The organizational demands in the era of globalization, digitization, expanding networks, and eroding boundaries provoke the perennial question as to whether we should organize our operations locally, regionally, or globally.(1) A Perfect Storm is brewing with the new technological paradigm brought by Web 2.0, the shifting demographics with the entry of the Net Generation into the workforce, and the globalizing economy, creating a force for organizational change not seen since the Industrial Revolution. To deal effectively with these challenges, the next step in global organizational evolution is what I call the Collaborative Transnational. This hybrid organizational model is the only structure that is open and flexible enough to respond to the three dynamic forces converging in the Perfect Storm:

• Changing technology is spawning a new set of collaboration tools, collectively called Web 2.0. Wikis (collaborative documentation tools), blogs (web logs), podcasts (audio and video clips), tags (labels and search facilitation), mashups (lightweight web services integration), RSS (really simple syndication), and social networking sites (Facebook and Linked-In) are just some of the Web 2.0 tools that are facilitating global communication and changing the way we work. In the new Collaborative Transnational organization, communication is mutual, shared, egalitarian, and global.

• Shifting workforce demographics are bringing a new, highly diverse workforce together – we now see unprecedented dissimilar types of workers simultaneously in the workplace, from Veterans to Boomers to Gen X and Gen Y – four generations working side-by-side, each with different goals, ways of working, methods of collaboration, and reward and incentive desires. Clearly, “one-size-fits-all” organizational models and management approaches are obsolete! The Collaborative Transnational must support multiple work styles and meet often widely differing goals based on the individual.

• Global economics is creating a workplace with differing organizational structures across dispersed geographies, seeking to achieve the most effective and efficient method of service delivery for the global organization. From shared services, insourcing, outsourcing, and offshoring to virtual, matrixed, and project team organizations, enterprises are shifting their focus to take advantage of the opportunities of low-cost, high-value service delivery methods. The Collaborative Transnational is a hybrid model that seeks the appropriate organizational structure based on efficiency, effectiveness, and overall business value.

To work effectively in the new, diverse, high-tech, global environment we must promote collaborative behaviors to encourage disparate and dispersed individuals to work productively together. “To motivate the collaborative behavior that makes this new organizational model work, companies must create metrics that hold employees individually accountable for their contribution to collective success – an idea we call holding people ‘mutually accountable’” (2).

Mutual accountability for HR and HRIT in the Collaborative Transnational is facilitated by locating services and infrastructure in the most efficient and effective place within the global organization. The delivery of HR/HRIT services can be centralized globally, regionalized by geography, or decentralized locally (by country and/or business unit) as most appropriate based on the organization’s competencies, capacity, culture, and infrastructure.

To meet the demands of these turbulent times we have to first “think local” to ensure we truly understand our customers’ needs and then “act global” to connect individuals across the globe, providing a flexible technological infrastructure, an agile, adaptable organizational structure, and a seamless, integrated service delivery approach. Only then will we be in a position to build an effective global organization that will be competitive in the 21^st century.

References:

(1) Excerpted from Karen Beaman, “Think Local, Act Global: Building an Effective Global Organization” to appear in IHRIM’s new edition of 21 Tomorrows, due out Spring 2008.

(2) Bryan, Lowell L. and Claudia Joyce. “The 21^st Century Organization.” The McKinsey Quarterly. Number 3. 2005.