By Mostafa Sayyadi and Michael J. Provitera

The business environment is constantly changing as organizations are increasingly participating in global markets. In the future, companies compete globally and also must think globally if they expect to exceed. These new globalized markets place demands on new structures and practices for organizations operating in this modern environment.

With the Great Resignation, the future organizational recruiting will rely on hiring freelancers with autonomy and some may be consultants. By involving them in a collective production process they will become change agents moving from one organization to another or by moving within the organizational departments. Organizations of the future will increasingly depend on the expertise of external experts. These external experts will work as freelancers or temporary consultants and contractors in the areas related to product design and development. This will be the new form of the future organizations. Hiring who they can, keeping them if possible or watching them leave for other opportunities.

1st Key point

More autonomy in the work gives a sense of meaning to the work, and the worker that has more autonomy in their work is happier and engages in the organizational learning process better and more effectively. [1] [2] [3] [4] As we move to an all-digital economy of the future, workforces have incredible flexibility to sell their knowledge anytime, anywhere. They have a high degree of choice in hand-picking the teams and colleagues they want to work with. In this new work environment, the internet becomes inseparable from business. And experts and specialists can market their knowledge and expertise in the best possible way with the help of the internet and related work platforms. This emergence of widespread sharing of knowledge and new ideas through the internet, and the communication of more and more specialists and experts with each other have a significant role in the innovation and creativity at the organizational level and even at a larger level such as society, from which all humans in this world will ultimately benefit.

2nd Key point

The future is no longer unprecedented, we have dealt with a pandemic for over two years now. The organizational culture will remain hybrid and the great resignation will continue as many baby boomers decide to retire earlier than once desired. 

There will be a huge influx of consisting of workforces in the form of freelancers or temporary contractors who will portray a new form of organization using the internet and other work platforms. Internet technology executives will become in more demand as organizational hacking becomes more prevalent. This emergence of independent workforces with very high technical knowledge that will be involved in the projects of future organizations is going to explode. [5] [6] This is nothing new however. The adjunct pool at universities has always been full of runners up to teach courses. These folks sometimes have multiple universities that employ them with some teaching six to eight course a semester. Thus, the design of company projects will take a new form, in which the task of leadership control will be less and the allocation of responsibilities in a decentralized manner will be more common. The potential power of innovation will be transferred outside the companies, and companies will begin to register their problems and issues at the global level so that freelancers can help them more widely in solving problems and issues. This, however, may bring up cyber security issues which will be handled by the internet technology executives mentioned above. The emergence of platforms that can bring together managers and external experts in the form of a round table more effectively will become a competitive advantage. Team leaders will be in much demand.

3rd Key point

This wide population of external experts (especially in the product design and development stages) will be a competitive advantage for many organizations. The future will be far more extensive and multi-dimensional, the participation of a large population of external experts will be geographical. [7] [8] [9] Solving these problems will be delegated to one or a group of specialists based the coordination of their expertise with the work needs of the projects, and the collective production process. This production process, which is the foundation of future production, brings together external experts from different places and will increase the diversity of knowledge and ultimately the growth of innovation. This method is different from the work of a team consisting of internal specialists of the company, and since these external specialists will not be constantly involved in the organization, there is a need to create a motivational of team leaders to develop a commitment among them in new ways to coordinate their individual interests with the interests of the company. For example, organizations may use someone for six months or a year and then replace them or see them leave for better opportunities.

Future Scenarios

Future work scenarios will be replaced with artificial intelligence and electrically powered equipment. Robotic artificial intelligence, which is currently prevalent, will increase. These robots will replace humans in repetitive tasks that will be completed with 100 percent efficiency as the robotic technology and systems process a large amount of information. Humans will still be an important component of the process but there will be less people in organizations. Robots will continue to strengthen and support the collective production process, and this will be the new manifestation of the synergy of humanity and robots.

A Need for a New Approach 

As we move toward the design of future organizations, bigger challenges will be faced by organizations. These challenges are an inseparable part of the design of future organizations and require systemic thinking. Systemic thinking should be applied in all departments and functions of the organization, from the production process to the recruitment of talented specialists will maximize agility and innovation in them.

In Conclusion 

In the future, commitment and loyalty will take on a new order. A world where companies will increasingly need external experts. New workforces will emerge for which autonomy is crucial, and managers who are searching for the best and most innovative ideas around the world will be searching far and wide.

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About the Authors

Mostafa SayydiMostafa Sayyadi works with senior business leaders to effectively develop innovation in companies and helps companies—from start-ups to the Fortune 100—succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders. 

Michael ProviteraMichael J. Provitera is a senior faculty professor of Management and Leadership, in the Andreas School of Business at Barry University, Miami, Florida, USA . He is an author of Level Up Leadership: Engaging Leaders for Success, published by Business Expert Press.

References 

  1. Reisinger, H . & Fetterer. D. (2021). Forget Flexibility. Your Employees Want Autonomy. Hravrad Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/10/forget-flexibility-your-employees-want-autonomy
  2. Slemp, G.R., Kern, M.L. & Vella-Brodrick, D.A. (2015). Workplace Well-Being: The Role of Job Crafting and Autonomy Support. Psych Well-Being 5, 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13612-015-0034-y
  3. Slemp, G.R., Kern, M.L., Patrick, K.J. et al. (2018). Leader autonomy support in the workplace: A meta-analytic review. Motivation and Emotion 42, 706–724. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9698-y
  4. Johannsen R and Zak PJ (2020) Autonomy Raises Productivity: An Experiment Measuring Neurophysiology. Frontiers in Psychology. 11:963. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00963
  5. Apgar, M. (1998). The Alternative Workplace: Changing Where and How People Work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/1998/05/the-alternative-workplace-changing-where-and-how-people-work
  6. Purdy, M. (2022). How the Metaverse Could Change Work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/04/how-the-metaverse-could-change-work
  7. Verbeke, A., Coeurderoy, R. & Matt, T. (2018). The future of international business research on corporate globalization that never was…. Journal of International Business Studies 49, 1101–1112. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-018-0192-2
  8. Sterling, E.J., Pascua, P., Sigouin, A. et al. (2020). Creating a space for place and multidimensional well-being: lessons learned from localizing the SDGs. Sustainability Science 15, 1129–1147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00822-w
  9. Kano, L., Tsang, E.W.K. & Yeung, H.Wc. (2020). Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature. Journal of International Business Studies 51, 577–622. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-020-00304-2

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