In this RISE 2011 workshop, I discuss how people are beginning to work in looser, more decentralized, networked organizations. I then pose a series of questions about these loose organizations. How do they work? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Participants will help answer these questions, partly by swapping stories. Afterwards, I'll summarize the discussion at spinuzzi.blogspot.com.

1. Welcome to
RISE WEEK 2011
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2. Hold on Loosely:
How Loose
Organizations Work
Clay Spinuzzi
University of Texas at Austin
clay.spinuzzi@mail.utexas.edu
Twitter: @spinuzzi
spinuzzi.blogspot.com
Intro self.
A core conversation. So Iʼll talk a little in order to get the ball rolling. Then conversation.
Will compile this discussion and summarize on my blog.

3. But Don’t Let Go
• What is a loose organization?
• How do loose organizations work - how do they
scale up for challenges while remaining flexible?
• What are some “best practices” for loose
organizations?
• What are some typical pitfalls or mistakes of
loose organizations?
• How can we support loose organizations and
make them run better?
The questions we’ll be hitting today. Let’s talk about what “loose organizations” are.

4. Adhocracies
“man will find himself [sic] liberated, a stranger in a new
free-form world of kinetic organizations. In this alien
landscape, his position will be constantly changing, fluid, and
varied. And his organizational ties, like his ties with things,
places, and people, will turn over at a frenetic and ever-
accelerating pace.”
“managers are losing their monopoly on decision-making”
1970, p.125, 140
Weʼll start with Toffler (1970). Predicted that work would be
- reorganized from departments to projects
- attacked by transient teams of specialists
- composed of cross-functional teams
- led by different team members at different phases

5. Loose Organizations...
• Adhocracies • Flexible Teams
• Federations • Keiretsu
• Networks • Flat Organizations
• Starfish Organizations • Swarms
Loose organizations have been discussed under several headings. Some real differences in
concepts, but basics are the same. Moving away from rigid hierarchies, toward flexible,
decentralized networks.

6. Characteristics
Include ...
• Agile, flexible, reconfigurable, mobile
• Allied, dialogic, multiperspectival, polymotivated
• Project-oriented, not oriented to organization/
hierarchy; cross-teaming
• Autonomous (freedom, flexibility, creativity);
emphasis on expertise
• Innovative, customized for each job
• Decentralized, networked rather than hierarchical;
different leads for different phases

7. Examples/Contexts
Could Include ...
• Zapatistas • Tea Party
• Virtual Organizations • Freelancer Networks
• Coworking • Internal Project Teams
• Open Source Projects • Task Forces
• Church in a Box • al Qaeda
How many of you are involved in coworking?
How many independent contractors/subs working out of homes or coffee shops?
How many in al Qaeda?
We may like the associations of some of these more than others, but all of them exhibit
characteristics of loose organizations.

8. “the new production system relies on a combination of
strategic alliances and ad hoc cooperation projects between
corporations, decentralized units of each major corporation,
and networks of small and medium enterprises connecting
among themselves and/or with large corporations or
networks of corporations.”
Castells 2000, p.96
And weʼll see more as time goes on. Large organizations are retaining core functions and outsourcing the rest.
So all these changes, and others, encourage and support adhocracies, in which specialists come together for a specific
project, team up to fulfill it, then disperse until the next job. These teams are transient, unstable, and continually reconfigured.
But how do these teams assemble and work in practice?
Let me tell you about three case studies, all in Austin.

9. Adhocracies within an
Organization:
The Case of “Semoptco”
Case 1: The case of “Semoptco.” How do adhocracies work inside an organization? To find out, I studied the work of search
engine optimization specialists at a web marketing company.

10. Flexibility through
Constant Customization
“Innovation is the primordial function” (Castells 2003, p.
100)
“The Internet is the essential tool to ensure customization
in a context of high-volume production and
distribution” (Castells 2003, p.77)
“[Projects are] all very different” (Stacy, Account Manager)
Bear in mind that SEO is a customized service within a fast-changing space. Writing about Internet businesses, Manuel
Castells emphasizes these characteristics of innovation, customization, and fast-paced production. And so does Stacy, the
account manager quoted here. So Semoptco had to organize adhocratic teams to execute flexibly, to customize, and to
innovate. It did that with loosely organized teams - lots of them.

11. Aggregate networks
Project teams
These many teams or networks formed an aggregate network in which everyone knew everyone else and a little about their
specialties or capabilities. They functioned in a nonsupervisory context, overlaying the existing department-based supervisory
hierarchy. By enabling workers to form new associations on the fly, the aggregate networks allowed for flexible structures and
loose organizations within the company. Itʼs like an incubator for adhocracies.

