What is the difference between a company that maximises for revenue and a company that maximises for employee happiness?

Although organisations have different purposes and missions, most are built around the same structures, power dynamics and incentive schemes. Whenever a new trend comes in (e.g. remote) either it is a struggle to adapt to it, or the solutions implemented seem to miss the core value, so don’t add as much value as they could.

This inability to imagine new organisations (and better ways to adapt) comes from a lack of knowledge and awareness around the basic unit which constitutes an organisation: information. At its most basic layer, an organisation is a series of steps that ensure information flows in the right direction, no matter if we are talking about a product or service-based organisation. Unfortunately, most organisations are burdened by internal politics, competitiveness, ‘overwork’ and other symptoms of growth and can lose sight of this basic principle.

Information architecture (I.A.) is the structural design of shared information environments. If information flow is at the core of organisational function, how can we apply I.A. methods to create the building blocks of the companies of the future?

Through a card and board game approach, we will help participants to map and unbundle organisations as information machines, getting to the most basic building blocks (information storage, acquisition and retention). Then, we will set different goals beyond revenue maximisation (e.g. happiness, flexibility, scalability) in order to imagine new kinds of organisations. Throughout the workshop, participants will also be challenged on how new technologies can allow them to conceive organisational structures that might have seemed impossible a few years ago.