How was Holacracy Going at iQmetrix?

In 2018, iQmetrix Software Development Corp. (iQmetrix), a software development corporation headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, had experienced exponential growth and success over the past two decades. To preserve its innovative culture, iQmetrix restructured using the increasingly popular self-management system holacracy, which was intended to empower individual employees to plan, monitor, and regulate their own work tasks. One year later, iQmetrix’s head of People and Culture wanted to examine the outcomes of this implementation. To do so, she conducted a company-wide survey of employee perceptions of holacracy and several important indicators. The survey also collected qualitative feedback about the holacracy implementation. What would the survey responses tell her about employees’ perceptions of holacracy and about the effectiveness of its implementation at iQmetrix?

This case can be used in undergraduate- or graduate-level courses in data analytics and research methods to help students learn about analyzing quantitative and qualitative data in an applied setting. It can also be used in undergraduate- or graduate-level courses on organizational design, organizational culture, and organizational change. The case describes iQmetrix’s evaluation of the efficacy of holacracy and allows students to evaluate the outcomes of an employee survey and provide recommendations to the company regarding future strategies. Students can analyze the company’s organizational design to contrast this with alternatives. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<ul><li>Evaluate employee survey feedback, including qualitative data, using a mixed-methods research design.</li><li>Work with raw quantitative data, code qualitative data, and critically evaluate research designs.</li><li>Identify some of the obstacles an organization might face in restructuring to implement a self-management system such as holacracy.</li><li>Provide recommendations regarding future strategies for the organization, based on survey feedback.</li><ul>

• Holacracy, restructuring, survey