The Future of Work

The Promise of the New Digital Work Society

Charles Grantham
McGraw-Hill, 2000 more...
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To keep your balance in a quickly shifting world, become your own gyroscope.
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Recommendation
Charles Grantham’s book examines rapid changes in the workplace in response to
new technologies. He looks at how these changes affect all of us personally and
explains how to prepare for the future. The book’s language is quite academic.
The average reader could find it difficult to read from beginning to end. Regular
readers of business books, on the other hand, may find that many of the ideas
sound familiar. This is because Grantham references more than 125 previously
published works. getAbstractrecommends this book to futurists and trend-
watchers, particularly those from a more academic background.

In this summary, you will learn

 What the future holds for workers
 How crises can foster cooperation in the workplace and community
 Why understanding change and accepting it will ease your transitions
 Take-Aways
 We are about to enter the era of crisis. In the next few years a major event will cause
a sudden shift in the way we view the world and each other.
 Teamwork is important in the new world of work.
 Becoming your own gyroscope is an internal guidance system for an effective
transformation to the new world.
 Creating a personal board of directors is an external guidance system for your
transition to the new world of work.
 The emerging form of work organization can be called the Hollywood Model.
 The workplace has moved from an individually focused, baseball-style model, to a
team focused basketball-style model.
 For the basketball-style model of work to succeed, all team members must
understand each other’s roles and agree on a strategy.
 If a technology decision does not satisfy the six guiding principles, abandon it.
 From 1993 to 1998, work moved to the age of virtuality.
 Be aware of the "seven steps of transition."

Forces creating change

Historical analysis of the time cycles shows that our culture goes through eras
that repeat every few decades. A set of four eras equals a cycle, which lasts about
80 to 100 years. The first era in a cycle is growth, which is followed by
maturation. The next era is unraveling, which is followed by destruction.

The growth era, also referred to as the high, is characterized by strengthening of

institutions and the rise of a new civic order. Great spiritual upheaval
accompanies maturation, the next era, which is referred to as the awakening. The
era of unraveling covers the time when institutions become weak, individuals
grow stronger, civic order starts to decay and a new value system emerges. The
final era is the crisis, marked by a rapid decay of old institutions and the birth of a
new order.

“Technology is driving our personal lives to become less individual and more
social.”
Right now, we are in the closing of the third era. The last decade has seen
numerous changes in the world, in our work and in our communities. We are in
the midst of transition. The old order is crumbling; a new, still unknown order is
emerging. We are about to enter the era of crisis. Expect a catalytic event in the
next few years. This event will cause a sudden shift in how we look at the world
 and each other. It could be a natural disaster, widespread warfare or even the
discovery of other life in the universe. This defining event will cause society to
mend the splits that have built up during past decades. Interest in community will
rebound. This resurgent, energized community will shape the new social agenda.

“Wetware is your brain. Wetware is your central nervous system. It is the

uniquely human power of thought and emotion that adds a dimension of
interactivity to hardware and software.”

What does it all mean?

The societal changes we are undergoing currently are referred to as "punctuated

equilibrium." That means these changes are not slow and incremental, but
significant and sudden. Business opportunities suddenly present themselves. New
businesses seem to be born overnight. In times of historic change, people fear
they are becoming separated from what they hold dear. Despite the liberating
effects of new technologies, this fear leads to a sense of loss. In response, some
people become nostalgic for the past. Some yearn for a return to conservative
values with solid moral grounds. But change still happens and you must adjust.

We are being pulled in the direction of more collaborative forms of work.

Historical forces, generational attitude shifts and new communication
technologies are destroying the old industrial model. Its hierarchical power
structure is fading, along with its great disparities in workers’ status. In the new
world of work, people come together voluntarily as workmates. They cooperate
based on common personal philosophies, social attitudes and shared behaviors.
Teamwork will be important in the new world of work. Leadership is essential.
Companies lacking courageous, effective leaders will suffer from confusion,
inaction and information overload. They will become less effective over time.

“Historical patterns and the evolution of our social and cultural values are
interacting to change the way we approach work.”

Road Map for Change

The following seven steps can help guide you through this transition.

“These forces are combining to create a new technology of work, a way of being
in the workplace that not only reflects the historical, social, cultural and
technology places we’ve been, but also is shaping the changes to come.”

