Management scholars suggest that the enterprise of the future will be. if not completely unstructured, very loosely organised. It will be flexible, entrepreneurial, innovative,boundary less and a learning organisation. Sometimes the phrase ‘post-modern’ is used to describe such an organisation. The days of command-and-control machine bureaucracies are numbered.
One strong pressure for this development has been the rise in the fixed costs of labour, due to rising labour cost rates and in some countries, greater employee protection through government legislation. Companies are therefore concerned to minimize the number of direct long-term employees. Ways of doing this include the use of primary and secondary labour markets within the firm, employment ofnpeople on short-term contracts, use of agency staff, giving contracts to self-employed individuals (who may performnthe work at home), sub-contracting work to small firms. This results in the core-periphery model organisation structure.
Another pressure on firms to adopt the core-periphery structure may come from technological developments.
For example, in some high technology industries, tasks are so complex that there is much use of self-contained task units. Another technological development is the increased availability of information technology.
Organisation of the Future- Organisation of the fu-
ture will take many forms. There will doubtless continue to be monolithic organisations, mechanistically structured, producing standard goods for stable markets, in which costminimisation through economies of scale and strict management control will be the key criteria for success. But there is likely to be a range of other organisational types, linked together in a wide variety of different ways through a combination of contractual and managerial arrangements.
An important fact is that those who are already in
work will be doing the same work or be employed in the same organisations. Organisational change and development have become a part of working life. The globalisation and removal of trade barriers and continuous improvements and breakthroughs in new technology have revolutionized the industrial and financial sectors. The concept of having a lifelong career is out of date.
The study by OECD reveals that the average number of years people in employment are likely to remain with one employer is around thirteen years in USA, Britain, Australia and Canada. The average in Japan, France and Germany is around twenty two years. The trends in USA and UK suggest that this average length of time is likely to decrease sharply as fewer workers are offered permanent jobs. The trend is reflected in changing organisational structures in which a small core of permanent, full-time staff, usually qualified professionals, technicians and managers, are supported by contracted-out specialists and a flexible workforce of part- time and temporary employees.
As organisations restructure, human resources tend to decrease in quantity but increase in quality and in their value to organisational effectiveness. Investing in the development of these valued resources makes sense.
Organisational Downsizing- It is a fact that organisational downsizing has become a prevalent business strategy. A decline in performance necessitates downsizing.
Moreover, firms seeking to be more flexible, more responsive or less bureaucratic are increasingly resorting to work form elimination to achieve the advantages of smaller organisations.
There are two types of downsizing-convergent
downsizing and reorientation downsizing. Convergent downsizing involves shrinking the organisation without making significant changes in its strategic direction. These are budget-driven efforts to reduce costs. The result is that members end up “doing the same with less.” On the other hand, reorientation involves both quantitative and qualitative changes. Plans to reduce overhead are included in reorientation. Reorientation is generally stimulated by longterm dislocation in the environment, resulting from the introduction of new technology, entry of a new form of competition or a dramatic shift in the relevant political or economic conditions. Organisational downsizing has far-reaching impact on organisational structure.
The Employees of the Future- The occupational
make-up of the workforce is changing rapidly and is likely to continue to do so. The decline in jobs in manual occupations seems set to continue while projected growth upto the year 2000 A.D. is likely to be concentrated in managerial and professional occupations which will account for almost threequarters of the new jobs created. There is also evidence of a clear trend among employers towards a greater use of forms of flexible working in their drive for cost-effectiveness, enabling a much closer match between workforce provision and work requirements.
Employees expectations and aspirations have
changed as a result of the organisational and environmental flux in which they work. There is evidence that the traditional career structures of bureaucratic organisations, with clearly defined pay and grading systems, are becoming increasingly unattractive to job-hunters. Because there is no longer any job security, other benefits become increasingly important.
