The Organizational Structure Innovation

Organizational structure innovation is a cohesive step in catalyzing changes and building the business innovation competency.

Digital transformation is the scalable expansion toward multiple directions. The organization should keep tuning its structure and process to become more adaptable. There are different theories of organizational structure innovation and the format of the future of the organization etc. The whole point is how to build a more creative and productive working environment in which the employees’ potential can be unleashed, and business as a whole is superior to the sum of pieces.

Due to the hyper-connectivity of the digital nature, the trend toward softer and flatter organization structure is clear: The organization structure and its impact on efficiency and innovation could play either a positive or negative impact. The goal of digital organizational structure tuning is to strike the delicate balance between solid and flow, control and autonomy. The pyramidal structured organization brings up a certain level of efficiency, but overly rigid hierarchy becomes the very obstacle to stop the digital flow and stifle innovation. It’s no surprise that in many organizations, the official structure and unofficial structure co-exist, the point is to understand whether the official structure and unofficial structure co-exist antagonistically or harmoniously. To be a highly functional and adaptive system, the organizational hierarchy must balance welfare, freedom, and responsibilities. There must be enough central control to achieve coordination toward the large-system goals and enough autonomy to keep all subsystems functioning, flourishing, and self-organizing. The goal for optimized organizational design and the structure innovation is to break down the silo, keep information and idea flow and get the mass collaboration effortlessly.

Hierarchical structures will be transcended to the interconnected and networked structure: The “organizational design problem” would be to build the “best” mix of organizational elements that enable the organizational interdependence, and harness innovation through less hierarchy, cross-functional insight and adopt a socialization process designed to the globally connected world. Modern digital technologies amplify the value through business-oriented networking and limited hierarchy works best in a creative environment where the free flow of ideas and their prompt implementation is a key element of business success. Look at all key business elements, including the human element, as an integrated system and functions as organic living things. Individual work and group work cannot be done as a segregated from but within a framework of an entire business ecosystem including policies, systems, processes, culture, and customers, etc. The bottom line is about how well the organizational structure influences communication, collaboration, and management effectiveness.

Design a people-centric organization to explore the talent motivation cycle of autonomy, mastery, and purpose: Flattening a corporate hierarchy serves no purpose if at the same time you flatten the will and tenacity of people who are willing to lead and take chances. In a world that has been transformed by digital technologies, traditional hierarchical lines will phase out and a collective of business partners will emerge working collaboratively to set and achieve the strategic goal of the business. Currently, the emphasis of people-centricity will spread to all employees of an organization and its ecosystem. Digital system themes with all the aggregates-spanning challenges, paradoxes and opportunities bring organizations further towards the challenges of constructing and enacting a people-centric organization. It’s worthwhile to explore new organizational structural models and be congruent with the word “change management,” and actually consider changing the model to meet what the future may be bringing. Not only for things like conflict resolution, but also for the amazing capacity these structure innovation experiments or practices unlock for feeling into the evolutionary purpose and digital exuberance.

Digital transformation is a natural process and rather effortless to maintain. Enterprise democratization could be at the tipping point for the biggest business shift. It means that the shift from being autocratic to democratic is transformational and profound. Organizational structure innovation is a cohesive step in catalyzing changes and building the business innovation competency to achieve a high level of autonomy as the symbol of digital maturity.

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