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Management author and consultant, Gary Hamel, recently posted a great article to his Wall Street Journal blog titled The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500.

In the article, Gary states……..

The experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of “Generation F” – the Facebook Generation. At a minimum, they’ll expect the social environment of work to reflect the social context of the Web, rather than as is currently the case, a mid-20th-century Weberian bureaucracy.

He goes on to list 12 “post-bureaucratic realities that tomorrow’s employees will use as yardsticks in determining whether your company is ‘with it’ or ‘past it’.”

Here is the list with my comments…..

1) All ideas compete on an equal footing

Me:  A large workforce of low, mid, and exec-level employees all generating thousands of bad, good, and great ideas with the best ones floating to the top.  That sounds like a good thing to me.

2) Contribution counts for more than credentials

Me: Degrees and certifications will always be valuable, but a successful project by a non-certified project manager > a failed project by a PMP certified project manager.  Growing profits for a non-MBA run business unit > Shrinking profits for a MBA run business unit.

3) Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed

Me: Companies will be able to more easily identify and promote new, strong leaders.  They will be the people who are already leading.  The people who others are already following.

4) Leaders serve rather than preside

Me: A servant leader. It’s the only kind of true leader there is……..for every generation.

5) Tasks are chosen, not assigned

Me: I see this playing out like the Google 20% rule.  People will still be hired for a specific role to perform a specific set of tasks.  However, they will have the freedom to spend a portion of their time on projects, tasks, products, ideas, and initiatives of their own choosing.

6) Groups are self-defining and -organizing

Me: Groups and teams allowed the flexibility to self-organize according to the work that needs to be accomplished instead of being forced to work in a rigid, unchanging organizational structure.  Sign me up.

7) Resources get attracted, not allocated

Me: This one is so completely opposite of the corporate world that I live in, that I can’t even begin to imagine how this characteristic will play out.  However, if a company has a strong leader who casts a clear and compelling vision, I can see how employees, at least the good employees, would naturally gravitate to the projects that have the best chance of moving the organization closer to realizing that vision.

8) Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it

Me: A person who hoards information looks to advance himself.  A person who shares information looks to advance the organization.  Organizations should strive to hire, reward, and retain the sharers and avoid the hoarders.

9) Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed

Me: Gary states that, “On the Internet, truly smart ideas rapidly gain a following no matter how disruptive they may be.”  This characteristic could be just what is needed to challenge and disrupt the status quo mentality that rules in many large corporations today.

10) Users can veto most policy decisions

Me:  A leader should never avoid making an unpopular decision just to not upset the crowd, but leaders must not make the mistake of underestimating the power of the ‘groundswell’ within their company.

11) Intrinsic rewards matter most

Me: Pay raises and bonuses are nice, but most people want to wake up on Monday morning excited about the work week that lies ahead and head home on Friday evening with a feeling that their work really matters.

12) Hackers are heroes

Me:  Imagine a company where the rule breakers are rewarded and the heretics end up on the wall in the Employee of the Month frame.

I’m convinced that those large corporations that recognize these new, emerging realities of web-based life and adjust their companies accordingly will be the most successful in the decades to come.

What about you?  Are you as convinced as I am that these 12 characteristics will significantly impact the way companies are structured and led going forward?

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