Couldn't help myself, harold .. hope you'll understand ;-)

I went back to the 2002 essay titled From Hierarchy to Wirearchy - the future of workplace dynamics, and pulled this out:

Yesterday’s success factors involved secrecy and control, size, role clarity, functional specialization and power. Today’s emerging factors are openness, speed, flexibility, integration and innovation.

The concept of wirearchy allows readers to develop a strategy for creating, implementing these factors in ways that respond with value to continuously changing conditions. The core components of wirearchy are:

a crystal clear vision and values

a strategically designed and integrated technology infrastructure

comprehensive, clear and completely open communications
pertinent objectives and focused measurement

characteristics of culture that create, support and enable responsiveness, adaptability and fluidity

leadership that is clear, focused, open, authentic and shared

It will take time and experience in this new era to know what "success" and "effectiveness" mean and look like. In a wired and wirearchical world, where there is literal meaning in the phrase, "everything is connected to everything else," we will have to watch, learn and imagine how to lead and manage in ways that foster ongoing growth in human development.

The concerns about control and responsible behaviour in a workplace festooned with hyperlinks, social tools and flows of information will be (would be) largely mitigated by the work of leaders in developing a clear (and shared) vision, honest and tangible values, and an open culture .. imho.

This area has been the province of OD in the past .. as I imagine it will be in the future. The game is sharper and the stakes are higher than ever before, i think.