[mwilliamson]

To me, the most interesting example of a similar organisation (that I see rarely mentioned) is AES (an energy supplier) under Dennis Bakke, as described in Joy at Work [1]. As he puts it, every decision made at the top was a lost chance to delegate responsibility. He advocates the advice process: any person can make any decision, provided that they first get advice from anybody with expertise, and anybody who will be affected. Note that consensus is not required: one of the desired results is that, freed from the need to persuade others, you can focus solely on listening and understanding other points of view. You're hopefully better informed to make a decision, and others feel listened to (rather than feeling like their points aren't being heard as you're trying to persuade them).

Not only did AES have tens of thousands of employees, many of them joined by way of acquisitions of existing plants, rather than being hired by AES with their ethos in mind. That's not to say that everybody was a good fit (some people chose to leave given the choice), but that many stayed and eventually appreciated the change in management structure challenges the idea that self-management is only appropriate for a small proportion of people.

[1] http://www.dennisbakke.com/joy-at-work