From the start, firms in this industry operated in an organic and flexible manner, creating
or searching for opportunities in the environment and adapting themselves to take advantage
of these opportunities. In the firms observed by Burns and Stalker, the process of finding out
what one should be doing proved unending, defining a mode of organization linking inquiry
and action, and the process has continued. Successful electronics firms avoided
organizational hierarchies and avoided narrow departmentalization, with individuals and
groups defining and redefining roles in a collaborative manner in connection with the tasks
facing the organization as a whole. They created innovative, team-based organizations
having more in common with an amoeba than a machine.