 Step One: Initiation: This step is a time of assimilation. You feel the passage of
time, and become aware that something is lacking in your life. You might ask
yourself, "Why am I always so anxious?"
 Step Two: Involvement: Your focus moves from your world to yourself. This period
is highlighted by introspection.
 Step Three: Separation: The keyword for this step is service. During this period, you
give from within yourself to the community. You share what you know to build up
 the future potential of other people. This is a time to separate from old patterns. Set
your focus outside yourself.
 Step Four: Harmonization: This is the manifestation. You have become a vehicle for
the expression of creativity. You build on the base of old methods to create new
ways to act. You feel rejuvenated.
 Step Five: Insight: Receptivity is the quality highlighted here. Your focus returns to
the community. You open up and take from the outside. You trust that the universe
will bring you what you need. You feel relaxed and open because you know you are
committed to change.
 Step Six: Renunciation: Submission is the word that illustrates this step. You focus
on yourself as you let go of your ego. You move from selfishness to improving your
state of being.
 Step Seven: Completion: Your focus is on your world. This step is characterized by
the word purity. At this point you "wake up!" A spiritual awakening takes place as
you realize your part in the universe.

Making Your Transformation Effective

Do two things for yourself to help carry you through this necessary transitional
process. Become your own gyroscope and establish a personal board of directors.

“Changes in technology force us to get outside of ourselves and connect more

tightly with groups of people, with our work teams, and with our communities.”
Becoming your own gyroscope involves a shift in how you view the source of your
purpose. It is an internal guidance system. Your motivation and purpose should
come solely from within yourself. You still seek knowledge and other peoples’
opinions, but now they form only part of your motivation. Remember the most
powerful form of software is "wetware," that is, your brain and central nervous
system.

“This capacity to distribute work has the potential to reshape organizations by

redefining the fundamental nature of how work gets done.”
Your personal board of directors is made up of people you can go to for
information or guidance during your transitions. They should complement your
strengths and weaknesses. An ideal board would include people with varied
expertise: an ethical adviser, a financial expert, an educational adviser, a mentor
and a challenger. The challenger needs to be a very strong person who has your
best interests at heart but is not afraid to challenge your decisions. To develop
your board, go through your list of addresses. Talk to the candidates. Explain
what role you want them to play and what you expect. While it may seem odd at
first, you will find that most people feel honored that you selected them. Every
couple of years, review your board. Make any adjustments necessary to reflect
your evolving business environment.

The Hollywood Model of Work

The emerging form of work organization can be called the Hollywood Model. It is
named after Hollywood because the new media sector of the economy is the locus
of the most rapid changes and the most intense technology. The engines of
commerce in this sector are innovation and creativity.

“We are now entering the Internet-dominated age of work - what I’ve called the
new world of work.”
To see the Hollywood Model in action look at any large film production venture.
Typically, hundreds of individuals and small firms are involved in a single project
- usually a script. The leaders are the producers and directors who recruit talent
for on-screen and off-screen key roles. Although some of the people involved may
work together again on some other project, generally as soon as the project at
hand is completed, the virtual organization that created it disappears. More
industries are taking on Hollywood’s characteristics: high fixed costs, low variable
costs, need for highly specialized and scarce talent on demand, and the need for a
Steven Spielberg-type director to oversee and manage the creative process.

“Businesses must have in place a good, complete business plan before they
contemplate using the Internet as an adjunct to their operations.”

From Baseball, to Football and Now Basketball

You can also use a sports metaphor to understand the new forms of work
organization that have appeared during the last decade. The years from 1989 to
1992 formed the age of the teleworkers. Individual contributions were
emphasized, much as in baseball, where each team member has a specific job.
Individual responsibilities are employed in sequential order. In baseball, first the
pitcher throws, then the batter hits, then the fielder catches. It resembles a
manufacturing assembly line. This structure requires a lot of coordination among
workers, but the individuals in it must focus primarily on their specific tasks and
responsibilities.

From 1993 to 1998, work moved to the age of virtuality. Business worked through
cooperative project teams. Technology enabled this new pattern of conducting
business. E-mail, networked computers and new software allowed people to share
and access information when and where they needed it. In this structure,
individuals on project teams worked in tandem toward overall objectives. In
football, while individual effort is recognized, the emphasis is on the overall
performance of the group. Unlike the sequential action of baseball, in football,
many things happening simultaneously (quarterback drops back to throw,
offensive line blocks, wide receiver cuts down the field, tight end runs a decoy
route). For a team to succeed, everyone must follow a play book strategy.

“During this transition process...it is very difficult to travel the journey by

yourself with no road map, no compass, no guide.”
Since 1998, we have been in the age of Hollywood. An Olympic basketball team
provides the best parallel. Unlike pro teams, an Olympic team brings athletes
 together for a one-time event. Afterwards, the team disbands. In football and
baseball, individual roles and positions are strictly defined. Overlap is rare. But in
basketball, each player must be skilled in many different areas of offense and
defense. Play doesn’t stop very often, so players have very few opportunities to
reflect on the team’s performance and recalibrate. To succeed, everyone must
understand the interplay of all roles and positions. They must all agree on overall
strategy.

