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KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE FIRMS 37

loosely coupled organizational context of the adhocracy is considered to
provide the necessary autonomous working conditions in which individu-
als can spend time experimenting with ideas and more generally engaging
in creative and innovative work. Whilst it may seem somewhat atypical for
management to choose to organize in this way, this approach tends to be
adopted in many contemporary knowledge-intensive sectors such as soft-
ware development, new media, specialist consultancies and so on. It has
been shown that any significant shift from this mode of organizing can be
highly detrimental to both organizational performance and employee turn-
over. Baron et al. (2001), for example, conducted a large-scale, longitudi-
nal survey of software firms in Silicon Valley over a ten-year period which
focused on modes of organizing, performance, CEO and employee turnover.
Baron’s team discovered that across a population of 173 software firms over
time there were four dominant organizing templates. These templates were
characterized by what was considered to be the primary motivation to work
for the firm (attachment), the primary selection criteria and the primary
means of co-ordination and control. Across the five templates the nature
of the work conducted within the firm across the star, engineering and
bureaucracy was considered to be the major means of attachment, attracting
knowledge workers to these firms and promoting retention. The commit-
ment template was characterized by knowledge workers’ strong emotional
attachment to the firm (love) and money was the major means of attachment
in firms characterized as autocracies. Typically skills were the major selection
criteria applied although firms adopting the star template selected on the
basis of future potential. The star template firms also relied largely on self-
control and professionalism as the basis for co-ordination and control, whilst
the engineering and commitment templates relied on cultural control. These
are summarized in Table 2.3.
The majority of firms in the sample were identified as either Engineering
(34 per cent) or Commitment (13 per cent) types and 11 per cent of the sample
were also identified as Star types. Only 6 per cent organized as bureaucracies
and 7 per cent organized as autocracies where the CEO adopted a command
and control mode of organizing. The remainder of the sample were classified
as hybrids. The majority of firms therefore relied primarily on professional or

Table 2.3 Organizing templates that characterize high-tech knowledge-intensive firms
Type Attachment Selection Co-ord/control
Star Work Potential Professional
Engineering Work Skills Cultural
Commitment Love Fit Cultural
Bureaucracy Work Skills Formal
Autocracy Money Skills Direct
Source: Adapted from Baron et al., 2001, p. 968.

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