The evolution of organization structure has been continuous and quite rapid in the past decade. Much debate and theories have surfaced over how teams operate, communicate and contribute to organizations. Hierarchies have taken new shape within organizations demanding more from teams. Alain de Vulpian in 2004 famously stated that “we are in the process of moving from a pyramidal, hierarchical society to a single-story society where heterarchical relationships dominate.”

To underwrite this conclusion he points to studies which have shown how the nucleus of families, i.e. our values and norms, have evolved.

Who’s The Boss?

Alain explains in his book: Listening to Ordinary People, “In western countries the proportion of those who think that the father of a family should be the boss in the home has been in steady decline over the past thirty years. In France, for example, 60% thought this in 1974 and 41% in 1984; only 29% thought this in 1999. Quite apart from opinions and values, this phenomenon affects the reality of families’ functioning and behaviour. A study carried out by Sociovision Cofremca has shown that in France in 1995, hierarchic families only represented 15 to 20% of the total. Half of these were patriarchal, and half matriarchal. This evolution has continued to move in the same direction everywhere, but by 2000 the index of attachment to a hierarchical structure varied considerably from country to country: 10% of Swedes thought that the father of a family should be the boss, 20% of Germans, and around 30% of the British, French and Italians. These figures rise to 40% in Spain, 45% in the USA and 74% in Brazil”.

And although I am pretty sure the number of people who regard the ‘father as the boss’ of the family to be significant higher in Asia, what I also know from personal experience is that whatever that number is today, it’s lower than 30 years ago and will continue to decline.

Alternative Organization Structures

Any boss will concede that the acceptance of a ‘leader’ on the basis of his position has been declining worldwide for decades. And this process is only accelerating. As a result, companies the world over are experimenting with alternative organization structures to get the work done.

People that are following my articles would not be surprise to know that my personal favourite model of organization structure is a “network of teams”. This model is now sweeping the world with its high degree of empowerment, strong communications and rapid information flow.

Deloitte in its ‘Rise of Teams’ paper highlights two factors that drive this change: “First, the pressure to get products to market quickly, combined with a generally greater sense of empowerment among the workforce, is making small teams a more natural and productive way to work. Small teams can deliver results faster, engage people better, and stay closer to their mission. Second, the digital revolution helps teams stay aligned. Today, teams can easily use web or mobile apps to share goals, keep up to date on customer interactions, communicate product quality or brand issues, and build a common culture.”

Of course creating a network of interdependent teams will create its own challenges. Starting by making sure that each individual team is a high performing team (click here to download my paper on building high performing teams). Secondly, it’s coordination and control of all these different high performing teams. The over-arching principle for executives will be the need ‘to let go’ and ensure that teams are driven by a common purpose, values and clear decision framework. Furthermore technology to support cross-team communication and specifically OKR alignment apps should and could play a significant role in this.

Would love to hear your experience working as a ‘network of teams’ or your thoughts on the future of organization structure.

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