“In the future, maybe even today for some of us, it isn’t the organization that we
work for so much as it is the people whom we work with.”

Six Principles of Technology Design

Keep these guiding principles in mind when making any technology decisions.
Whether you are buying a personal computer, or a ball-point pen, review this list
to see if your design choice will satisfy these six conditions:

1. It must connect the elements of your social world: People within the work group
must be able to use the technology as a conduit for communication. Any technology
that restricts, inhibits, or disconnects people from each other is in violation of this
principle.

2. It must connect in space, across other systems: A systems must be able to maintain
a history of its operation and an avenue to project itself into the future. A
connection in space is a system that operates on a global scale across large
networks. Systems that are too small to connect to other entities violate this
principle. To adhere to it, systems must allow the use of historical data for analysis.
Ask yourself, "What do I need to do with this system?" and "Where are the people
who will use it?"

3. It must protect against decay: Components should be designed to resist the

tendency toward entropy. Remember, all systems tend to decay. Components of a
technology system must be constructed to guard against this tendency. Avoid
systems that encourage information cloning and automatic dispatch. These
functions can overload your system with replicated information. That would violate
this principle.

4. It must provide open access: Access to information networks, public or private,

should be an essential design principle. Metropolitan Area Networks and Electronic
Data Exchange mean that access is a critical feature of system design. That means
that this is an essential criteria.

5. It must be affordable: The cost must not be prohibitive. If people can’t afford a
system, they won’t buy it, no matter how well it works.

6. It must be aesthetically pleasing: The study of art and beauty is called aesthetics.
This design principle is subjective, but you can evaluate design for simplicity,
elegance and grace. People are drawn to aesthetic designs, and find them
 pleasurable to use. Two current examples of aesthetically pleasing, design elegance
are Apple Computer’s iMac and the new Volkswagen Beetle.

About the Author

Dr. Charles Grantham manages an extensive applied research program at the
Institute for the Study of Distributed Work. He has co-authored several textbooks and
appears regularly on national news broadcasts to discuss workplace trends and their
social ramifications.

Recommendation
Ideas about work are changing at a rapid pace, thanks to shifting attitudes,
behaviors, social trends and new technologies. Futurist Jacob Morgan explores the
factors influencing how people work and predicts what businesses need to do to
survive and thrive in the future. Writing in a clear, accessible voice, Morgan offers
guiding principles for business leaders who want to embrace change and stay
competitive. His ideas will help you rethink how your workplace functions and will
encourage you to challenge dated, traditional ideologies and
practices. getAbstract recommends his report to all those who want to help their
organizations become more innovative, flexible and aware of the future.

In this summary, you will learn

 What trends cause workplace change,
 What business practices are obsolete, and
 How businesses can thrive and compete amid social and technological change.

Take-Aways
 Several trends influence the future nature of work, including new technologies,
shifting attitudes about employment and the millennial workforce.
 Many employees aren’t happy at work.
 Today’s employees have different needs and desires than yesterday’s, including
flexible hours, feedback in real time, and more collaboration with managers and
peers.
 The freelance economy rapidly changes the dynamic between managers and
employees. Using freelancers lets firms take advantage of talent around the globe.
 Thanks to technology, people can work remotely with no loss of efficiency.
 By 2025, millennials will be more than half of the workforce. They often expect their
companies to share their values and to focus on sustainability and collaboration.
 Successful future businesses will embrace technologies that facilitate collaboration
and will create dynamic workplaces where employees can keep learning.
 Businesses should create and attract “intrapreneurs” who pursue innovation.
 Competitive businesses must respond quickly to changing trends.
 Successful businesses challenge the status quo and redefine what it means to work.

Trends Influencing the Workplace

The future workplace will reflect social and technological trends and evolving views
about what employment might mean. The factors that are affecting how people work
include:

 Social media and the Internet have changed how people behave in their professional
and personal lives. For example, people are more comfortable sharing information
about themselves online today than they shared offline in previous decades.
 New technologies drastically change work. As cloud-based technology improves,
workers will take tech-related decisions into their own hands. For instance, they may
choose which programs they’d like to use at work, rather than waiting for an IT
specialist to decide for them. Employers can access much more data about employees
and will have to determine how to use that data to their organizations’ advantage.
Managers may, for example, be able to use “people analytics” to help predict how
individuals will perform at their jobs. Increased connectivity will facilitate more
efficient collaboration within a workforce.
 By 2025, millennials will make up more than half of the workforce. This new
generation holds starkly different ideas about work than its predecessors. For
instance, many millennials expect companies they work for to share their values and
to focus on sustainability and collaboration.
 Thanks to technology, connection and mobility are growing exponentially. People
now can work remotely with no loss of efficiency.
 Improved transportation systems ease the way for business to recruit talent and
conduct business around the globe.

