The evolving organisation

The organisation as we used to know it has changed. Dramatically. Due to the fundamental changes visible in the information age, organisations wishing to compete in the global economy, will be finding themselves in a semi-permanent state of transition in an effort to remain competitive in the new informational global economy.

So how exactly has it changed? To compete in the global economy (remember that the global economy is still capitalist of nature/type) organisations are changing into a NETWORK - Castells calls it the Network Enterprise.

Lets consider for a moment the concept of a network, or the network logic - in this context (societal/organisational):

• Dominant functions and processes are organised around networks;
• Networks are the new social forms and structures of our society;
• They (networks) modifies the processes of production, experience, power and culture;
• They consist of a set of interconnected nodes;
• Networks are open structures, able to expand without limits;
• They are enacted/ enabled by information technologies;
• They integrate new nodes (entities) as long as those node share the same values and performance goals; and
• Examples of networks are the council of ministers in the political network of the European Union (or African Union for that matter) and the coca fields, bush laboratories, landing strips and drug lords in the global drug networks, the recruiters, trainers, camps and arms dealers and buyers in the network of terrorists or mercenaries.

So the network (for whatever the reason it has been formed) is the most flexible of form and structure to be able to exist and operate in a global economic, societal and organisational context. 

For its success, a network is dependent on the extent to which all entities that are part of that network actively share and function in accordance with the ultimate goal of the network. To facilitate the cohesion/ cooperation between the entities of the network, a CEO of the network takes on a FIGUREHEAD role- he uses the connectedness between the entities in the network to continuously represent and communicate the vision and objectives of the network as a whole.

Manuel Castells* discuss his definition of the Network Enterprise as follows:
"To define more precisely the network enterprise, I need to recall my definition of organization: a system of means structured around the purpose of achieving specific goals...In a dynamic, evolutionary perspective there is a fundamental difference between two types of organizations: orgnizations for which the reproduction of their system of means becomes their main organizational goal, and organizations in which goals, and the change of goals, shape and endlessly reshape the structure of means...I call the first type of organizations bureaucracies, the second type, enterprises. On the basis of these conceptual distinctions, I propose what I believe to be a potentially useful definition of the network enterprise: that specific form of enterprise whose system of means is constituted by the intersection segments of autonomous systems of goals."

Using Castells definition of the organisation as a network, a number of question arise as to the dynamics and performance of this network enterprise. In essence, the network enterprise transforms information signals into commodities by processing knowledge - this is the process of innovation (which, in my view, is the real mandate of HR...).

The network enterprise is the appropriate form of organisation in the information age because:

• ...it is able to generate knowledge and process information efficiently;
• ...it is able to adapt to the variable geometry of the global economy;
• ...it is flexible enough to change it means as rapidly as it goals change; and
• ...to continuously innovate as innovation becomes the most competitive productivity weapon.

From the above-mentioned discussion the picture becomes clear, the organisation form in the information age is a network which becomes the actual operating unit, not the individual organisation any longer. This network consist of electronically enabled or supported network of interconnected RELATIONSHIPS between Suppliers, Customers, Owners (Shareholders), Partners and Employees (SCOPE).

In these relationships (during the act of relating) there happens an interaction, a sharing of free flowing of data, information, ideas, images and knowledge across the nodes or entities of the network. Performance of the network according to its goals, depends heavily on the connectedness - the ability of the network to facilitate clear "noise-free" communication between the network entities - as well as the consistency inherent in the network of the entities that share the same goals and objectives of the network.

To this I want to repeat the extent to which the Leadership (multiple) of the network assimilates the role of figureheads - representing and continuously emphasising the overarching goal and objectives of the network.

*Manuel Castells, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol.1-3