Emerging Work and Organizational Forms

Nature of work and organizing work in firms of the future

Preface

Globalization, technological innovation and concerns of global warming have brought about rapid transformation in the nature of work and how it is organized. Globalization has resulted in organizations having a diverse workforce spread across the world. Technological Innovation has allowed greater information availability to individuals (consumers and workers). Global warming issues have resulted in organizations making sustainable development a key-performance metric, being sensitive to reducing their carbon footprint and innovate on reducing power consumption in their products and services.

These factors have resulted in a dynamic business environment, which has necessitated organizational flexibility if they are to survive. In order to achieve efficiency, cost-effectiveness, quality, or innovation, a flatter, more lateral organization is needed instead of strongly aligned vertical organization. It is believed virtual organizations enabled by technology will be the nucleus of the 21st century organizations.

In this paper we will first explore how business are getting transformed, virtual organizations has the emerging form of how work is organized and the key technologies that will play a key role in shaping it.

And finally this paper concludes with a discussion on the Managerial challenges (leadership, trust among the team members, communication process, richness of media and empowerment) in the future organizational set-up.

The Transformation of Business: How Firms will do business in the future.

Business is undergoing a fundamental transformation forged by digitization, ubiquitous connectivity, and globalization. This transformation will radically alter the very nature of the firm and how it creates value.

Traditionally, we have assumed that the firm creates value and exchanges it with its consumers.

The Model T from Ford, the icon of the industrial revolution, was built on two...