My argument is that, though participatory decision-making processes have been around and growing for quite some time, they have remained just beyond the mainstream. Over the past several decades, however, a web of technological, economic, and socio-demographic forces of social change have been busy laying the groundwork upon which participatory structures and processes can feasibly thrive.

Now, the confluence of these social forces is triggering a structural adjustment that will remove the incongruity between the organizational decision-making structures that are currently predominant and the new underlying structural conditions—thus ushering in the era of Participatory Society.

A necessary consequence will be the devolution of power to a broader and broader group of stakeholders, thus widening and deepening the organizational "selectorate." The challenges for public, private and nonprofit management, not to mention society at large, will be significant; a critical challenge for management and liberal education programs will be to prepare graduates to lead and succeed in this participatory environment.