The UNITE paradigm shift in organization & leadership

When paradigms shift, they do not necessarily affect all parts of a system at the time same. We can see in the world around us that all the stages of industrialization are present at the same time—some societies, some industries, some firms and some individuals may still be in the 2nd industrial revolution, while others are already moving into the 2nd information revolution. We even sometimes see this in a single environment—for example, farmers in rural areas using steam to power a grinding mill while at the same time using their smartphones to find buyers for their grain.

This tendency is exacerbated by the speed of technological change. As some parts jumps ahead, others cannot keep up. This can lead to different paradigms operating concurrently, often even within the same organization! Exponential growth in technology means that we must be constantly responding to change, rather than conducting business as we always have.

This table discusses a number of factors–such as value creation, management style, work-life balance, leadership, and organization–and demonstrates how each changes in the paradigm shift from an industry culture to an information culture. For example, in the industrial paradigm, value is largely driven by mechanization. As machines allow greater productivity, profit go up. In the information paradigm, value creation is driven by people responding creatively to external changes. This allows us to see the systemic changes that are necessary to creating an organization that will enable innovation.