{"id":2184,"date":"2020-01-09T02:21:54","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T02:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kusuaks7\/?p=1789"},"modified":"2024-01-29T12:40:30","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T12:40:30","slug":"blockchain-for-organizational-culture-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/fintech\/blockchain-for-organizational-culture-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Blockchain for Organizational Culture: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis is a two part post, focusing on the impact of Blockchain on transformations in Organizational Culture.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe impact on Organization Culture is one of the most fascinating realities of the digital era. Digital Technologies, including Blockchain, are just enablers of cultural trends that are transforming all demographics at an accelerated rate.\u00a0Culture is always more important and impactful than pure digital technologies<\/a>, as impressive as the latter are.\u00a0The potential cultural impacts on individuals as well as organizations are tremendous. In order to succeed and innovate with digitization, transformation best practices should challenge long established cultural norms.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt is interesting to note that one of the most archaic organizational structures that has survived decades if not centuries is the ubiquitous vertical \u201cOrg Chart.\u201d It simply does not inspire agility or change \u2013 with layers of management exerting control, functioning through power-driven bureaucratic practices and suffocating innovation, if not the very life, of the organization! The digital era fosters challenging the hierarchical and centralized control-driven organizations with alternative more democratic robust models that empower the participants. Blockchain\u00a0could\u00a0<\/em>become an enabler \u2013 as we shall see. This is very much a decentralization, peer-to-peer execution, and disintermediation trend \u2013 the core competencies of Blockchain.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Globalization Cultural Trends\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe first and indisputable digitization trend is captured in Thomas Friedman\u2019s book\u00a0The World Is Flat<\/a>. Now in its third edition for the 21st century, Friedman elegantly describes the Globalization trends that are definitely enabled by technology (what he calls the \u201cplatform\u201d) but in their essence are cultural. \u201cGlobalization 3.0 is driven by individuals, a much more diverse group of people are going to come to the fore and prosper. Previous eras of globalization were very much shaped and influenced by the powerful and affluent Western countries but Globalization 3.0 is going to be a much more level playing field. Individuals from every corner of the world are going to drive Globalization 3.0 forward. Globalization 3.0 will be more plug-and-play and egalitarian than anything which went before.\u201d This \u201clevel-playing\u201d field for countries who were not able to compete with the Western countries a couple of decade ago is a forceful cultural trend enabled through digital technologies. It is a\u00a0cultural<\/em>\u00a0trend because technology alone does not necessarily imply change. Innovation, empowerment and enablement need to be the driving catalysts for change.\n
Blockchain will further assist and promote globalization trends.\u00a0<\/em>Blockchain will increasingly evolve into Valuechains<\/em><\/a>\u00a0involving various organizations in different countries. We had discussed earlier the impact of\u00a0<\/em>Blockchain in Supply Chains<\/em>, especially those that cross boundaries of countries and even continents. Financial transactions as well as asset tracking and delivery become less bureaucratic and faster to process.\u00a0<\/em><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Enterprise Cultural Trends\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCultural trends are challenging traditional enterprises. Top-down pyramid and functional unit organization structures are tired and pass\u00e9. They do not inspire innovation or digital transformation. Jacob Morgan contrasts several emerging organizational models in the\u00a0Future of Work<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>Emerging models include\u00a0flat<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0holacratic<\/a>\u00a0organizations (vs. bureaucracies and hierarchies \u2013 and we know how well those functions!).\u00a0Challenging traditional management around\u00a0circles\u00a0<\/em>for specific projects and objectives is both liberating and transformational.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEmployee empowerment has been elusive and hard to achieve within a rigid hierarchical organization.\u00a0Flattening organizations with increased communication, collaboration and empowerment is an irreversible trend. A digital and agile organization with empowerment can leverage the innovative talents of its employees and improve their morals. The idea of challenging hierarchical structures, removing bosses (or replacing them with \u201cmentors\u201d) has been around for a while. The need to quickly change and adapt in digital enterprises is compelling them to re-consider their rigid structures. It is already happening in several\u00a0Silicon Valley companies<\/a>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Blockchain within enterprises can also promote alternative flat organization patterns. Blockchain is a distributed and decentralized peer-to-peer database. Applications built on Blockchain can allow organizations to execute smart decisions (via Smart Contracts executing on the Blockchain) \u2013 such as proposals, recommendations, asset allocations, votes, etc. \u2013 involving both employees as well as partners and even customers for the organizations. The flattening is achieved through end-to-end\u00a0<\/em>Valuechains<\/em>, enabled through Blockchain as needed.<\/em><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Cognitive (aka Knowledge) Worker Cultural Trends<\/strong><\/h3><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe modern workforce is increasingly becoming\u00a0cognitive.\u00a0<\/em>Repetitive work is increasingly handled through robots: either physical robots (e.g. moving boxes in warehouses) or software robots (through Robotic Process Automation). So demographically the workforce is becoming either\u00a0AI assisted workers\u00a0or knowledge workers. The latter category is extremely important as they are the workers who innovate and are the digital experts within the organization. Well, these cognitive workers have certain traits. As elegantly captured in Davenport\u2019s seminal work\u00a0Thinking for a Living<\/em><\/a>:\u00a0<\/em>\u201cOne important aspect of knowledge workers is that they don\u2019t like to be told what to do.\u201d\u00a0This is an important cultural trend. Again it deals with the limitations of the old-fashioned organizational hierarchical structures with power and decisioning concentrated at the upper echelons.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\nThere is a cultural shift in Work due to automation – with a spectrum of work and worker categories:\n