Similarly, in 1960s the Avis Car Rental was led by a guy by the name Townsend, who practiced similar method and wrote a book about it- one which my then 7y old daughter bought at a school fete (I must have been boring her at home about work!)- called ‘Up the Organisation’. Among other innovations- he dispensed with HR department.

Finally, when Collins and Porras wrote their book ‘Good to Great’ in early 1990s they found that the critical distinguishing factor for the firms that lasted long and maintained their position in a marketplace was the initial ethos and values that the founder spend time and effort to imbue in the enterprise. Among the examples was HP- which is after so many changes and consolidations still very much around!

It is wonderful to see an entrepreneur in the mould of Anita Roddick in our midsts again!

The art of good management hasn’t changed, but technology is making bad management easier to see through. It also has the potential to lead organisations towards better management practices, by encouraging transparency, accountability and trust. If it is used correctly that is.

I’m not sure it is a democratisation as such (see Social Decision Making), but it does mandate good leadership skills, by making poor ones very obvious.

I am not sure that any of this is particularly “new” though: freeing up employees through management flat structures has been around for decades, and works well until employees do things managers disagree with (at which point command and control suddenly becomes the norm!).

I think what is new is the way in which technology can facilitate and enable these changes: I see real democraticisation of organisations as one of the outcomes of social media; indeed, I think it will happen whether managers want it or not, and they need to start thinking how it will affect their business models before they are changed one way or another.