Organizational Systems Development

In their article: "Building the Enterprise of the Future (2006)," Arthur Murray and Kent Greenes researchers at The George Washington University, Institute for Knowledge and Innovation comment: "Whether public sector, private industry, or non-profit association, all organizations are facing an ever-increasing number of challenges. 

Some of the more serious of these challenges are: expanding globalization; intellectual property theft/piracy; proliferation of open sources software; massive disintermediation; compressed cycle times; increasingly mobile and less loyal knowledge workers; growing complexity; disastrous consequences of poor decisions; pressure to do more with less; pricing power erosion; reduced barriers to entry for competitors; shifting workforce and consumer demographics/preferences; and low knowledge worker productivity." 

The authors argue that to overcome these challenges will require increased rates of workforce learning, innovation, and transformation entailing significant attention to four areas business:

1. Business Renewal. "By business renewal we mean completely rethinking strategy in order to achieve high performance in a flat world (Thomas Friedman, 2005). In other words, co-creating entirely new business ecosystems." (p.39)

2. New Organizational Designs. Industrial age, even information age, organizational structures are inadequate for achieving high performance in a flat world. Hierarchies and matrices need to be replaced by fluid, agile, social networks and communities." (p.39)

3. Enterprise Infrastructure Nexus. Despite the widespread adoption of enterprise software and the like, the level of integration needed for high-speed, anticipatory planning and response in complex, rapidly changing environments has not been reached." (p.40)

4. High Performance Transformation. We recognize as a key driving force the notion of shifting organizations from the mindset of "make and sell" to "sense and respond." (Haeckel, 1999). Learning, innovating and transforming at the speed of change requires rethinking of the whole notion of enterprise." (p.40)

Murray and Greenes take the view that knowledge worker performance will be a defining factor in these future enterprises, and that attracting, retaining, and developing these knowledge workers will be a critical success factors. They say that: "Knowledge workers must have one seamless environment for managing individual and organizational knowledge, and enhancing productivity." (p.40)