Chinese appliances maker Haier has been recognised by Fast Company as one of the world’s most innovative companies.

Business media brand Fast Company has also rated Haier as one of China’s 10 leading innovative companies.

In its recently published 2014 rankings, which track leadership in innovation, Fast Company highlighted Haier’s “bold approach” by allowing employees to self-organise.

Fast Company recognises Haier’s creation of a “flat management structure”, a “management revolution” that puts customer needs at the heart of the product development process. To drive entrepreneurial innovation among employees, Haier encourages staff to track evolving market trends and form autonomous project teams to address emerging opportunities.

The recently launched Tianzun air conditioner, which successfully debuted at CES in Las Vegas in January, was developed by a self-managing group that recognised growing customer demand for a more flexible and responsive air conditioning unit via an online engagement program involving more than 670,000 internet users.

This is not the first time Haier has been recognised. Market researcher Euromonitor International also named Haier the number one brand of major appliances in the world every year for the last five years. In 2012, the Boston Consulting Group also named Haier one of the 10 most innovative companies in the world.