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It came as no surprise to Harold Leavitt and Thomas Whisler when organizations started downsizing and flattening in recent years. Current trends are much like the predictions Leavitt and Whisler made in their 1958 Harvard Business Review article, "Management in the 1980s." Though their predictions have been harshly criticized, now, 30 years later, they seem quite correct. Where are we going from here? As technology develops at a faster rate than ever before, it is creating wider options than ever before. In the twenty-first century, managers will be able to choose the kind of organization they want and eliminate some of the rigidities that keep them from being more responsive. Information technology will allow cluster-type organizations to have the benefits of small scale and large scale simultaneously. Even large organizations will be able to adopt more flexible and dynamic structures. The distinctions between centralized and decentralized control will blur. And most work will be accomplished by teams formed to handle particular projects. Sophisticated expert systems and knowledge bases will help capture decision-making processes, so decision making will be better understood. And the systems--not the people--will retain the corporate history, experience, and expertise. Workers will be better trained, more autonomous, and more transient. The work environment will be exciting and engaging. Leadership will be shared and rotated among team members, narrow job descriptions will be obsolete, and the ability to track who does what will link individual contribution more directly to compensation. INSET: Their future, our present.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]