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GitLab: work where you want, when you want

Author

Listed:
  • Prithwiraj Choudhury

    (Harvard Business School)

  • Kevin Crowston

    (Syracuse University)

  • Linus Dahlander

    (ESMT Berlin)

  • Marco S. Minervini

    (INSEAD Business School)

  • Sumita Raghuram

    (San Jose State University)

Abstract

GitLab is a software company that works “all remote” at the scale of more than 1000 employees located in more than 60 countries. GitLab has no physical office and its employees can work from anywhere they choose. Any step of the organizational life of a GitLab employee (e.g., hiring, onboarding and firing) is performed remotely, except for a yearly companywide gathering. GitLab strongly relies on asynchronous coordination, allowing employees to work anytime they want. After highlighting some of the main practices implemented by GitLab to effectively work all remotely and asynchronously, I asked renowned organizational scientists their thoughts on this interesting case and to question the generalizability of the all remote asynchronous model. Understanding whether and under what conditions this model can succeed can be of guidance for organizational designers that are now considering different remote models in response of the COVID-19 shock and its aftermath.

Suggested Citation

  • Prithwiraj Choudhury & Kevin Crowston & Linus Dahlander & Marco S. Minervini & Sumita Raghuram, 2020. "GitLab: work where you want, when you want," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jorgde:v:9:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1186_s41469-020-00087-8
    DOI: 10.1186/s41469-020-00087-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Phanish Puranam, 2022. "Deflating the rhetoric around “flat firms”," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 11(1), pages 15-17, March.
    2. Oliver Alexy, 2022. "How flat can it get? From better at flatter to the promise of the decentralized, boundaryless organization," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 11(1), pages 31-36, March.
    3. Iwona Oleniuch, 2021. "Employees' Perception of the Difficulties of Work at Home from the Perspective of their Experience on Remote Working," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 781-796.
    4. Srdana Taboroši & Jasmina Poštin & Edit Terek Stojanović & Jelena Rajković Avdija & Nemanja Berber & Milan Nikolić, 2023. "The Influence of Cultural and Personal Properties on Job Performances and Organizational Commitment in Teleworkers," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 18(2), pages 1-20, December.

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