Designing Adaptive Organizations: The Coming Paradigm Shift in Org Design
October 19 | 12 – 1:30 PM (EDT)
Join us for a 90-minute exploration into the use of AI in organization design. If you are curious about the role, efficacy, and application of AI in the field of organization design, join two experts in the field.
We will share, briefly, the work of Dr. Charles Snow, and deep dive into his chapter on AI in Design, “Organizing Intelligent Digital Actors,” in his forthcoming book titled Designing Adaptive Organizations, due to be released in November.
This will be followed by Dr. Phanish Puranam sharing the new tool he and a colleague have built. You will be given access and have the opportunity to experiment with “Eunomicon” – a Large Language Model that has been trained to offer suggestions for organization design based on the microstructural approach developed by Phanish and his colleagues. Eunomicon can act as a design co-pilot- offering suggestions, explaining its reasons and also can critique your designs. You can converse with Eunomicon in the same way you would with a human colleague, via text chat. Eunomicon does not yet have graphic capabilities (i.e. it cannot produce org charts).
In this session we will explore:
- – The paradigm shift in organization design from organizations as nouns, to organizing as a verb.
- – How continuous self-organizing can become a reality with human actors and digital actors learning from each other.
- – How AI can support and augment design work, becoming. perhaps, a key driver in actors adaptively designing in real time.
- – The use of AI, applying the Eunomicon tool, to a case study. You will have access to the AI tool, and the opportunity to explore its use in answering design questions and supporting design deliberations.
Charles C. Snow is Professor Emeritus of Strategy and Organization at The Pennsylvania State University. Co-author of the classic book Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process (1978), he has long been associated with the field of organization design. He is a founding member of the Organization Design Community and the co-founder of the Journal of Organization Design.
Phanish Puranam is Roland Berger Chair Professor of Strategy & Organization Design at INSEAD. He is also Academic Director of INSEAD’s PhD programme. Phanish’s research focuses on organization design and corporate strategy. He has published extensively in internationally reputed academic journals, and has served in senior editorial roles in such journals. His research has won international awards and competitive grants awarded across the social and natural sciences. Phanish obtained his PhD at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2001, and was on the faculty of London Business School till 2012.
To be released in November! Explore Dr. Snow’s newest book sharing his thinking on AI and Digital Designing . . .
The ability to organize is our most valuable social technology, and the successful organization design of an enterprise can increase its efficiency, effectiveness and ability to adapt. Modern organizations operate in increasingly complex, dynamic and global environments, which puts a premium on rapid adaptation. Compared with traditional organizations, modern organizations are flatter and more open to their environments. Their processes are more generative and interactive—actors themselves generate and coordinate solutions rather than follow hierarchically devised plans and directives. They also search outside their boundaries for resources wherever they may exist and co-produce products and services with suppliers, customers, and partners, collaborating – both internally and externally – to learn to become more capable.
In this new book, leading voices in the field of organization design demonstrate how a combination of agile processes, artificial intelligence, and digital platforms can power adaptive, sustainable, and healthy organizations.