Decision-Making in Organizational Crisis in Traditional and Self-Managed Organizations: Towards a hybrid approach

Butsch, Thomas, Bell, Robin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7325-4277 and Warren, Vessela ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6016-1821 (2025) Decision-Making in Organizational Crisis in Traditional and Self-Managed Organizations: Towards a hybrid approach. Strategic HR Review, AOP. pp. 1-7. ISSN 1475-4398

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Abstract

Purpose
Effective crisis management is essential for all organizations and both traditional and self-managed organizational structures have their advantages and challenges, when dealing with a crisis. Decision-making in self-managed organizations can be faster, however, the lack of clear chains of command can hinder strategic direction and coordination of resources. Considering the opportunities and drawbacks of both traditional and self-managed organizational structures in terms of crisis, this paper explores the potential for a hybrid model of the self-managed organization.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the literature on crisis in traditional and self-managed organizations and considers the potential for a hybrid model of the self-managed organization.

Findings
Self-managed organizations offer speed and flexibility through decentralized decision-making, however they can struggle with coordination during large-scale crises, whereas traditional hierarchical structures provide clear command chains and centralized control but may be slower due to bottlenecks. To address this, the authors propose a hybrid model that combines the strengths of both systems, enabling organizations to operate with the agility of self-managed organizations during normal conditions and seamlessly shift to a traditional command structure during crises. Such an approach seeks to optimize responsiveness and coordination based on situational demands, although further research is needed to develop and test such a model.

Originality
This work proposed a hybrid self-managed organizational model that can dynamically switch between decentralized and centralized structures based on the demands of a situation, something existing models like Holacracy or Teal do not accommodate. Unlike prior approaches that advocate either fully autonomous or hierarchical systems, this paper introduces a flexible operational framework that integrates the strengths of both, aiming to optimize decision-making speed and coordination during crises. This concept challenges the rigidity of current models and opens new avenues for adaptive organizational design.

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