Management-Issues,17 Jan 2011
.In less than a decade from now, the Millennials (or Generation Y - those born between 1980 and 2000) will be firmly entrenched within all management layers of most large corporations around the world. As this begins to happen, it's interesting to ponder what this will mean for big business and what changes Gen Y will bring with them as they begin to take charge and steer the ship.
So, what happens to the enterprise as they assume control?
A New Kind of Organizational Design
Today's organizational designs will likely be deemed obsolete. Millennials will demand a shift away from "command and control" reporting lines to more cooperative-based leadership models that provide greater autonomy and freedom of choice in the way work is performed.
Such a shift will stress and flex the organization in new and challenging ways. Looser, team-based organizational designs will need to be adopted. Gone are the days of multi-layered designs characterized by managers managing managers. Rather, temporary, purpose-based worker groupings emerge and flatter reporting structures are the upshot.
The pyramid management structure that we all grew up in will slowly be replaced with a more fluid and responsive network design. A networked organizational design is the next evolutionary step for today's "matrixed" organization.
In a network structure work is organized into projects, and, in turn, projects are grouped into portfolios (i.e., node in the network) of like kind. Execution of the projects within a portfolio is performed by workers who are assigned to the portfolio, in a "Just-In-Time" fashion.
Key knowledge workers may be permanently assigned to a portfolio (so to allow for needed deep intimacy and understanding of a portfolio's particular subject matter), while others may be temporarily assigned to play a particular project role for a specified duration. This allows an organization to better leverage its subject matter expertise across all of its portfolios.
This new type of organizational design provides work flexibility that Generation Y staff prefers and the scalability that businesses require in order to better manage costs and maintain quality through normal business cycles.
A New Kind of Operating Model
The shifting of the organizational design will, in turn, lead to a new kind of operating model – one that can accommodate a more transient workforce. Generation Y employees are very comfortable with a more integrated professional and personal life as long as working schedules are flexible.
To this end, operating models of the future will need to contemplate and weave the freelance and contract working arrangements preferred by Millenials, into the way work is performed. Indeed, the next generation of workers is willing to trade the routine, predictable and secure (which many find boring when compared to the multitasking, frenetic operating style that many favor) for the freedom to choose where, when and how work is executed.
Businesses will be compelled to offer more "tailorable" and enhanced "lifestyle" benefits to employees. We are already seeing concierge services, childcare and eldercare offerings emerge in benefit packages. This trend will continue as a new generation of workers seeks ways to make their life easier.
Customer participation in business decisions could increase, as well, given the fact that Millennial consumers will continue to call for a "Voice" in the ways products and services are customized and delivered to them.
The 2020 Organization
The Year 2020 organization will be one that is markedly different than what we see today. It will be a world in which the next generation of worker chooses to embrace personal independence at the risk of security, and one in which businesses must work hard to attract this budding talent.
With this, comes a very real leadership challenge whereby organizations will need to think differently about their management structure and the skills, competences and capabilities required to thrive in the new operating models that will result.
Clearly, a greater degree of emotional intelligence will be required by senior leaders so that they can proactively guide organizational transformation while continuing to grow and evolve successful enterprises.
Information You Can Use. Knowledge You Can Trust
This summary is taken from Business Leaders Digest monthly(www.busleadersdigest.com)
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