“Employees are not incompetent idiots. They are fully capable, smart, intelligent
and creative people. So why do we treat them like the former and not like the
latter?”

Problems in Today’s Workplace

Most companies fail to treat their employees like the smart, competent people they
are, and persist in giving them roles better suited for robots. Employee engagement
remains shockingly low in most workplaces. Only 13% of employees feel proud of
their companies and connected to their places of work.
 “The future employee wants to work for an organization that believes and invests in
sustainability and community development, corporate social responsibility, health
and wellness, employee happiness, ethical choices, and in making the world a better
place.”
Not surprisingly, many of today’s unengaged workers want to quit their jobs. More
than 40% of employees think often of quitting. Why are people so dissatisfied? While
some corporate attitudes about work and core values may be changing quickly, most
businesses fail to keep up. They rely on dated practices and management styles that
don’t reflect today’s realities.

Needs and Values

Future employees want to work in organizations that offer:

“The future organization simply cannot be as competitive without having more

women in senior leadership roles.”

 “Flexibility” – The traditional cubicle shift that runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. doesn’t
work for everyone. Employees expect flexible hours, the option to work from home,
and managers who focus on workers’ output and not on the time they spend at the
office.
 “Self-direction” – Staff members want to shape their own career paths, rather
than allowing managers and those above them to decide their future roles with
the organization.
 “Transparency” – Today’s employees are quick to share information about
themselves, and they expect to connect with their colleagues in the same way.
 Leadership roles – Companies should not reserve opportunities to lead just for
managers. Employees want to feel empowered.
 New forms of communication – Email won’t be the primary mode of
communication in the future workplace. Employees will rely on new collaborative
platforms.
 On-the-job learning – Because technology and social trends change so quickly,
you can’t expect future employees to be experts in every aspect of the business world.
Businesses need to create dynamic workplaces where employees can learn new skills
and familiarize themselves with new technologies.
 Peer-to-peer education – Collaborative social platforms will enable employees to
share knowledge and teach one another.

“The future of work doesn’t see the employee as a cog, a manager as a slave driver,
the organization as a gang and work as drudgery.”

The Freelance Economy

Organizations find it cheaper to hire freelancers than to work with full-time

employees. Freelancers are replacing traditional employees; more than 60% of
American companies plan to hire freelancers in the next year. This changes the
workplace drastically. Workers and businesses must learn to thrive in a “free agent
 economy,” where freelancers market their skills broadly and work with multiple
companies at the same time. Businesses can create project-specific work spaces.
Freelancers benefit a company, though not necessarily themselves. Contracting with
freelancers allows businesses to take advantage of talent around the globe.

New Roles for Managers

Management styles have remained virtually unchanged for the past 150 to 200 years.
Most companies use outdated management strategies. Employees today expect their
roles to be more fluid. They insist on increased communication with peers and
managers. The top-down approach to management decisions is obsolete. Modern
employees want to make decisions that traditional companies reserve for managers.
Give your workers access to information that they need to participate in decision
making.

“An organization can be relatively flat yet can create an ad hoc hierarchy to work
on a pro-ject or function and then disband.”
Annual reviews are dated. Employees expect more frequent feedback in real time,
thanks to improved communication technologies and social media platforms. Most
managers fail to give staff members the feedback they crave. Only about 5% of
employees report feeling satisfied with their professional reviews. Another dated
management tactic is focusing on inputs, such as how much time someone logs at
work, as opposed to outputs, or what employees produce. Smart businesses focus on
the quality of work and results, rather than the number of hours at a desk.

“In a completely autonomous and open environment where peers are evaluating
you, it’s easy to see which employees contribute and which ones don’t.”

Future Habits

To keep businesses competitive and innovative, managers must adapt to changing

times. Successful managers in the future will embrace the following habits:

 They choose to be leaders, inspiring people and making sacrifices to take care of
them.
 They serve employees’ needs, helping them become more effective team members.
 Managers stay abreast of tech trends and understand how technology can empower
their team.
 They don’t tell people what to do; they adopt their own policies.
 They don’t pretend to be strong all the time; they aren’t afraid to exhibit
vulnerability.
 They take advantage of workers’ “collective intelligence” to encourage innovation and
solve problems faster.
 They experiment with different management tactics. They adapt management styles
to reflect the changing needs of employees rather than sticking to a static template.
 They communicate with staff members in real time and give them steady feedback,
honoring them when they perform well. Staff members also provide frequent
feedback to managers.
 Successful managers understand that their staff members deserve a personal life. It
can be hard for employees to stop working when they leave the office, given that
managers can reach them via email, text and social media platforms.

