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Mark A. Cohen

Law In The Age Of The New Organization

Updated: Aug 15, 2020


Remember Martin Short’s wedding planner character in the remake of ‘Father of the Bride’? If so, you will recall his memorable ‘Welcome to the ‘90’s, Mr. Banks’ retort to Steve Martin (father of the bride) who could not stomach a $1,200 wedding cake. Its a couple decades later and excess has yielded to ‘better, faster, cheaper.’ Martin Short’s line resonates because most of us are having difficulty swallowing the breathtakingly broad, rapid changes occurring in the workplace and in life generally. We are—as T.S. Eliot said of the magi–‘no longer at ease in the old dispensation.’

Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends report shines a light on the mega-trends that are recasting corporate structures and transforming the way people live and work. The report is based on more than 7,000 responses taken from executives in over 130 countries around the world. It concludes, based upon the response from 92% of executives surveyed, that there is a need to redesign the organization (business structure)—and to build a ‘new organization.’ Translation: traditional business structures no longer cut it. This is pretty radical stuff, but it does help to account for the accelerated pace of change sweeping across virtually all industries.

What Is Deloitte’s Vision Of The ‘New Organization?’

Deloitte identifies several core elements of the ‘new organization’: highly empowered teams; a new model of management, and a younger, more globally diverse leadership. They also describe a ‘shared culture’ that engages people , creates a new model of leadership and career development, and promotes a “strong learning culture.” If this is beginning to sound like a structural reboot, it does to me, too. Why is this happening and what’s driving it?

The Deloitte study identifies the convergence of four key factors: (1) demographic upheavals that have made the workforce more diverse (Millennials now comprise more than half the workforce); (2) the ubiquity of digital technology; (3) the accelerated rate of change; and (4) a new social contract between companies and workers that is recasting the employer-employee relationship (a more peripatetic and agile workforce).

This article is also published at Forbes.com. Read more from Mark A. Cohen at forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/markcohen1/#50cb5529688a

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