21st Century Communication Trends

Communication, data, speed, digital, security, Internet... All these words are all over the media, in most commercials and advertisements - there is no doubt that 21st century will be the century of information. And of course all the information should be accessible and here comes communication. So whether to call it Information Century or Communication Century is a bit unclear.

Borgatti's Theory identifies five trends into viz. globalization, diversity, flexibility, flat hierarchical structure and network. In some or the other way all these five trends are inter linked or connected. If organizations are going global they need to be flat and flexible to adapt to the diversities and network plays a vital role in continuous floe of information within and outside organization among the constituents.

Nations are becoming increasingly integrated through trade, foreign investment, technological advances and cultural influences. Globalization offers extensive opportunities for truly worldwide development and can be attributed to sales, management, research, and manufacturing. As a company wants to grow, it requires market expansion thus increase its visibility, exposure, and accessibility to increase the demand for the product in the markets. Globalization helps in increasing visibility of the company, increase in revenue and profits and also helps in achieving economies of scale thereby reducing production cost. Globalization has both positives and negatives associated with it.

Adoption of Flat Organization Structure is another trend, which is rapidly spreading around the corporate world. Few layers of management characterize it, Chain of Command from top to bottom is short, and span of control is wide.




Links: http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/041200.htm#X