![Carnival Cruises chief executive Ann Sherry says the pace of change within organisational structures will only increase.](/content/dam/images/g/v/4/h/4/f/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gv4ehb.png/1490497607934.jpg)
The changes sweeping through Australian workplaces are causing many organisations to rethink their internal structures and overall approach to management.
The pyramid-style lines of reporting that have been present within large organisations for years are giving way to much more flexible and responsive approaches to management. Participants in the recent Changing Nature of Work roundtable co-hosted by The Australian Financial Review and KPMG agreed such changes were necessary and would become more widespread in coming years.
"All today's structures are around control," says AGL chief information officer Simon Moorfield. "In the future, organisations are going to be about pace and agility, anticipatory thinking, and autonomous teams. It's going to get faster."
Moorefield says the successful organisations of the future will be those not afraid to make changes to their structure and management techniques and then continue to evolve them over time.
"Experimentation is so important, because the only thing you know for sure in today's world is that, whatever plan you put in place today, if you think it's going to be there in six months' time you'll probably be sadly mistaken."
Carnival Cruises chief executive Ann Sherry agrees, saying the pace of change within organisational structures will only increase. At the same time, however, she says it is becoming increasingly clear that there will be no single new structure or management style that will work everywhere.
"We always talk about the 'VUCA' model," she says. "It's volatile, it's uncertain, it's complex and it's ambiguous. Therefore, there are different types of leadership skills that work in different environments, and with different types of challenges."
Know the market
Sherry says it is vital for senior managers to know the market in which they are operating and the most appropriate strategy needed to succeed in that market. Then the organisational structure and management approach must be aligned to suit.
"I think the skill of leaders is asking 'When am I command and control? When am I in an adaptive space? What's the solution, how do I harness that solution?'," she says.
Telstra group executive, human resources, Alexandra Badenoch says a lot of the decisions to be made around structure and management will come down to the particular culture of the organisation concerned.
"When I look at it, the traditional guardrails for an organisation have been structure, management and governance – all of those hard elements that work in a hierarchy," she says. "But I do think that there is a thinking that maybe culture becomes your most important guardrail. I think it's a massive shift."
Badenoch says new cultures offering more flexibility will also have an increasing impact on the structure of company workforces and how they function on a day-to-day basis.
"I think we often talk about workplace flexibility without then thinking about what that means for leadership and management – I think you have to bring it all together," she says. "In Telstra, workplace flexibility has been a very significant commitment for us. Under our work conditions you can work from anywhere, at any time."
At the same time, Badenoch says people also still want somewhere they can come together and interact with colleagues. While having fluid and flexible workplaces will be important, staff will still look for a sense of belonging.
The roundtable participants agreed that there will be many different structures and management styles that will emerge during the next few years as organisations wrestle with the changes that are occurring in the world of work.
Those organisations prepared to try new methods, accept honest feedback, make alterations and rapidly move on will be best placed to succeed in the economic conditions of the future.