BUS 456 The Self-Organizing Enterprise
The expansion of firms’ web of interdependence has initiated a transition in organizational management from centralized into decentralized models. This paradigm shift represents a rising realization in the realm of management, in which decentralization is identified as a promising solution to new demands of the market. An emergent product of the wave of post-bureaucracy is the concept of self- organizing teams and enterprises. In this model, management commits to guiding the evolution of behaviors that emerge from the interactions of employees. This is contrary to how in top-down organizations, management specifies the nature of effective behaviors in advance and then encourages individuals to conform to the standards. Accordingly, this course familiarizes students with the open, fluid, and flexible structure of self-organizing firms and sheds light on how distributed decision-making might enhance members’ responsiveness to change, innovative capacities, and collective performance.