The axiom that an enterprise should aim for maximum integration is obsolete.
The traditional axiom that an enterprise should aim for maximum integration is becoming obsolete in the new corporation. There are two explanations for the “disintegration” of the enterprise. First, knowledge has become increasingly specialized. Knowledge is therefore increasingly expensive, and also it is increasingly difficult to maintain enough critical mass for every major task within an enterprise. And because knowledge rapidly deteriorates unless it is used constantly, maintaining within an organization an activity that is used only intermittently guarantees incompetence.
Second, by now the new information technologies—Internet and e-mail—have practically eliminated the physical costs of communication. This has meant that often the most productive and most profitable way to organize is to disintegrate and to partner. This is being extended to more and more activities. Outsourcing the management of an institution’s information technology, data processing, and computer system has become routine, for instance.
ACTION POINT: Think about whether you are about to be “disintegrated” out of a job by your employer outsourcing your function. Prepare a backup plan.
Managing in the Next Society
The Next Society (Corpedia Online Program)
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker