Dual organization: vertical hierarchical and horizontal redarchical

The tension between organizations optimized for predictability, and a world in which the future is less and less an extrapolation of the past, continues to grow. The struggle between hierarchy, as an established order, and redarchy as an emergent order is served

Our society has become a gigantic network where the acceleration of connectivity and mobility have created a world of accelerated changes that are increasingly difficult to predict and follow. Meanwhile, most organizations still rely on a way of working that was thought out, more than 100 years ago, to address the challenges and opportunities of an industrial society. Hierarchical structures, organizational silos, and command and control systems designed to maintain efficiency and predictability at the expense of innovation, collective learning, and adaptability. It is not surprising, then, that in this context, more and more managers want to accelerate changes and strategy, but feel trapped between disillusioned and uncommitted workers, more demanding customers, disgruntled investors and disruptive competitors.

Horizontal or vertical organizations?

In this context, possibly, as we will see in today’s reflection, the most important dilemma facing managers of large industrial organizations is whether to maintain the privileges of a caste of bureaucrats, who bring little value to the organization, or to make the necessary transformations to create an organization capable of integrating the new generations of digital natives into companies. which implies the emergence of a new order, not necessarily based on the power and position of people in the organizational chart, but on the relationships of participation, flows of activity, and the added value that each person brings to the organization.

The great dilemma is whether to bet only on horizontal (redarchical) organizations, or only on vertical (hierarchical) organizations, or if it is possible for both to coexist within the same structure.

Just as, the hierarchy, due to its own orientation to control, cannot interact with an increasingly less predictable and plannable reality, the
redarchy
As an emergent order, it cannot guarantee predictable and reliable results. So our commitment is to a dual organization.

Digital transformation necessary to take your organization into the future. It is not a question of technology, but of culture and values. It all boils down, in practice, to the struggle between old forms of management based on command and order and the enormous possibilities offered by social technologies to create more open, transparent organizations, where innovation is everyone’s job, and where people can find meaning and purpose in what they do.

There are two possible final scenarios. In the first of these, the managerial elites cling to their privileged position and impose their order at a high cost in terms of adaptability and business growth. Which in many cases will mean leading their companies to the margins. The second of the alternative endings would be the one in which the arrival of networks and new technologies are taken advantage of by companies to grow and prosper.

Dual Organizations: Redarchy and Hierarchy

If we really want to accelerate the strategy and the necessary digital transformation, we must provide our companies with a system with dual organizations capable of executing the day to day and at the same time exploring new opportunities and overcoming threats. The first system, the The traditional hierarchy conducts the day-to-day business of business, while the second system, the redarky, is the, focuses on the opportunities and demands of the future, and acts as an agile network of change-makers. The rise of the network is driven not so much by new technologies as by the new values and ways of doing things on the social web.

Getting the hierarchy to share power is the hardest part. Although there are already many managers who are beginning to be aware of the need for changes, and the possibilities of social technologies to coordinate human effort without sacrificing people’s creativity and passion. Realistically, there are many more who are determined to convince us that there are no viable alternatives to the management model that has prevailed for the last hundred years. That is why we need something just as powerful and more effective as the
dual organization
to replace it.

Everything points to the fact that the industrial management model will not leave voluntarily. Its repeal will come rather from the creation of the new, more dynamic network structures that are arriving in organizations and that little by little, and in an almost unnoticed way, will end up making their way imposing their new way of doing things based on the new values, behaviors and norms that prevail on the social web.

Industrial organisation is a reality, but it is also true that the new management imperatives cannot be addressed from a hierarchical industrial management model, based on opacity, command and control. New social technologies have increased our ability to self-organize, mobilize, and collaborate across internal and external organizational boundaries. So, it is no longer necessarily true that we need a legion of bosses and bureaucrats to coordinate human effort.

Probably the biggest challenge you’ll encounter on the road to dual organizations is how to get people who are used to a control-oriented hierarchy to believe that a dual system is possible. But don’t hesitate, the benefits in terms of results for the business and purpose for people are enormous. If you successfully implement this new business management model, you will be able to overcome the strategic challenges of a world that is changing at a dizzying pace. Maybe read my book on redarchy can help you learn how to successfully implement this digital transformation process within your organization.

If you need help, the new Kindle version of Redarchy – Beyond the Hierarchy is now available

– a revised and updated version of the original printed version. The new version incorporates a new chapter on dual organizations and a framework for transformation in simple stages to pave the way to new organizational structures that enable results and innovation. The struggle between hierarchy and redarchy is, ultimately, a choice between management models and values. Which side are you on?