My article in BUSINESS INSIDER published 05 December 2016.
Organizations established in the digital economy often rely on casual hierarchies. They tend to be managed by people who make immediate decisions. For a modern network organization, the tangible effects of such decisions are more important than the processes that bring them about. Conventional process-centered companies tend to cling to rigid processes and procedures relegating their employees to the roles of mere cogs in strictly formal machineries. Shouldn’t such companies evolve to resemble the living cells of growing organisms?
Allow me to illustrate my point by recounting the market career of the cellular telephone. The revolutionary impact of its market launch could be felt within a matter of months. Meanwhile, for one reason or another, it was still acceptable in a typical 1990s business to have to wait years to see the desired effects of managerial decisions. Wasn’t there a contradiction in the thinking about management? After all, mobility and flexibility, which is highly valued by any worker, should be equally appreciated by organizations. Especially those that aspire to succeed in the digital economy era….
