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Exponential organization for personnel management

Discover and learn all the features and definitions related to exponential organization and start applying it in your business.

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Isabel García

HR Consultant

Exponential organization personnel management

17 of February, 2025

A few years ago, companies like Facebook, Uber, Google, and Airbnb started with just a few employees and are now a part of our lives. With that said, it appears a new way of doing business has emerged, referred to by many as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’.

However, at their core, are examples of the increasingly popular exponential organization. In this post, we will discuss this term that is gaining more fame as the days go by. Continue reading.

What is an exponential organization?

An exponential organization is one that has a far greater output or impact, compared to its peers. This is due to new organizational techniques which leverage accelerating technologies. In short, it’s a company that grows faster, bigger, and more cost-effective than its competition, thanks to its massive transformative purpose that’s as fast as technology itself.

The purpose of Massive Transformation, is a higher and more aspirational purpose. It’s essentially about thinking big constantly. Examples like Google and TED show us the true ambition of these organizations, which face enormous challenges.

Currently, we often witness companies and organizations like Facebook, Airbnb, or Google being capable of increasing their workforce, up to a point of having hundreds of thousands of workers around the world while recording profits in the billions. Apart from that, these organizations can transform entire industries and completely change the rules of the current market.

What are exponential organizations like?

Up to now, technologies have been developed that consistently improve year after year. The challenge we face today is to develop companies that in the same way, exponentially increase their income and benefits. As well as knowing how they can predict and adapt to environmental changes. These changes are derived from exponential technologies, also known as ‘accelerating technologies’.

Characteristics of an exponential organization

  • Leverage existing, or exponential, acceleration technologies.
  • Use collaborative technologies.
  • Have multidisciplinary individuals and teams.
  • Have scalable processes.
  • Possess a mission with a massive and transformative purpose.
  • Can self-regulate.
  • Their authority is distributed.
  • Capitalize on the relationship with the external community and the public.
  • Have the ability to self-regulate.

If we take the time to analyze all of these attributes one by one, we will notice that the majority of organizations with a history of more than 10 years do not meet these conditions. Therefore, even if we think of larger businesses that have been constantly growing, they now face the risk of reducing their market share. They might even disappear completely in the medium or long term. Every company needs to anticipate and adapt to the changes that the industry will experience due to the high impact of accelerated technologies.

Exponential people management

This phrase is difficult to address because, for many, dreaming of human resources being exponential sounds like a vain illusion. Though it’s not impossible, it’s important that we be critical of the role this area plays in companies. An approach that can help us is the one developed by Peter Diamandis, a founder of a university in Silicon Valley. This approach allows us to understand some aspects that question how people’s management should be transformed.

  1. Digitized. The first thing is to question how we can digitize each human resources process. As at least a part of HR becomes digital, new doors open which will help us explore new possibilities of how we can support the people in our companies.
  2. Deceptive. Exponential trends are difficult to find. They go unnoticed in the beginning stages, so we need to have a very broad perspective to determine the areas of people management that can be automated.
  3. Disruptive. At this point, we need to critically analyze which areas we are becoming obsolete in. This could be in relation to what the business needs or what the employees expect.
  4. Dematerialized. Everything that used to be put in paper, can be digital now. Everything that used to take up a lot of space, we probably can have in our pocket today. Finding what can be dematerialized, is another essential step for HR to give protagonism back to people.
  5. Democratized.The exponential organization is also seen through social networks. People have new spaces for discussion and participation. This dynamic will increasingly be required within companies.
Cristina Martin

Cristina Martin

People and Talent Director | LinkedIn | | Web | +post

Professional with over 20 years of extensive experience in various areas of Human Resources (Recruitment, Training, Occupational Risk Prevention, and Personnel Management). Experience in the Management Department: Broad understanding of the company and HR.

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