After Jeri Ellsworth was fired from Valve, she had said that the "flat organization" of Valve masked an informal but very real hierarchy that was made up of elites and their cliques. I realize that flat organization is not the same thing as holarchy, but it could be that they both are trading formal hierarchies for informal ones rather than dispensing with them.
Found it[1]. She says, "The one thing I found out the hard way is that there's actually a hidden layer of powerful management structure in the company, and it felt a lot like high school... There's popular kids that have acquired power within the company, then there's the trouble makers and everyone in between."
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After Jeri Ellsworth was fired from Valve, she had said that the "flat organization" of Valve masked an informal but very real hierarchy that was made up of elites and their cliques. I realize that flat organization is not the same thing as holarchy, but it could be that they both are trading formal hierarchies for informal ones rather than dispensing with them.
Found it[1]. She says, "The one thing I found out the hard way is that there's actually a hidden layer of powerful management structure in the company, and it felt a lot like high school... There's popular kids that have acquired power within the company, then there's the trouble makers and everyone in between."
[1]: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-08-valves-flat...
This "rings true" to me. That getting rid of formal managers and formal management just lets "petty office politics" rule more than usual.