Marina Gorbis on organizational change

BB pal Marina Gorbis, executive director of Institute for the Future, wrote a provocative essay for the Capitol Hill magazine Roll Call suggesting how much of today's corporate organizational theory has no future. We've spent a century developing organizational processes that maximize shareholder profits, she writes, but a big change is gonna come. On the horizon are: the emergence of an ecological/epidemiological view of markets and behaviors, a workforce of amplified individuals, and the engagement economy. From Roll Call:

The corporate culture we created spread well beyond the business realm. In his forthcoming book “Life Inc.,” media expert Douglas Rushkoff points out that corporatism has permeated our culture, language, philanthropic organizations, schools and media. It is how we’ve come to think about getting things done. We almost cannot conceive of a world without hierarchical organizational charts, mission statements, bounded departments, and clear sets of corporate rules and incentives.

All of this is about to change. You can think of the next decade as a decade of experimentation with new ways of organizing our society, including our economic and business activities. Beginnings of new organizational shapes already abound – from Wikipedia to volunteers taking over customer-support services for organizations. Turns out that being helpful to others can be its own reward.

"Organizational Change Is Coming Soon"