A Century-Old Assumption Set
For more than a hundred years, management theory has rested on three implicit assumptions:
Organizations are built internally
People are hired, processes are designed, departments are formed.Organizations are structurally stable
Meaningful reconfiguration requires long planning cycles, often spanning years.Organizational boundaries are clearly defined
A firm is separated into “inside” and “outside,” with outsourcing treated as a secondary extension.
These assumptions shaped the entire canon of modern management—from Taylorism and bureaucracy to contemporary MBA curricula.
They were reasonable in an era where coordination costs were high and execution depended on physical proximity.
That era is ending.
The Emergence of Org-as-a-Service (OaaS)
A new organizational primitive is quietly forming: Org-as-a-Service (OaaS).
Just as cloud computing separated infrastructure ownership from infrastructure usage,
OaaS separates organizational construction from organizational execution.
An OaaS module is not software in the conventional sense.
It is a pre-assembled unit of execution that already contains:
- Role definitions
- Standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- Accountability and escalation chains
- Compliance logic
- Performance interfaces
Instead of hiring staff, designing workflows, or engaging consultants, a firm subscribes to a functioning organizational unit.
The abstraction shift is precise:
- SaaS sells functions
- IaaS sells infrastructure
- OaaS sells organizations
What Changes at the Core of Management
Organizations Become Purchasable
Functions traditionally considered “internal”—HR, finance, compliance, procurement—can be delivered as modular, subscription-based organizations.
Management no longer starts with building capacity but with selecting organizational primitives.
Organizational Reconfiguration Becomes Instant
Restructuring no longer implies a 12–24 month transformation program.
An organizational unit can be replaced, scaled, or reconfigured by switching modules—
not by rewriting job descriptions, retraining staff, or renegotiating authority structures.
Time-to-execution collapses.
Organizational Boundaries Become Fluid
The firm is no longer defined by employment contracts.
Instead, it consists of:
- A core decision and identity layer
- A dynamic set of subscribed organizational modules
“Inside vs outside” dissolves into a spectrum of integration depth.
A Shift in the Source of Competitive Advantage
Under OaaS, competitive advantage no longer comes primarily from:
- Proprietary processes
- Unique organizational culture
- Long-developed internal capabilities
Instead, it shifts toward:
- Organizational purchasing power
- The ability to identify, integrate, and orchestrate superior organizational modules faster than competitors
Execution quality becomes a function of organizational composition, not internal design brilliance.
What Happens to Management Functions
Human Resources
HR transitions from headcount management to organizational curation:
- Selecting compatible modules
- Managing interfaces between human teams and subscribed organizations
- Governing accountability across modular boundaries
Strategy
Strategy becomes less about internal alignment and more about:
- Deciding what must remain core
- Deciding what can be subscribed
- Managing dependency, lock-in, and organizational optionality
Organizational Theory
The foundational verb of management changes:
- From create
- To subscribe
This is not a tooling change.
It is a shift in the unit of analysis.
The New Question Management Cannot Avoid
For the first time in a century, management theory faces a structurally new condition.
When organizations themselves become subscribable:
What remains the true role of management?
Coordination?
Selection?
Governance?
Identity maintenance?
The answer is no longer obvious—and that is precisely why management theory must be rewritten.