“Work is an experience that is designed by both the organization and by all of the
employees who are participating in it.”

Getting Rid of Managers

The idea of getting rid of managers entirely is wildly untraditional and possibly
counterintuitive, but it helps some businesses thrive and foster innovation.
Successful companies without managers follow similar guiding principles: Workers
make big decisions as a group, such as whether to hire or fire certain people. Team
members often share decision making. Employees have freedom to choose to work
on projects that interest them. Workers propose new ideas for projects. Their group
can approve proposals that attract team members eager to work on them.

“Never before have we seen a point in time where virtually every single industry
was being disrupted.”
These organizations may lack managers and still have leaders. Some companies don’t
designate leaders. They allow people to assume leadership roles organically. In other
organizations, workers vote on which peer they’d nominate to take on leadership
responsibilities. Companies such as GitHub take a different approach by choosing a
“Primarily Responsible Person” to ensure that those working on certain projects
complete the necessary tasks. Organizations without managers give team members
freedom to work without someone supervising their every move. This grants workers
opportunities to experiment and explore new ideas. Having a manager-free, peer-run
organization is certainly not a model for every business. But it can facilitate
creativity, transparency and innovation.

New Technologies

Leverage new technologies, ranging from social task management platforms to video
conferencing tools, to facilitate collaboration among team members. Use
technologies to focus on the needs of individual workers, not just the corporation as a
whole.

“There’s been a lot of talk about how robots are taking jobs away from people, but
the reality is that people have been doing jobs that were designed for robots to
begin with.”
Smart application of technology helps employees navigate their day-to-day tasks
more efficiently, thus encouraging engagement. Empower individuals to use
communication technologies in their own ways. For instance, instead of insisting that
upper management approve every social media post that employees share on behalf
of the company, trust your people to interpret best-practice guidelines at their own
discretion.
“When it comes to the future of work, ‘late adopter’ is the same thing as ‘out of
business’.”
Leaders can ensure that employees embrace “collaborative platforms” by creating
inviting, supportive workplace environments and by using these platforms
themselves. Collaborative platforms can show valuable information about workers,
such as who’s submitting ideas and who engages most often online with colleagues.
Stay competitive by adapting to social and technological trends.

Thrive amid Rapid Change

How can businesses embrace workplace practices that reflect changing trends? For
one, managers shouldn’t rely upon traditional approaches because they worked in
the past. Leaders should question and challenge everything.

“Why aren’t there more people who get excited to wake up in the morning to go to
work?”
Create a special team and charge it with exploring what “the future of work” will look
like at your organization. Once you have a vision for your company, share that vision
with your employees and the public. Allow employees to experiment with new ideas.
Implement any changes – such as moving toward more flexible work rewards –
across the entire company, and commit to them.

“There has never been a greater opportunity…to take advantage of the changes we
are seeing in the world of work. But this can't be done without challenging
convention.
In successful businesses of the future, staff members’ work will have global impact,
but people will work on projects in smaller teams. Leaders will encourage members
of the staff to be “intrapreneurs,” generating innovative, entrepreneurial ideas within
their organization.

Large companies can take a cue from the efficiency of smaller, less-bureaucratic
companies and employ some of the tactics of a small organization, such as focusing
less on corporate hierarchies and more on swift decision making. Successful
businesses of the future will understand the value of innovative ideas fromt both
employees and customers. For instance, Starbucks launched the campaign “My
Starbucks Idea,” and invited employees to share their ideas with the organization.

In Star Trek, “Spock…didn’t say, ‘Live long and profit,’ he said, ‘Live long and
prosper’.”

Redefining Work

Successful businesses aren’t afraid to overturn the status quo and embrace
innovation as a regular practice. Leaders who craft positive workplace environments
with input from their employees will enjoy greater success.
 The leaders of firms that will survive in the future will understand that coming to
work should involve more than picking up a paycheck. They will appeal to staff
members’ wants and not only their basic needs. Businesses of the future will attract
employees who share their values, not just people who need jobs. Organizations will
retain staff members by providing personal and financial benefits – leaving workers
happier, more fulfilled and empowered.

About the Author

Futurist and keynote speaker Jacob Morgan co-founded the FOW community, a
network of business leaders who discuss future visions of the workplace. He contributes
to Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and other outlets.