Videos: Using Teams to Enhance Motivation and Performance

Video 1: CNN Video [3:44 min] - How Zappos will run without job titles
Video 2: PBS Newshour Video [10:02 min] - Zappos is a weird company -- and it's happy that way

Synopsis: What are the advantages and disadvantages of using teams in organizations, and what is the unique approach to teams used by Zappos?

Watch video #1 - an interview with Alexis Gonzalez-Black as she explains Zappos implementation of one of the most unusual types of team management, which they call “holacracy”. As discussed in Section 7.3, various forms of team-based structures are in use, and over 80% of the Fortune 1000 use self-managed teams to some degree.

What makes holacracy at Zappos different from the basic ways to integrate teams described in Section 7.3? Would this rather different way to organize or group employees together at Zappos work at most any company, or do you think that the unique culture at Zappos also described in the video would be necessary for this kind of structure to be successful?

Here are Zappos 10 Core Values, scroll down to view all ten Core Values.

In what ways does the organizational concept of holacracy contribute to most or perhaps all of these principles? Could this uncommon team process actually detract from these core values in some way, perhaps depending upon the people involved?

Video 1: CNN Video [3:44 min] - How Zappos will run without job titles

Transcript for CNN Video on "How Will Zappos Run Without Job Titles?"

Video 2: PBS NewsHour Video [10:02 min] - Zappos is a weird company -- and it's happy that way

For additional background, please view this video, which is also featured in Chapter 8. By the way this embedded video starts at 2:43 - please roll it back to start at the beginning.

Transcript for PBS video