Week 1 Discussion – 2nd Post
Bob Koski detailed many different aspects of Sun Hydraulics that would allow it to differentiate
from “more typical organizations” (Sun Hydraulics 3). Koski’s vision depended on the following elements
to illustrate his new design: Horizontal Management, Eliminating Intimidation, Operational
Communications, Group Self-Management, the Decision-Making process and the Ideal Employee. Dan
Pink expressed similar factors such as autonomy, mastery and purpose. When talking about horizontal
management, Koski removed the typical hierarchy structure where there were “no titles, no formal job
description, no special benefits, no reporting relationships and no close supervision” (Sun Hydraulics 3).
Horizontal Management encouraged groups to achieve whatever work that had to be done known as
natural clusters and that “thinking would be a shared responsibility” as well as decision making (Sun
Hydraulics 3). This allowed for more autonomy in the work-place, away from external control thus
allowing the employee to be more independent. Daniel Pink spoke of autonomy and self-improvement;
without the proper independence, an employee may not reach his personal potential in the company.
Koski’s factor of better performance also pertained to autonomy or as Pink defined as “our desire to be
self-directed, to direct our own lives” (Dan Pink 2). Koski wanted to do away with intimidation functions
in the organization in favor of mutual respect with suppliers. Koski explained “in every case the driving
value was to be one of mutual respect” (Sun Hydraulics 3). He continued this philosophy regarding building
a solid working relationship with his suppliers and they “would be trained to understand Sun Hydraulics’
needs and be motivated to respect them out of shared long-term interests” (Sun Hydraulics 3). Motivating
the Sun Hydraulics employees and suppliers to be on the same page and be trained in their needs built a
better working relationship and would lead to better job performance. Operational communications in
Sun Hydraulics was meant to have all employees receive all the pertinent information necessary to
accomplish the company’s operational activities. This was to encourage self-management or self-mastery
as Daniel Pink would call it, give all the employees the information they need and let them decide what
they need to do. Koski’s first task is to dismantle the external power structure that would control
operational communications, allowing everyone to have equal access to any information they would
need.
Just as Koski explained it, “open communications would allow employees to schedule their own
work” and an area that Sun Hydraulics outperformed in was their “emphasis on open communications
and self-direction” (Sun Hydraulics 4). Dan Pink spoke of autonomy as a factor of motivation and would
agree with Koski. Pink also provided an example of Atlassian who allowed their employees to work on
“anything [they] want…[they] can work on it with whomever they want[ed]” as well (Dan Pink 2). Pink
outlined this as a “fun meeting” and not a “star chamber session.” Koski applied this to his employees in
when speaking of reducing their production scheduling issues. Koski believed each employee would be
invigorated to work on the problem from their own personal perspective and the “collective solutions
would be more comprehensive and easier to implement” (Sun Hydraulics 4). According to Pink, “one day
of autonomy produces things that had never emerged” (Dan Pink 3). Atlassian told their developers that
they would essentially get out of their way and let them do something exciting and they created entities
or devices that had never been brought up. Allowing for self-management or autonomy endowed the
employee with purpose. Koski’s model which allowed for natural clusters saw that when these cluster of
employees included “both office and plant people working together…to develop new products or
processes” (Sun Hydraulics 4). The idea of having employees feeling responsible for their peers rather
