Library Management
Vol. 29 No. 1/2, 2008
pp. 29-40

Author(s):Grace Saw, Wai Wai Lui, Fei Yu
Journal:Library Management
DOI: 10.1108/01435120810844649

Stephen Denning

STRATEGY & LEADERSHIPjVOL. 36 NO. 2 2008

The structure of the modern organization resembles the flexible, interlinked web of a fishnet.  Unlike the rigid industrial-era  "pyramid" structure,  a "fishnet organization" is characterized by blurred company boundaries and borders.  Electronic information systems enable parts of the whole organization to communicate directly with each other, whereas the hierarchy wouldn't otherwise permit it (Davis, 1987).  The result is that the new organization is able to deal with changing roles, attitudes, expectations and cultures at a moments notice.

Maybe, says Jerry Sternin, the problem isn't with the outside experts or with the company. "The traditional model for social and organizational change doesn't work," says Sternin, 62. "It never has. You can't bring permanent solutions in from outside." Maybe the problem is with the whole model for how change can actually happen. Maybe the problem is that you can't import change from the outside in. Instead, you have to find small, successful but "deviant" practices that are already working in the organization and amplify them. Maybe, just maybe, the answer is already alive in the organization -- and change comes when you find it.