David slew Goliath with one smooth stone, and thus was born the name of the company One Smooth Stone (OSS). It's an unusual name for an unusually interesting company. The company is in the business of providing materials for big corporate events: sales meetings, client meetings, and product presentations. Most people in the industry have attended many such meetings, so to keep them entertained is a major challenge.

And that's where OSS comes in: It uses project teams to come up with original and captivating presentations for its customers. You read about the history of organizational design in this chapter. You learned, for example, about Fayol and his principles of organization. The first principle is unity of command (every worker is to report to one, and only one, boss). Other principles include order, equity, and esprit de corps.

This video shows that OSS is one company that understands the importance of esprit de corps. It is a fun and interesting place to work, and turnover is very low. The company does not follow many of Weber's principles dealing with written rules and consistent procedures. Quite the contrary: OSS is structured to be flexible and responsive to its clients. There are no set rules, and the company is certainly not consistent with its projects. Everything is custom made to the needs of each client.

OSS uses a flat organization structure. There are a few project managers, who have workers under them, but they don't look over the employees' shoulders telling them what to do or how to do it. That means there is decentralized authority. Whereas many companies are structured by department- design, engineering, marketing, finance, accounting, and so forth-OSS is structured using project teams. Each team is structured to meet the needs of an individual client. For example, the company will go out and hire people with specific skills as they are needed. The term for this is outsourcing, and OSS outsources many of its tasks to freelance professionals. Together, they work as self-managed teams. The focus of the team is on client needs. There are some staff workers to help with personnel, legal, and other such services.

The company is not keen on making strategic plans because its environment changes so rapidly that such plans are obsolete as soon as they are made. So the company does what is calls “strategic improvising.” Although OSS sounds less structured and more informal than most companies, it still focuses on total quality and it practices continuous improvement.

In addition, the company is particularly concerned about its corporate culture. It has three values: smart, fast, and kind. It works smart, responds quickly, and is always kind to others, including its own workers. Because of its culture and responsiveness, the company has been able to capture big accounts like Motorola, Sun Microsystems, and International Truck and Engine.

The long-run success of the firm, however, is based on its project management teams. They carefully listen to what clients are trying to accomplish and then come up with solutions to their problems. You can see the creativity in this video. Clearly, OSS has been able to impress the Goliaths of big business with its presentations.

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One Smooth Stone

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1			What have you learned from this video aboutthe use of teams as an organizational tool versusthe traditional line or line-and-staff formsof organization?
2			Does working at OSS look like more or lessfun than working for a company with a moretraditional approach to organizational structureand operations? Why?
3			From what you saw in the video, what do youthink the core competencies of the companymight be?