Saturday, March 19, 2011

The Future of Work

In 1994 I was travelling to several countries visiting various banking groups to analyze how they engaged their employees in Total Quality Management practices. I happened to be in New York visiting (then) Chase Manhattan Bank, and while doing some weekend touring visited St. Peter's Cathedral. I was just about to leave and I happened to walk through their small bookstore and a book caught me eye - The Re-Invention of Work by Matthew Fox. I read this book cover to cover on the plane flight home. This weekend (in the middle of a snowstorm in Tahoe), I'm reading a similar book, The Future of Work by Thomas Malone. Absolutely intriguing to anyone interested in Employee Engagement, Organizational Change, employee participation and related topics. Here's a quote that refers to how new communication technologies, especially social networking, is allowing workers to assume far greater levels of decision making  than ever before:
"For the first time in history, it is now becoming economically feasible to give huge numbers of workers the information (and I would add influence and power) they need to make more choices (and decisions) themselves. Today, many more people in business can have the kinds of freedom that used to be common only in small organizations. And that can be very good news for productivity and for quality of life. When people make their own decisions, rather than follow orders, they often work harder and show more dedication and more creativity." 
That is so on the mark, its amazing. The question I always ask is why do we still have so much command and control bureaucracy that stifles worker innovation in large corporations today. This is a remarkable book - go onto Amazon and buy it.  
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51LGE-zqmBL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg