In the new information age, companies need to evolve from a slow pyramid organizational structure to a foam ball-like network model that is agile, lightweight, dynamic and adaptable to changes in the market.
This transition will not only improve competitiveness and productivity, but will also be a tool to overcome the interfunctional barriers generated by communication failures between the parts of a process.
Lack of adaptation to the market is one of the main modern problems that a company must face in the information age. Therefore, the importance of a spherical model based on information that unites the organization and accelerates the processes, making them more efficient and productive.
Adaptation, Adaptation, Adaptation!
Which do you prefer big or fast?
Fig No. 2
With the arrival of the new century, the old pyramid structure of the industrial era is becoming increasingly obsolete, thus envisioning a spherical model where the flows of information are of decisive importance for any organization that wants to continue competing in the market.
The pyramid model does not allow the above objective, because its information flows are inoperative, it is not a scheme that allows information feedback, that is, it hardly reaches the top of the pyramid.
More than 20 years ago Lee Lacocca said a phrase that should always be kept in mind. "The ability to communicate is everything."
Remember that communication is part of the productive management of the company. As an initial point of action, the organization must generate the ducts or channels so that the information flows inside. Organizations, then, must enhance the communication skills of their members by making them more receptive to the mechanisms of listening, writing and interpersonal and intergroup communication.
The foam ball allows to improve communication channels and meet the information needs within the organization. The application of technological developments in the company is absolutely necessary to organize all the information that circulates through its networks; databases, customer and market studies, among others.
A fundamental difference between the pyramid model and the spherical structure is precisely the transition from communication by “fiefdoms” to communication by networks, where the person within the organization exchanges information with others who may or may not be within the organization or in any part of it to use it to fulfill the
objectives of its management.
In the pyramid scheme, teams behave inward, compete with each other, do not see themselves as part of the same organization, and therefore generate cross-functional barriers and problems due to duplication of functions and waste of resources.
The foam ball avoids the communication distances between the parts of the process and ineffectiveness because it is based on absolutely systemic premises such as fluidity, cohesion, market focus and synchrony.
The transition from a pyramid model to a network model is a gradual process, it does not happen overnight. The organization is flat with information and spherical with communication.
It is not enough to change the administrative structure to achieve it, a series of elements are required that together determine this type of management, for example a culture focused on the client and on adaptability, a strategic vision with a perspective of jobs; a change from administration by tasks to administration by objectives added to a comprehensive communication management and a reliable technological structure.
Don't forget to give flow to the information you have acquired, create a transparent work environment accompanied by clear and proactive communication that motivates, builds trust and encourages teamwork and participation in decision-making. Assess your information flows and establish a project management that allows you to improve your administrative structure.
The new information age requires a change of model. Organizations cannot pretend to enter this new era with a structured model to face the industrial era.
Finally, never forget that information is like the blood that circulates through the veins of today's competitive company, do not allow the death of the organization due to lack of oxygenation.
Communication, knowledge and innovation
In the industrial age the main thing was to obey. The new information age will be distinguished by the participation of all members of a company.
With this participation, people build shared information, this construction of knowledge develops innovation. The organizations that bet on the knowledge of their workers are the ones that will have the best dynamics in the market.
"Mass collaboration is based on individuals and companies using widely distributed information and communication technologies to achieve shared results through voluntary and flexible partnerships" 1. He will point out in his most recent book Don Tapscott.
And it is that the new opportunity of collaboration lies in the fact that in the production between equals skill, inventiveness and human intelligence are used more effectively within something, it could be called "Collective Intelligence".
The ability to integrate talents will then be the driving force of any company in the information society.
Remember that the new massive collaboration is transforming the way that companies and societies take advantage of knowledge to innovate and create massive information. Don't be left behind. Ahead!
1. Tapscott, Don and Williams, Anthony. Wikinomics. The New Economy Of Smart Crowds. Paidós, 2007.p.36.
Sources:
www.commetrix.de/iris/iris.html
