The Coming of the New Organzation- It’s Already Here.

November 19th,2009 marks what would have been Peter Drucker’s 100th birthday. For those wondering who he was, Peter Drucker was the “forefather” of modern-business management thought, and his books fill the library of any sharp-minded organizational business person. He was also an excellent predictor of things to come- Nostradamus style.

In 1988, when the likes of IBM, General Electric and General Motors were the “Blue Chips” were thriving in 20th century management thought, Peter Drucker was busy writing about the “Coming of the New Organization” (HBR January/February 1988)– recognizing that the “information age” was on our doorsteps, and would change the way businesses and large companies operated. No one really listened at the time, except the savviest of companies looking for an edge long term-sustainability.

Then the information-age came barreling in, along with economic problems, and leadership ethics problems, which have significantly shaped the first 10 years of the 21st century.

Check out what Drucker predicted:

• Prediction: Organizations would be information-based. Today: knowledge systems and IT infrastructures are critical to today’s business.

• Prediction: management levels would be significantly decreased. Today: Organizations now talk about being “flat” – referring to the hierarchical levels of the organization chart.

• Prediction: organizations would be filled with specialists at the bottom. Today: organizations have specialists in every level of the company, and sometimes there is no “bottom”.

• Prediction: Decision-making would be decentralized. Today: the word “empowerment” has become much more than management rhetoric. Employees at all levels are being given decision-making authority, which is helping build trust between management and staff.

• Prediction: Knowledge flow would be bottom-up. Today: management relies heavily on getting information from the front lines…rather than pushing their own knowledge downward

• Prediction: traditional functional departments would be replaced by task teams. Today: More than ever, companies are taking a “high performance team” approach, where cross-functional teams have eliminated the traditional “silo” mentality, and improved communication, innovation, and worker efficiency.

In retrospect, Drucker indeed predicted what the modern-day “high performance” organization would look like. Happy 100th Birthday, Peter Drucker, the business world misses you and your predictions of things to come.