The CMI's Future Forecast survey, based on the views of 1,337 managers and leaders, predicts the business landscape will look radically different in 2020.
More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents believe virtual businesses will be commonplace and 43% suggest community-based businesses will grow in number.
A third agree that by 2020 organisations will have become more employee-centric and a fifth also suggest that more ‘employee-owned' organisations will emerge.
More than half (54%) also think that, due to current disengagement with the political system, in 10 years global corporations will have more influence than governments.
Petra Wilton, director of policy and research at the CMI, says: "Looking ahead 10 years, it seems that business leaders have learned the harsh lessons of the recession. The insular, corporate approach, blamed by so many for the economic downturn, appears to be shifting towards a more inclusive style of leadership as employers accept the commercial benefits of building an engaged workforce and working across many partners.
"One of the major challenges we face as the UK emerges from recession is how to re-connect with the workforce. Now, at last there is acceptance that, for a high quality of working life, it doesn't matter so much what the business is, but how the people in that business, from the very top through to the bottom, behave.
"Successful organisations will be those that can do more than embrace this change - they will be the ones anticipating, identifying and driving it. Of course we cannot determine the future, but that does not mean we shouldn't prepare for it to ensure that organisations and teams are effective, capable and competitive."
