Insight Upon Firmitas of Enterprise

Organizations today need nothing less than a paradigm shift in their thinking about the fundamentals of how organizations work, as well as how to build an ever-evolving digital organization. 

The exponential growth of information, high velocity, fierce competition and continuous disruptions are the business reality today. To keep relevant, organizations have to move up its maturity from functioning to firm to delight. There are many factors that influence and have an impact on the digital firmitas such as organizational structure, people, technology, roles and responsibilities, processes and information systems, business relationships, etc, and these factors are interrelated. Organizations need to take a systematic approach, investigate different paths, shape solid forms, and drive changes at steadfast paces.

Firmness of systems: Businesses are systems which are defined by components and their compositions, information and technology, networks, or clusters are all about business interactions and relationships of the system. The business systems have underlying structures and functions, quality of the information, tools, platforms and assets, fit and appropriateness of technology, location etc. Every system is a subsystem of a larger system and simultaneously it is always built up by subsystems. These systems of systems can forge or alter a myriad of relationships/alliances for keeping balanced. Every business as a system has a purpose. A system is only a system in relation to a purpose and that purpose is not inherent in the objects and processes you build and create. The purpose itself is a multidimensional system, to keep the business system firm, think of the quality of systems. The business management should focus on managing a portfolio of relevant cross-border strategic synergies and business interdependence with the appropriate mix of business elements and maintaining the right level of digital balance.

Compared to the traditional organization as the mechanical system, digital organizations today are like the organic living system which keeps evolving to adapt to business dynamics. It needs to be firm enough for delivering quality products or services, but also fluid enough to interact with the expanded digital ecosystem with an accelerated speed. Business systems have "emergent properties" for composite system variable value that is more or less than the sum of partial system variable values or means any outcome of a business system in operation. It is important for the organization to identify emergent business properties, fine-tune a set of interconnected components, as well as well-align interwoven threads to ensure the business achieves its strategic goals, multidimensional business value, and fulfill its varying purpose.

Firmness of organizational structure: Traditional companies often have overly rigid pyramidal structures, they are fragile to business velocity, slow to change. They might be doing OK in the static industrial era, but struggle to survive in the “VUCA” reality. When the enterprise is at risk of being defeated by smaller, nimbler, agiler competitors, then the business management with a silo mentality understands it is in their own benefit to restructure and reinvent the business. Ideally, the firmitas of digital organizational structure are achieved through the right mix of “physical and virtual,” horizontal expansion and vertical penetration. So the physical organizational structure, relationships, and virtual platforms and social connections wrap around each other to ensure responsibility enforcement, information flow and synergy creating.

In management practices, organizational structure and its impact on efficiency and innovation could play either a positive or negative impact. Emerging digital technologies such as a social platform or other collaboration tools are enabling not only the structured processes of the past but also the unstructured processes of the digital enterprise. Nowadays the process dimension is enjoying a powerful tailwind, the dynamic and people-centric process management enforce the “horizontal” organizational interdependencies to harness collaboration, achieve better time to market for business exploring and expanding, and accelerate business speed.

Firmness of working relationships: Working relationships are important components of the business system. Gone are the days where organizations can influence or dictate the parameters of the working relationship. However, in reality, the most organizations still get stuck at a lower level of maturity (silo, reactive, order taking), the more important thing is to work on the activities and considerations that need to be addressed to identifying opportunities for enhancing the business relationships improving organizational responsiveness, and enforcing organizational firmitas.

To run a holistic business, it’s the importance of understanding how relationships work, strengthening connections between business units, searching for meaningful business relationships both within these subsystems and between them; monitor and observe links and feedback systems to achieve business purposes. Digital management is responsible for enabling a collaborative, innovative, and productive working environment. Managers evolve, encourage people to give feedback or even co-make strategic decisions, motivate people and make them feel more engaged with their work and deliver solid performance.

Organizations today need nothing less than a paradigm shift in their thinking about the fundamentals of how organizations work, as well as how to build an ever-evolving digital organization. They need to be firm enough to provide quality solutions in a consistent manner. They are also highly responsive, flexible, and self-adaptive to the dynamic environment. They are information oriented and people-centric, it’s important to improve their collective cognitive maturity to accelerate business performance and unleash its full potential.

Posted in: Digital Maturity,EA