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The Business Structure of the Future

By Michael Vincent

28 December, 2006

Business has been in a state of change since its beginning, without change there is no progress.  The change pattern of the 21st century is in essence the speed of the cycle of change.  The demands for performance are increasing and the strains to perform are greater.  Education is essential to understand the forces that are dictating the structure and shape of organisations into the next decade.  The organisations that adopt a culture of learning will prosper those that don't will at best survive.

 

A learning organisation is one that values the aspects of corporate memory and educated employees. When the synergies are released the scene is set to create an employer of choice, once created it has the potential to grow and develop in a practical way.  

 

Risk management as a culture and process is evolving within learning organisations to fill the void left by the elimination of middle management.  The only way for this to occur is for individuals to be skilled and the organisation to respect the quest for knowledge.

 

The business of the future is faced with choices, the selection of which will dictate success or failure, the basic choices are:

 

1. Embrace a learning environment that recognises and rewards individual and organisational excellence.

 

2. Re-invent middle management to overlay the re-instatement of process with all its associated costs.

 

3. Allow technology to take over by adoption of techniques that are- not understandable or usable by the vast majority. This leads to an abrogation of managerial responsibility.

 

4. Allow the business to descend into chaos and ultimately disappear.

 

As we face the future and decisions that must be made under uncertainty, different pathways will lead to different requirements and attitudes of staff towards success. 

A successful business of the future will have the ability to be aware of its environment and have the adaptability to develop forward thinking plans to ensure survival.  Comfort zones will be cast aside, business needs to realise that it is hard work to survive and that an organisation has many stakeholders who depend on its success for their future. 

The effects of a learning culture:

 

1. Flatter organisations result, this leads to more trust and empowerment of individuals within the new structures of the 21st century.

 

2. Layers of management and speed of decision-making and reaction time are not compatible. The survivors of the future will be able to manage the innovation and process of their organisation within a flat structure and streamlined decision-making process.

 

3. Because of the peeling away of the layers and the empowerment of the individual potential is unleashed. As people accept more responsibility and accountability decision- making becomes faster and more reliable because empowered individuals make the decisions closer to the point of output.

 

4. With empowerment comes the honesty to examine plans and change strategies where applicable.

 

In conclusion the outcome for a learning organisation is in fact the conundrum of the future as it adds stress to the decision making process.  Workers need to be educated to understand the potential impact.  In essence as cycle times reduce there is more opportunity to learn.  Every cycle is a learning opportunity; with shorter business cycles you have more chances to learn.  In other words reaction times are compressed enabling individuals and organisations who embrace the learning culture to learn on a reduced time scale thus adding value in shortening cycles.

 

About the Authors

Director

Australasian Risk Management Unit

Faculty of Business and Economics

Monash University