Wharton Chapter 18 - Designing the Customized Workplace.

Chapter 18 addresses the issues of the "human capital"factor as it relates to emerging technology and how firms should attempt to balance them. Emerging technologies are surrounding in uncertainties and it's difficult for firms to keep and maintain the talent when it could be years for results to materialize. How do firms balance the people when projects are cancelled and employees are not needed without hurting the morale? Firms must also consider how they recreuit their talent -hire people out of high school and train them or hire older, more educated employees.

The workforce is driven by different motivators (time versus money) and how do these motivators impact the workforce of companies? Employees are becoming less loyal to companies after the fallout of the .com's and tech companies are looking for ways to balance the needs of the employee with the needs of the company. Employees are becoming more powerful with the knowledge that carry and firms worry about how this knowledge can walk out the door to a competitor in such a competitive industry.

There has been a great shift in the structure of organizations to become more flexible with employees by offering them trainings, benefits, bonuses, and mini-sabbaticals. These tactics haven't worked well so businesses are looking for ways to customize the workplace to "suit the needs of both customers and workers simultaneously". Employees now have the power to choose their direction in the company, choose their working schedule, and how to do their work when balanced with the goals and objetctives of the company. Employees should be managed as individuals and not as groups, have outlets to share information and responsibility for the firms situation, and be trusted.

This chapter analyzed the best things about working for a small, tightly-held company and applied it to larger, corporate firms. In smaller companies, employees have the flexibility, the voice and responsibility to share information about the firms situation, and to be trusted. In the following article, it illustrated that little tech firms can play ball with the big firms while offering the customized workspace http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/03/26/cloud-computing-utility-tech-intel-cx_ag_0326cloud.html.

Wharton Chapter 17 - The Design of New Organizations Forms

Chapter 17 discusses the changes in business forms as new technologies emerge in the marketplace. As new technology and ways to deliver goods and services transform, businesses must create new means and methods to manage and exploit these new forms. The author mentioned 6 elements that can be reconfigured to create distinctive organization forms which include the goals of the organization, the strategies, authority relations, technologies, markets, and processes.

From these element, six new organizational forms are now present:

• Virtual Organization - suppliers, employees, and customers are dispersed geographically but are all connected by technology. Dell's connection with customers can be categorized as a virtual organization. Virtual companies have boundless opportunities to connect with customers but the flexibility can also create a new set of challenges such as the lack of face to face time with customers.
• Network Organization - set of relationships between autonomous or semi-autonomous work units for delivering products or services to customers. There are both internal and external - external: organization that creates ties among independent entities to combine skills (ie. partnerships, joint ventures). Internal: much like and external but ties together entities on the inside of the organization
• Spin-Out - organizations that are developed inside and organization that are unique and different and are then spun out to external entities and are usually partially owned by the parent company.
• Ambidextrous Organizations - organizations that continue with their established environment while creating and promoting emerging business environments (sustain and innovate). This gives structure to the new environment while sustaining the current business environment.
• Front-Back Organizations - Customers are served in the front with the backend of the organization supporting the front end. This is typically in service industries that are customer driven.
• Sense and respond organization - Identifying the emerging needs of the customer and responding intensely to those needs. This is important to meet the ever changing demands of the customer which allows the customer to adapt to the changing conditions

Organizations may go through a series of iterations of organizational forms depending on the stage of the business and the industry. For new businesses, their focus is typically on the customer and the strcuture is built in such a way that the business relationships will help grow the business (Front-Back). As the company grows, it has the ability to adapt to the changing needs of the customer (sense and respond) because of additional capital or because the business has reached a point where they can sustain their business and also grow through innovative environments (ambidextrous). When the company hits a point of maturity, internal innovations can become spin out organizations and new companies can be launched as a result. This can be illustrated through the spin off of palm from a very successful 3com. (http://www.news.com/2100-1033-236997.html)