said, 'all right, why don't we try it out?'".

Which is exactly what they did. And Crisp employee, Heinrik Kniberg, believes it’s been a good move. He says the company can now act faster: "If you want to get something done, you stand up and start driving that". Kniberg also claims workers are more motivated. Crisp regularly measures staff satisfaction, and say they average over four out of five.

Any big decisions are made during the company-wide four-day meetings several times a year. They do still have a board: it’s a legal requirement. But the board can be used as a last resort to resolve tricky issues.

So, if it’s working out for Crisp, could this model become more widespread? Online retailer Zappos tried out a similar plan but had mixed results. Almost a fifth of Zappos staff decided to leave, and chief executive Tony Hsieh admitted that "self-management is not for everyone".

Founder of file-sharing service Dropbox, Drew Houston, believes that a leaderless structure is too chaotic.

"Often infinite freedom like that can be pretty disorientating. It doesn't always feel good, because you no longer know what you're supposed to do, what's important and you're bumping up against other people," Mr Houston says.

So, what is the perfect balance? How do you keep accountability in a company without hierarchy? Would you like to work somewhere with no boss?

vocabulary

consultancy 咨询公司
to get rid of 除去，解雇
flat （管理方式）扁平化的
management structure 管理构架
radical 根本性的，彻底的
board member 董事会成员
column （标明职责的）栏
to drive (something) 推动（计划、项目等的）进展
motivated 有积极性的
company-wide 公司范围内的，整个公司的
legal requirement 法律规定
the last resort 万不得已时的办法，最后的手段
mixed results 好坏参半的结果
leaderless 无领导的
disorientating 失去方向感的，令人感到无所适从的
to bump up against other people 与他人的职责重叠
chaotic [keɪˈɒtɪk] 混乱的
accountability 责任制，问责制
hierarchy [ˈhaɪərɑ:ki] （机构）等级制度

make sentences

1. I wouldn’t ask Max unless you really have to. Only ask him as a last resort.

2. You need to be accountable for your actions. You can’t just say what you like.

3. This is a flat organisation. There’s no hierarchy.

4. We need to get rid of Simon. He doesn’t contribute anything to our company.

5. Our experiment had mixed results. Some of it worked and some of it completely failed.

question

Which two advantages of having no boss were mentioned?

answer

Heinrik Kniberg says that things get done faster and there is a higher level of staff satisfaction using their current management structure.