Is this just a workers cooperative, or is there a distinction I'm not seeing?
Yes, it's a "consultants" cooperative.
No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
51–60 of 113 posts
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#52I know this article is misleading, it's basically a consulting organization where they decided instead of having a partnership structure (where the old guys get to take a piece of the young guys billings) they are a meritocracy where everyone gets to eat what they kill. So not having admin/CEO overhead is fine, esp. when they can all agree on the value of marketing/PR and other shared cost programs.
But it's an interesting concept. I've managed up to 45 people at a time and believe giving people more authority and responsibility over their area not only better motivates them, but can lead to fantastic results. I would be really interested in how Zappos did it, since they seem to be a larger more traditionally organized business and had some turbulence implementing it.
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#53So incase of fraud everyone goes to jail right ?
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#54This BBC article is terrible and manipulates the reader via the omission of critical facts. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you first read the company's recruitment webpage[1] and specifically their following sentence: - "It also means that there is no guaranteed salary. The only thing we guarantee is that you will have to pay a flat fee every month plus one-tenth of what you bill." After making a mental note o…
> The DNA of having employees pay the company to work instead of the other way around?!? Of course, the BBC article wants you to think "DNA" as in "no CEO" instead of "workers paying a rent". This is missing the point (full disclosure: I know several people working at Crisp and co-organise workshops with them in Sweden). I remember hearing Henrik Kniberg talk about this at Oredev a while ago, and we ended up restruct…
This is how law firms work. In that sense, this is more like a partnership than a corporation.
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#55This BBC article is terrible and manipulates the reader via the omission of critical facts. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you first read the company's recruitment webpage[1] and specifically their following sentence: - "It also means that there is no guaranteed salary. The only thing we guarantee is that you will have to pay a flat fee every month plus one-tenth of what you bill." After making a mental note o…
"There's nothing wrong with that model (as another commenter mentioned doctors paying into a "group practice" for shared expenses such as an office and billing staff.)" Another common one I've seen is hair stylists. They often rent their booth from the shop in exchange for equipment, pay processing, foot traffic especially, and so on. They get some cut of the base pricing plus tip money. Idea is they'll come out prof…
But hairdressers are an outlier and have hideous medieval working conditions
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#56I get the impression that service companies like Crisp can get away with this kind of org structure in a way that product companies cannot. If you are simply executing on consulting contracts, you can afford to act more like a collection of freelancers who share a space. When doctors do this, it's called a "group practice".
> you can afford to act more like a collection of freelancers who share a space In fact, that seems closer to the actual situation than the article implied. From http://dna.crisp.se/docs/index.html : > None of the 30+ consultants are actually employed by Crisp (although we do have a few employed office staff).
so they are self employed and not workers or employees - well until the tax man gets involved
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#57Is this just a workers cooperative, or is there a distinction I'm not seeing?
Yes, it's a "consultants" cooperative.
I doubt that Crisp would be considered a coop by the Rochdale principals
Voluntary and open membership.
Democratic member control.
Member economic participation.
Autonomy and independence.
Education, training, and information.
Cooperation among cooperatives.
Concern for community.
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#58This BBC article is terrible and manipulates the reader via the omission of critical facts. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you first read the company's recruitment webpage[1] and specifically their following sentence: - "It also means that there is no guaranteed salary. The only thing we guarantee is that you will have to pay a flat fee every month plus one-tenth of what you bill." After making a mental note o…
May as well go to cosmetology school for a year instead of getting a CS degree if you're going to work in asinine conditions like that. If I want to eat what I kill, I'd rather go make millions (or starve) on Wall Street. At least there's a base salary instead of a base rent.
On the flip side, in a consultancy you as the developer get paid, what 1/2 to 1/3of your hourly rate? That 1/2 or 2/3 goes to cover expenses, and then the rest is profit for the owner.
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#59This BBC article is terrible and manipulates the reader via the omission of critical facts. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you first read the company's recruitment webpage[1] and specifically their following sentence: - "It also means that there is no guaranteed salary. The only thing we guarantee is that you will have to pay a flat fee every month plus one-tenth of what you bill." After making a mental note o…
> The DNA of having employees pay the company to work instead of the other way around?!? Of course, the BBC article wants you to think "DNA" as in "no CEO" instead of "workers paying a rent". This is missing the point (full disclosure: I know several people working at Crisp and co-organise workshops with them in Sweden). I remember hearing Henrik Kniberg talk about this at Oredev a while ago, and we ended up restruct…
Until you have a bad contract and you get sued
Re: No CEO: A Swedish company where nobody is in charge
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
"That's when the number of people involved is too great for the human brain to process the entire social network. Hence why formal organisations and hierarchy are now needed." Or innovate on a divisional or matrix-style organization where it's a series of independent units or teams of teams. Not too different from how we make complex programs integrate well. Decomposing them properly with complexity in the right spot…
Gore & Associates (makes of GoreTex) operate like this. Whole groups of worker-owned co-ops in Northern Italy (Emilia-Romagna) also operate more or less this way, in a loosely-coupled network. The trend in modern employment toward more individual empowerment, less hierarchy, and greater profit share points toward a co-op future for a large band of white collar jobs. Or it would, if they weren't so heavily discriminat…
Acess to capital is the real killer