Essex Business School is set to ask whether we need bosses as it launched what is believed to be the first course of its kind in the UK.

The school, which is part of the University of Essex, will be looking at whether supervisors or even job titles should be a thing of the past for a new course entitled Reinventing the Organisation, which runs from June 16 to 18 at Wivenhoe House, the four-star country house based at Colchester campus.

As overhauling traditional management models becomes more and more common as social media allows entrepreneurs to forge their own international business networks with likeminded people, the course will look at the challenges and opportunities facing the revolutionary approach.

The sessions will be particularly targeted at business leaders looking to innovate alongside entrepreneurs with limited resources.

Guest speakers from successful businesses and Essex Business School’s Dr Manuela Nocker will discuss how radical ways of thinking, collaborating and networking are now vital to motivating staff and connecting with customers.

They will explain how ‘self-managed’ organisations can be more intuitive, adaptable, collaborative and simply more human.

“Collaboration is central to how we co-create innovative processes. It is not just doing. It is also a way of being together in context. It is less about ‘managing people’ and more about creating viable conditions for sharing,” said Dr Nocker.

The course will look at how unconventional approaches to organising can yield surprising advantages making companies more resilient, responsive and innovative.

Guest speaker Doug Kirkpatrick was part of the Morning Star Company which has been at the forefront of encouraging people to manage themselves. He will explain how the firm started as a self-managed organisation and became the world’s largest tomato processor.

it won the Harvard Business Review Innovation Award in 2012.

Ken Everett, chairman of an international executive training company, is co-leader of the course.

He developed his own ‘networked organisation’ which is now represented in 30 different countries through his professional network. His idea of a networked organisation is so successful, he has started the online N2N Hub to promote and support other networked organisations.

“I discovered my network had the potential for resilience, innovation, and shared leadership; qualities more traditional organisations lust after,” he said.

The course will be hosted by Wivenhoe House, the luxury four-star country house hotel located on the Colchester Campus.