I can't answer your exact question, but the contrarian part of my mind wants to point out that the "horizontal workplace" is often coopted as just another buzzwordy perk for elite tech workers, who may still have virtually zero meaningful solidarity with others. (Like the people who clean their offices, or who scan their food at the checkout counter. Whose bosses repeat that they're "unqualified" for real decisionmaking, unlike those tech geniuses over there...)
And these corporations still operate in market economies. Michael Albert points out that after Argentinean factory takeovers, competitive market discipline pressures workers (who start out with the best intentions) to rebuild workplace hierarchies, so class systems and attitudes reemerge. (So, it may be in your interest to hire some MBA to sit in a cushy air-conditioned office to cut costs and basically oppress you, while they remain immune from the effects of their own decisionmaking. To make the firm more "competitive.")
But that's just the skeptical part of my mind, which is always helpful to keep active. Obviously it's better to have more of these workplaces than fewer. Even better if they're part of a movement.
All the best,
Tj
On Sat, Jun 23, 2012 at 1:07 AM, lasko <lascaux at riseup.net> wrote:
> On 6/22/12 6:11 PM, Dennis Redmond wrote:
>
>> Not just Valve. Many of the best videogame studios in the world are
>> run in remarkably democratic, open-source fashion: Sony's Naughty Dog,
>> Media Molecule and Santa Monica Studio, Konami's Metal Gear Solid,
>> etc. It's a combination of (1) dissident artists who respect open
>> source principles, (2) sales are determined by fans, not by
>> advertising or networks, and (3) active and cerebral fan communities
>> pushing back against corporate greed.
>
>
> Do 1, 2 and 3 represent a challenge to capitalist economics?
>
> Valve's web site says it has been "boss free" since 1996, yet it appears to
> be structured as a conventional LLC. There have been state-initiated
> innovations in recent years such as the LLC Co-op, which perhaps is an
> end-run around the usual federally-mandated employer/employee obligations.
> Is Valve on of those?