What is digital organizational management?
Daniel J. Power
and Ciara Heavin
Organizational management is a process of structuring, planning and directing resources and people to achieve goals and objectives. A complete digital transformation of an organization must also change organizational management processes andd practices. Managers must use and value digital tools, information, and real-time systems. If management processes and practices are not transformed, then any digital transformation effort will be incomplete and performance will suffer.
Digital organizational management (DOM) is a simple concept — use analytics, data, and communication and information technologies to help improve the operations and management of an organization. Appropriate communications and information technologies can empower managers and self-organizing teams toward better and more effective decision-making, supervision, planning, and control. DOM enables and promotes decentralized management decision making. Organizations need to attract, recruit, and manage the best digital talent. Digital transformation requires significant changes to both organizational culture and systems. Using data and analytics are core to a successful digitally transformed organisation. A complete digital transformation creates a digital organization that requires digital organizational management.
Successful digital organizational management requires that managers ask, answer, and periodically review six key questions: 1) How do we change processes and relationships in our organization to enhance and support a digital transformation? 2) How do we devolve significant control and responsibility to teams for outcomes? 3) How can we attract, recruit, and manage the best digital talent? 4) How can we train existing staff to use and deploy digital capabilities? 5) How do we measure and manage progress toward achieving key performance indicators? 6) How can we ensure that our overall digital strategy is being achieved?
There is no single formula for changing management attitudes and culture. Managers need an agile mindset. Adopting business analytics and promoting a data-driven culture are often the drivers of the change. Getting and managing information must be routine and analysis and information should be used for decision making. Work processes for managers are often changed and automated. Monitoring events in real-time may be necessary, information visualization, automatic control and integrated man-machine decision making may be required. Innovative pilot projects can provide expertise for more comprehensive changes.
Change is not easy. Digital management means getting tasks done with and through others using technology and having co-workers cooperate willingly and even enthusiastically to accomplish shared goals. Information technology provides a collaborative means of creating agile teams and supporting team members with completing tasks. Digital organization management uses information technologies to support the functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling people, resources, and tasks. DOM prioritizes employee knowledge, training needs, and values their contribution to the digitization strategy. Both efficiency and effectiveness are improved with new digital analytical and process tools.
Digital organizational management is less hierarchical, but senior managers remain responsible for overall organization direction and control. Organizational agility is facilitated by digital organizational management.
Last update: 2020-08-29 09:06
Author: Daniel Power
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