Gore, Inc. is well-known and often cited as being free of hierarchy.
Gore describes its structure as a lattice organization:
"A lattice organization is one that involves direct transactions, self-commitment, natural leadership, and lacks assigned or assumed authority. Every successful organization has a lattice organization that underlies the façade of authoritarian hierarchy. It is through these lattice organizations that things get done, and most of us delight in going around the formal procedures and doing things the straightforward and easy way." — Bill Gore
"The simplicity and order of an authoritarian organization make it an almost irresistible temptation. Yet it is counter to the principles of individual freedom and smothers the creative growth of man. Freedom requires orderly restraint. The restraints imposed by the need for cooperation are minimized with a lattice organization." — Bill Gore
Each person in the Lattice interacts directly with every other person with no intermediary.
Bill aimed to create a work environment that he believed would free people from the constraints of bureaucracy and hierarchy, enabling them to maximize their inherent potential.
His theories were inspired by Douglas McGregor's book, The Human Side of Enterprise.