Last week MBO Partners released their annual future of work predictions for the coming year. Their forecast themes for 2021 are:
Ten: Dip & Climb
Nine: Happiness & Health
Eight: Gen Z Arrives
Seven: It’s All About Control
Six: Exports Not Imports
Five: Make It A Trillion
Four: Side Hustle Nation
Three: Virtual Just in Time Orgs
Two: Radical Remote Work
One: Gunning for Growth
One of the most interesting from our perspective is "Virtual Just in Time Orgs". MBO Partners describes this as:
Before, to build a larger business, an office, a staff and a payroll was needed. With the advent of new work platforms that enable real-time teaming between independents, we’re predicting a rise in the virtual, just-in-time organization – where talented individuals come together to deliver work and then disband until the next project arrangement. They maintain more control and flexibility, lower margins and raise efficiencies and satisfy their client’s needs for great results. With teaming on the rise (20% did so in 2020), we think that it’s only a matter of time before virtual reality is surpassed by virtual corporations.
Virtual corporations and related new forms of organizational structures have long been forecast to replace traditional corporate structures.
One of the most popular futurist forecasts in the late 1990s was that large corporations would soon disappear and be replaced by virtual corporations made up of lots of independent workers.
Obviously, this didn't happen - or at least hasn't happened yet. In fact, large corporations have gotten much larger since the 1990s.
But there clearly is a strong trend towards virtual microbusiness formation where independent workers, through teaming, outsourcing and the use of nonemployee labor are creating virtual organizations with the reach and capabilities of larger traditional businesses.
We'll have more on this trend in the near future.
MBO Partners is an Emergent Research client.