The Business of Business

I have some thoughts about organizational structure...something that goes along with the Corporate Environment rehash that I think should take place.

Over the limited years that I've actually been in a corporate environment, I have seen some things that I believe to be the fundamental source of all progressive inhibitions. Namely: hierarchical structure.

Now, I know there are CxOs and then Presidents, and then VPs, and then Managers, then Supervisors, and then workers...with each level having an inverse relationship of decision-making to people-responsible-for.

In my experiments with organizational structure, there is the initial structure that should be in place to train people in the way they should go. Once that mannerism has been instilled and displayed though, there is no longer a need to micromanage the individuals. They should be left to the collective conscience to make the right decisions, and innovate where necessary.

I think the younger generation of people entering the workforce has a reasonable grasp on what needs to take place in order for an organization to succeed - and while they may not conform to the manners and desires of the older generations - it's because they handle business differently.

When the older generation's superiors get together to start a project, there are meetings upon meetings to decide how the project should be carried out, and to try and cover all the bases, and get all the costs lined up, and the ducks in a row. That's a commendable effort - but it takes too long. It requires people's schedules to be synchronized, and progress is slow because of time limitations, and then when something unexpected arises, another meeting must be had.

When the younger generation gets together to start a project, there are still meetings, but they are not limited to being in person. In fact, it's usually preferred that there not be in-person meetings because not everyone needs to know everything about the project, an to waste time at meetings discussing that. Instead, they use simple, quick brainstorming exercises. They come to the table with ideas for how it could be done, and pitfalls that they could encounter. They throw them out there, let people rip apart or add to, and then take it home to chew on it for a while. And after another meeting or two, it's ready for action.

Perhaps it's because younger people tend to be a little more risky with their actions, or quicker to respond to mental challenges. But in any case, I think a department as innovative as IT should be, does not need to be stifled when it comes to freedom of operation. The real reason I see departments and companies fail to move quickly is not entirely because of size - but rather because of a generational gap between the people who are on the frontlines doing the work and up with the latest trends as compared to the generals of the forces that are commanding different units on their efforts.

There's a lot of trust involved in this particular style of management, but I don't see why it shouldn't be given a shot. There's a saying about the collective conscience on the internet that holds quite a bit of truth and application to it: "We is smarter than Me." I think a lot of businesses would benefit applying it to their processes.

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