I really can't add anything to this, there aren't any nails left to hit on the head haha!
Companies managed by not only managers, but also its employees is experimented with a lot and proved to be successful
I see this with the company I work at and there's always constant feedback happening between employees (users) and the management. Everyone is approachable and ideas get discussed with the senior leadership team - it works really well and everyone feels a part of the picture.
Hahahaha, sorry for not leaving any nails. Anarchism is over rated; but that cant be voice in our community. But the combination of self management and collective management (which requires some form of leadership) is possible.
Great your company has their employees inclusive, they did certainly took a step towards the future. The company I ended up with not too long ago, is super traditional, with a few middle management layers who don't want to get bypassed by the workers... ie virtual teams are possible, but any form of decision making is done at middle management level without the specialist or topic owners in the meeting when decisions are made. Over time they will learn they will fall behind the market with such rigid approach.
My philosophy is: Best run companies are those without middle management; management as in managers. There could be a set of coaches, and leads (like in Agile and DevOps kinda structures, we have the chapter leads), but everybody shall be responsible for its own set of tasks and that same person will deal with whoever to get the job done, whether it be a direct team colleague, some other team colleague, or even the CEO.
It would be so good when all the witnesses and whales would have their own walkin sessions. But they dont. I dont understand why not. But they simply dont.