NEW ORGANISATIONAL MODELS: A HEADACHE FOR COMPLIANCE?
As the world is getting more complex and volatile, due to geopolitical tensions and technological disruptions, particularly in the form of artificial intelligence, many chief executives want their companies to be more agile in order to seize market opportunities and react quickly to the rapidly changing economic environment. This is particularly the case when compliance processes and controls are not embedded within business processes but are created as standalone processes or templates, and adherence to these compliance processes and approvals are challenged by the business and found too cumbersome. In the quest for simplification, agility and a reduction of bureaucracy, HR professionals and chief executives are experimenting with new organisational models.
One of these new models is ‘holacracy’, a method of decentralised management and organisational governance, which claims to distribute authority and decision making through a holarchy of self-organising teams rather than being vested in a management hierarchy. Employees do not have a fixed position but rather operate in numerous self-organising circles that take autonomous decisions. Circles conduct their own governance meetings, assign members to fill roles, and take responsibility for carrying out work within their domain of authority.
Instead of needing permission to act or innovate, holacracy gives full authority to employees to take any action needed to perform the work of the roles, unless it is restricted via compliance policies or it involves spending company assets. Holacracy is highly biased toward innovation and action: it defaults to autonomy and freedom, then uses internal processes to limit that autonomy when it turns out to be detrimental.
Apr-Jun 2026 Issue
Ethics and Compliance Switzerland