A Divided Company vs a Connected Company

A divided company is made up of a hierarchy. Since the industrial revolution companies have been viewed in terms of a division of labor. People are compartmentalized in 'boxes' from top (few people) to bottom (many people) in a pyramid scheme. There's also a hierarchy of tasks and goals.

This type of system is common especially among large organisations where the work environment is viewed as stable and the job description is well defined. Here's the problem with this system. 

There's been a shift in the global economy. The percentage of manufacturing (stable processes) has shrunk while the percentage of services (changing, dynamic, and variable) has increased. 

I called my service provider yesterday with a unique problem. I listened to a series of voice prompts. Press 1, press 4 etc. I had to wait 20 minutes to speak to a person but that person was unable to solve my problem so I got transferred to someone else. 

This is a classic case of a divided company. You end up bouncing around from person to person, until eventually you have to speak to someone at director or VP level, to get your problem solved. 

The broken, ineffective nature of how the divided company goes about trying to solve your problem is because invariably the problem spans a number of different functions. 

How is this different in a connected company? A connected company works more like a holarchy. What does this mean? It means that each part of the company is connected in working for the good of the whole. 

If we look at the same scenario of phoning into a company with a problem, firstly you would get a real person answering the phone. That person is authorized to solve your problem. What if they can't? 

Instead of transferring you, they tap into a network of people who have the knowledge to solve your problem. They stick with you while they gain the necessary help to solve your problem. Your problem is their problem which is part of the greater whole. 

Rather than being organised as a hierarchy, a connected company operates as a network of individuals and teams responsible for serving the customer's needs. Although each person may operate as an individual business unit, they nevertheless represent the entire company, owning the whole of the problem. 

There will still need to be part of the company that operates the traditional way (hierarchical/divided) to get through standard business tasks or processes.

But the service part of the company (based on variables) that requires human judgement and creativity/ innovation is better served by connected holarchies to solve unique problems in the workplace.