We received a query from a University of Illinois professor regarding the content of a new class he will be teaching this fall. He wanted to know:
WOW!!! That's a mind-blowing set of questions, isn't it? To do it justice would take a 600 page book -- which we could easily add to the other four books we are working on.
Regarding organization design, radical changes have occurred in industrialized (and industrializing) nations around the globe. These changes are primarily driven by technology and global, regional and niche competition -- and the interplay between technology and competition.
In the last two decades, organizational transformation has been profound. We've seen the demise of traditional bureaucracy and the emergence of a vast array of organization strategies, geared to a variety of external demands. Increasingly, the customer is in the driver's seat. Organizations have had to learn to quickly respond to market realities that can shift over night, due to the introduction of a new technology or strategy on the part of a competitor.
The very definition of "management" is transforming. Some companies challenge the need for management, as they turn to self-directed teams and self-organization.
HR has had to adapt to these new organizational realities. While many HR departments have been slow to do so, those in-the-know and in-the-lead have realized that they must work flexibly to complement the organization's agility, developing a business-oriented alliance with line management.
Specific changes in HR are driven, also, by the introduction of information technology. They use the Internet to recruit and learn, the Intranet to provide, gather and discuss employee information and knowledge, and cutting-edge HR systems to simplify most of their administrative chores.
You are opening the door to the future for your students. There are not mountains of information out there; there are mountain ranges!