12. Adhocracies Outside an
Organization:
The Case of “GD1” and
“GD2”
And that brings us to our second case. How do adhocracies work outside an existing organization? The three technologies
that make adhocracies mobile, scalable, and fragmented - mobile computers such as laptops, widespread Internet access,
and mobile phones - also enable a small business to acquire the capabilities of a much larger one with very few resources.
A case in point: two graphic design businesses being run out of the proprietorsʼ homes.

13. Two Graphic Design Firms...
GD1: Sophie, a graphic designer in her mid-thirties working out
of her home office.
•
Quit job at large publisher when her son was an infant.
•
Specializes in print publications.
GD2: Bob and Tom, two graphic designers in their early thirties,
initially working out of Bob's condo.
•
Met at design firm.
•
Specialize in identity systems.
Both must assemble flexible, recombinant federations of
subcontractors for every project rather than relying on stable
teams.
An associate and I visited two such home-based firms. “GD1” was a sole proprietor working out of a spare bedroom of her
home, which she had turned into a home office. “GD2” was a partnership: two guys working around the kitchen table of a
condo. Both would pick up a job, then subcontract parts of it out to freelancers.

14. Why start their own
business? Autonomy
“I don’t want a client on our roster where I couldn't
go to a meeting in jeans.” - Tom
“But Tom and I just need to decide, do we want to
grow a business or do we just want to design? Cause
it's like they’re two different things.” - Bob
“[I seek] respectful, productive relationships with clients
that value efficiency and professionalism the way that I
do.” - Sophie
In a word, autonomy. They want to have a say over how they work, what they work on, when and where they work - and
importantly, who they work with and for. They want to assemble their own loose organizations.
But in a pickup economy, how do you find your team? How do you network?

15. Assembling
Adhocracies
They developed networks of contacts through previous work
with larger organizations.
They established starter networks of contacts.
They established trust through experience.
They sought subcontractors who don’t need supervision.
Outside organizations, mobility and fragmentation are competitive advantages. But scaling is tough: You need a substrate of
contacts to serve as potential subcontractors, you need to grow that network of contacts, and you need to be able to trust
them. Done right, a small business can achieve flexibility and swiftness with a low managerial burden. GD1 and GD2 tackled
this challenge in different ways.

16. Adhocracies beyond
Organizations:
The Case of Coworking
That brings us to the third and last case study. Knowledge workers who donʼt need face-to-face teaming - think of those
graphic designers, web developers, copy writers, but also telecommuters, entrepeneurs, and consultants - these knowledge
workers are mobile. They donʼt need to work anywhere in particular. They can work out of their homes if they want. But they
canʼt easily network from their homes. So they start to go crazy in that “electronic cottage” Toffler predicted.

17. Coworking
“Coworking is the social gathering of a group of people,
who are still working independently, but who share values
and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from
working with talented people in the same space.”
Wikipedia, “coworking”
For the past two years, Iʼve been visiting such spaces - coworking spaces in Austin. In these spaces, people work in relatively
unstructured locations with unstructured schedules, share resources, form friendships, barter services, serve as tech support
and emotional support for each other, subcontract each other, mentor each other, form businesses, and above all, network.

18. Aims
• Work-life balance: “Our work space allows you to have
dedicated time to concentrate and accomplish tasks, while
working within a community of entrepreneurs, free spirits
and individuals looking for more balance” - Soma Vida
website
• Mentoring: “We just want to sit next to this guy and just
soak up everything he leaves behind [about running a small
business]” - Andrew Bushnell, Cospace
• Collaboration: “I'm not going to let you go be on your
island.” - Liz Elam, LINK
• Swarming: “A project gets dropped in, we can swarm to kill
it, disseminate, and keep flowing.” - John Erik Metcalfe,
Conjunctured
They have different aims. And notice that these aims all have to do with the shift to adhocracies:
I can work anywhere, anytime. When do I stop?
I work with specialists on inconstant projects. Who can mentor me?
I can work with and draw on anyone. How do I get a chance to do that?
I have a project; letʼs team up and knock it out.

19. What is your loose
organization?

20. How do loose
organizations work?
• How do they scale up for challenges?
• How do they remain flexible?

21. What are some “best
practices” for loose
organizations?

22. What are some pitfalls
of loose organizations?

23. How can we support
loose organizations?

24. Continue the
Conversation
spinuzzi.blogspot.com
Continue the conversation at spinuzzi.blogspot.com

25. RISE Specialty Membership Groups
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26. COMMUNITY SUPPORT
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The mission of RISE is to inspire and empower entrepreneurs of all stages.