Shenehon Online: Survive the Network

By: Scot A. Torkelson

You have installed the network in your company, and have everyone communicating with one another and the World Wide Web? The goal now is to survive the network. Arthur Dent, among others, has observed that the biggest change to management/employee relations upon networking is the disappearance of typical command control-structures common in an un-networked company. The top-down flow of information is completely obscured by the explosion of lateral communication among employees made possible by the network. The structure of the company changes as follows:

A knee-jerk reaction to the network by owners and managers, after the initial perception of losing control, is to begin putting all kinds of limitations and controls on its use. One company required the copies of all e-mail be copied to management, and in the ensuing weeks they were flooded with thousands of e-mails. Too many to read. The idea was promptly abandoned. Alternatively, the only solution is to go with the network flow:

1. Management must become visionaries and leaders rather than command/control bureaucratic managers; the vital connection becomes the network rather than a chain of command.
   
2. Adapting to the change involves allowing formation of ad hoc teams around projects and tasks rather than dictating or controlling such teams; i.e., use your e-mail.
   
3. Management shifts to being a provider of the basic structural and cultural guidelines as power moves to the edges of the corporate structure; provide open database resources.
   
4. Decisions are made in numerous smaller teams throughout the company.
   
5. The customer becomes a vital "employee" who can provide immediate fresh ideas and feedback via the Web; route comments directly to the appropriate centers of operation-rather than to the top and then back down.
   
6. In fact, the customer can even become the order entry "employee," as with Dell. When a customer enters information for the purchase of a computer, it passes directly to the factory floor, while vendor parts are ordered form vendors. There are no intermediary hands. The customer/employee becomes order taker and parts buyer; see if you can find other jobs for your customer.
   
7. Recognize talent; creative talent becomes the most valuable company asset as rote bureaucratic "work" is commoditized by computers.

Even simple adaptation of some of these factors will further ensure that you survive the network. Oh, and if you haven't installed that network yet-good luck.

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