21st Century Communication Trends

There are 5 different communication trends identified in the 21st century – Globalization, Diversity, Flexibility, Flat and Networking. All these trends are inter-connected. Lets discuss these trends briefly:

Globalization:

Human societies across the globe have established progressively closer contacts over many centuries, but recently the pace has dramatically increased. Jet airplanes, cheap telephone service, email, computers, huge ocean going vessels, instant capital flows, all these have made the world more interdependent than ever. Multinational corporations manufacture products in many countries and sell to consumers around the world. Money, technology and raw materials move ever more swiftly across national borders. Along with products and finances, ideas and cultures circulate more freely. As a result, laws, economies, and social movements are forming at the international level. Many politicians, academics, and journalists treat these trends as both inevitable and (on the whole) welcome. But for billions of the world’s people, business-driven globalization means uprooting old ways of life and threatening livelihoods and cultures. The global social justice movement, itself a product of globalization, proposes an alternative path, more responsive to public needs. Intense political disputes will continue over globalization’s meaning and its future direction.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/define/index.htm

Diversity:

It has become a common thing to see people belonging to different cultures, religions and countries working in one corporation. The business are recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce, structuring internal processes, and serving clients. Multiculturalism cultivates a new climate in which individuals from dominant and non-dominant cultures coexist and thrive. Wal Mart is known for having diverse culture. On the other hand, this trend has also given birth to conflicts. Wal Mart has recently been facing critics for mistreating people belonging to different cultures. Diversity in most cases leads to discrimination.

Flexibility:

Flexibility is the ability of firms to respond to changes in their environment.Flexibility is very important for a firm as it enables it to achieve efficiency. We compare rigid and flexible organizations when side contracting among agents is possible. Within a rigid organization, each agent can produce only one component of the final product, whereas within a flexible organization, the agents can reallocate their tasks during the production period. In our model, the principal can only observe the joint output produced by the agents. Our analysis reveals that within a flexible organization, side transfers are exchanged between the agents in equilibrium, and not only an efficient agent but also an inefficient agent may acquire a rent. Yet, the principal's payoff is higher when the organization is flexible, as the agents' rent-seeking behavior generates a more efficient production technology. In the case of life-time employment and life-time employability, life-time employability requires lot more flexibility on the part of a person. Japan requires a lot more flexibility since they adopt life-time employability.

http://ideas.repec.org/a/mhr/jinste/urnsici0932-4569(200512)1614_621ofacta_2.0.tx_2-5.html

Networking:

Networks are necessary to deal with customers, competitors, the media and suppliers, as well as shareholders and all stakeholders included. Networks can be an important part in a company's gained success. It means a group of inter connected individuals who share available resources, skills and abilities. Networks require coordinated action on the part of the members.

Flat:

Flat is the opposite of Pyramidal organization. This implies open offices, with no secretaries to managers where there is flow of information, ideas, and resources. It is easy for lower level management to get access to the top level. Flat means reducing the layers of the organization in hopes of achieving Organizational effectiveness and efficiency. The chain of command is short, Span of control is wide and there is effective communication between managers and workers. E.g. General Electric, Wal Mart, Accenture, they all adapt flat management structure.


All these trends are visible in modern organizations. These play a very important role in their growth and development.