New organizational models: how to implement them

What are the new organizational models?

An organizational model refers to how a company structures its activities, distributes responsibilities, organizes communication, and makes decisions. The new organizational models differ from traditional hierarchical structures by a wider distribution of authority, greater autonomy of teams and increased ability to adapt to market changes.

Technological advances, changing socio-economic contexts, and the rising expectations of candidates and consumers have accelerated the emergence of these models. The health crisis and successive lockdowns have also profoundly transformed the relationship with work, with, in particular, the democratization of teleworking. The issue of well-being at work has been put back at the centre of attention, paving the way for new sustainable trends .

Here are the main new organizational models adopted by companies:

Telecommuting and hybrid work

Widely democratized in recent years, teleworking has been adopted by a majority of companies in France and around the world. Remote work can take the form of full teleworking (all employees work from home or a third place) or a hybrid model, which alternates between on-site and remote work. This way of organizing offers a better balance between personal and professional life, while improving the productivity and fulfillment of employees.

The flex office

With this mode of organization, employees do not have a dedicated workstation. Each employee is mobile and free to work wherever they want: coworking space, home, work cubicle, meeting room. The objective is to break with a sedentary lifestyle and create a more convivial and collaborative working environment.

The agile organization

Inspired by software development methods (Scrum, Kanban), the agile organization transposes these principles to the entire company. The teams are formed into multidisciplinary squads, work in short iterations and adjust their priorities continuously. Decathlon has adopted this model on a large scale: the brand has restructured its product teams into autonomous squads, each responsible for a sport or category, with the freedom to design, test and launch innovations without escalating each decision to the general management. According to Gartner HR Research published in 2025, companies with an agile organizational structure respond on average faster to market changes than those with a traditional functional structure (Gartner, 2025).

Holacracy

Holacracy replaces the managerial hierarchy with a system of self-organized circles. Each circle has defined roles, its own governance and distributed authority. There are no longer managers in the traditional sense: decisions are taken collectively according to codified processes. The most frequently cited example is W.L. Gore & Associates (maker of Gore-Tex), which has been operating for decades without a traditional organizational chart. “Associates” choose their projects, and leadership emerges naturally based on skills and peer recognition.

The liberated company

According to this organisational model, employees are given a high degree of autonomy. Initiative is encouraged, decision-making is decentralized, and collaboration is encouraged. This way of working is intended to be more flexible and responsive, and aims to strengthen innovation, collective intelligence, employee engagement and satisfaction. FAVI, a Picardy foundry specialising in car parts, is a textbook case: in the 1980s, the company abolished time clocks, eliminated intermediate hierarchical controls and entrusted each “mini-factory” with complete responsibility for its customer relations. The result: remarkable customer loyalty and a very low employee turnover rate for several decades.

The transversal organization

This system aims to break with a traditional rigid and pyramidal model and to break down hierarchical divisions. Within a cross-functional company, each stakeholder takes part in strategic decisions, regardless of their level of responsibility. This organizational model is generally based on transversal, participatory and collaborative management, collective intelligence, transparency and mutual aid.

The smart office

This model is based on the use of new technologies (management software, mobile applications, intranet tools, robots, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence). It is intended to maximize the operational efficiency of teams, save time and automate processes, but also to improve the working conditions of employees and the customer experience.

Comparison of the main organizational models

Not all of these models address the same issues. The table below summarizes their characteristics to help you identify the one that best fits your context.

principle

organization

iterations

constitution

company

controls

organisation

management

structures

work

flexibility

companies

companies

Model	Guiding	Level of autonomy	Example of a company	Suitable for
Agile	Multidisciplinary squads, short	High (teams)	Decathlon	Uncertain environments, product innovation
Holacracy	Self-organized circles, written	Very High (Roles)	W.L. Gore	Mature companies, strong collaborative culture
Liberated	Trust, removal of hierarchical	Very High (Individuals)	FVAI	Industrial SMEs/ETIs, strong field culture
Cross-functional	Decompartmentalization, participative	Moderate to High	Matrix	Large multi-BU companies
Hybrid	Workplace	Moderate	Majority of tertiary	Remote compatible features
Smart office	Technology for efficiency	Variable	Tech-driven	Organizations in search of automation

Why transform your company’s organizational model?

Implementing a new organizational model in your company can meet different strategic and operational objectives. According to the BCG Henderson Institute (2025), companies that regularly adapt their organizational model to their environment are more resilient to economic shocks (BCG, 2025).

Here are the main benefits of modernizing your organizational model:

• Improve the quality of life at work and reduce absenteeism
• Strengthen employee engagement, talent attraction and retention, and reduce turnover
• Maintain a competitive advantage in the face of emerging players and industry disruptions
• Increase operational efficiency of teams, save time, reduce costs, optimize processes and improve customer satisfaction
• Improve business agility, agility, and resilience to future risks and challenges
• Fostering collective intelligence, creativity and innovation
• Adopt practices that are more in line with the company’s culture and values
• Meeting the requirements of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and sustainable development: reduction of the carbon footprint, better QWL, ethical management

But make no mistake: organizational transformation is not an end in itself. It only produces results if it is aligned with the company’s overall strategy and supported by clear leadership.

How to set up a new organizational model?

An organizational change is a large-scale project that is often time-consuming and tricky to implement internally. According to Deloitte (2026), the majority of organizational transformations that fail suffer from a lack of alignment between strategic vision and operational execution (Deloitte, 2026).

To establish a new organizational model in a sustainable way within your company, here are the steps to follow:

Identify your new organizational model

To choose the new way of organizing your company, you must first question the strengths and weaknesses of the organization at different levels (management style, governance mode, operations management, QWL, production) and within the different departments (human resources, sales, marketing, supply chain).

Here are some questions to ask yourself when identifying organizational change needs:

• What is the operational performance within each business unit?
• What is the absenteeism and turnover rate? How has it evolved over the last 24 months?
• What are the main challenges facing the company at the moment?
• What are the strategic objectives for 3 and 5 years?
• What are the potential improvements in terms of well-being at work?
• What are the issues to be addressed as a priority?
• What are the possible obstacles to change and potential resistance?
• Is the model being considered compatible with the sector of activity and the size of the company?

Answering these questions in detail before initiating change management is a non-negotiable prerequisite. This can be done through internal surveys, KPIs, questionnaires, individual and group interviews, or co-construction workshops.

The example of FAVI is enlightening on this point. Before removing the hierarchical levels, Jean-François Zobrist (then manager) spent several months observing the real functioning of the plant, listening to the operators and identifying the control processes that were holding back the initiative rather than protecting it. The diagnosis preceded the action — not the other way around.

Rethinking corporate culture

Before taking any action to change your company’s organizational model, you need to understand, evaluate, and, if necessary, challenge the corporate culture. Implementing a new way of organising involves rethinking internal practices, operating methods, mentalities and values.

Let’s be clear: a company whose culture is based on control and verticality will not switch to holacracy in a few weeks. At W.L. Gore, the culture of trust and self-organization has been ingrained since the company was founded. For organizations that start from a very hierarchical model, cultural transformation must precede — or at least accompany — structural transformation.

Testing on a pilot perimeter

Rather than rolling out a new model across the entire organization at once, it’s best to start with a small scope. Decathlon proceeded as follows: the brand first experimented with the operation of agile squads in a few product categories before generalizing the model. This approach makes it possible to validate hypotheses, identify necessary adjustments and build evidence of success that will facilitate team buy-in during large-scale deployment.

Involve all stakeholders

The success of organizational change depends largely on the involvement of everyone in the company, at all levels of the organization. It is necessary to involve the teams in the change project, to listen to their possible reluctance and fears, but also to train and raise awareness among employees to encourage their adherence.

The problem? This is because middle managers are often the first to resist, because they are the ones whose role is most directly questioned. Their specific support — leadership training as a facilitator, redefinition of their contribution — conditions the success of the project.

Establish transparent and silo-free communication

Throughout the implementation of the new organisational mode, transparent and silo-free communication must be established and maintained. This means explaining the reasons for the change, the stages of transformation, and the expected benefits of the new organizational model — but also being honest about the challenges encountered along the way.

Monitor, measure and adjust your organizational model

The implementation of a new way of organising work is a long-term project that must be the subject of many adjustments. Implement success metrics to clearly assess the benefits of change: engagement rate, time to market, customer satisfaction, team productivity, turnover rate. Monitor these indicators on a regular basis, then gradually improve the organizational model in light of the results observed.

FAVI’s experience shows that the model is never set in stone: even after decades of operating as a liberated company, the organization continues to adjust its practices according to feedback from the field and the evolution of its market.

The role of interim management in organizational transformation

Driving an organizational transformation by relying solely on internal resources presents a risk: the teams in place are caught up in political games, habits and the daily operational load. An interim manager brings an external perspective, proven expertise on similar projects and an ability to structure change within controlled deadlines.

Within Wayden, our interim managers regularly work on organizational transformation missions: transition from a functional structure to a matrix organization, deployment of agility at scale, post-acquisition restructuring. Their added value lies in their ability to make an objective diagnosis, to co-construct the target model with the management teams and to support the execution until the organization becomes autonomous.