There is another dimension to the future of work that greatly needs attention. Network technologies and architectures of participation represent a new mode of production for certain sorts of work and the implications are vast in how we consider the design of how work gets done.
I am working on a draft of a document that is about 50ish pages long tailored for DND and the CF but really exploring a concept that I call the last mile of the market (an allusion to the last mile of Internet connectivity) - that is bringing market principles of self-organization (pursuit of interest and the reflective capacity of a transparent carrier of information e.g. price mechanism, but also Web 2.0 media such as Wikis). A key component of the it what has been called the Long Tail. Douglass North defines an institution as the rules of a game thus organizations are the players in the game. In this way The Long Tail (enabled by network tech and architectures of participation) represents an emerging new institution with new rules by eradicating traditional transaction and coordination costs. My paper explores: Adam Smith notion of the market; Concepts of the organization-as-machine (where a job is a cog in the machine) that reduces labour to simply standardized component and thus ultimately wastes incalculable quantities of human capital; Concepts of organizational architecture - hierarchy, heterarchy and responsible autonomy; Concepts of complexity; Concepts of Mission Command (a military concept but pertinent to large organizations); Concepts of Human Capital; and finally Presents a modest concept for restructuring the organization through a restructure of person/job time - a type of new property rights whereby the individual can 'own' a % of the own time. I know this seems overly ambitious - it probably is, but if one takes all these together (as in the whole is more than the sum of its parts) - I think I am at least moving in the right direction. I would love to share this draft - in its current state of imperfection and would love any and all comment. I don't know if I can upload this document to the list, but will happily email it to anybody interested. Email is [EMAIL PROTECTED] Many thanks john John Verdon Sr. Strategic HR Analyst / Defence Scientist DSMPRA 2-2 Directorate Strategic Military Personnel Research and Analysis Department of National Defence 285 Coventry Road. Ottawa Ontario K1A 0K2 voice: 992-6246 FAX: 995-5785 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Searching for the pattern which connects.... and to know the difference that makes a difference" Sapare Aude Compassion is the natural condition of what one really is. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, 3, October, 2008 12:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Futurework Digest, Vol 59, Issue 3 Send Futurework mailing list submissions to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can reach the person managing the list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Futurework digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Has it gone quiet or has something gone wrong with mysub?? (Charles Brass) 2. Going down the tube? (Ed Weick) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 12:35:11 +1000 From: "Charles Brass" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Futurework] Has it gone quiet or has something gone wrong with mysub?? To: "'futurework'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Given: 1. the current economic situation, which seems to some people to be marking the end of market capitalism 2. the inextricable links between jobs and the economy (ie market capitalism) It seems to me we still have much work to do. How many people have read "Voyage from Yesteryear" a 1980s novel by science fiction writer James Hogan? He (along with many others) creates an artificial future environment which escapes the tyranny of points 1. And 2. above - but like almost everyone else, has no idea how we might get there from here. It seems to me that those on this list once used to focus on how we might get there from here. I have often described the five conventional solutions as: 1. Increase economic growth growth will create jobs growth will create wealth growth will allow a better social security safety net chief proponents: politicians and economists 2. Increase the scope of the 'marketplace' outsourcing of domestic activity has created every industry which exists at the moment, there are still 40% of household activities to outsource so the solution is to outsource these as well most visible proponent: Phil Ruthven of IBIS Business Services 3. Mandate a shorter working week the available work could be apportioned more fairly if some people didn't take more than their fair share chief proponents: The Shorter Working Time Network (global) French and Canadian Governments Trades' Unions 4. Increase Australia's commitment to training and development if Australian workers were better educated they would be better able to compete for the highest paid jobs (and Australian industry would be more internationally competitive) chief proponents: ANTA, ITABS and the billion dollar training industry 5. Deregulate the labour market remove restrictions on labour flexibility and industry will invest in Australia chief proponents: multi national corporations and it seems to me all five have been tried and failed. Can we come up with anything else? Charles Brass Chair futures foundation *www.futuresfoundation.org.au phone: 03 9459 0244 fax: 03 9459 0344 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Sent: Friday, 3 October 2008 12:41 AM To: M.Blackmore; futurework Subject: Re: [Futurework] Has it gone quiet or has something gone wrong with mysub?? As co-list owner I too noted the quiet on this list. We may have exhausted most of the issues around the future of work and working. But I may be wrong. Can any Fwers think of ways to resuscitate the discussion of the future of work and working...are there certain points we should focus on? Arthur -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of M.Blackmore Sent: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 5:06 PM To: futurework Subject: [Futurework] Has it gone quiet or has something gone wrong with mysub?? No messages since 4th september ... is it something my end not right, or just everyone got too depressed to write anything! _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 10:36:36 -0400 From: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Futurework] Going down the tube? To: "futurework" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" >From today's NY Times. Ed October 3, 2008, 8:48 am Jobs Report Underlines Economic Decline By David Leonhardt Updated 9:36 a.m. The government is out with more bad economic news this morning: The job market began to deteriorate even before the financial crisis reached a more serious stage two weeks ago. Employers cut 159,000 jobs in September, more than twice as many as in August or July, the Labor Department reported. It was the biggest monthly decline since 2003, when the economy was still losing jobs in the wake of the 2001 recession. Forecasters had been expecting a loss of about 100,000 jobs in September. The new number was especially worrisome because the government conducted its survey during the week of Sept. 8, before the credit crisis took a new turn for the worse on Sept. 17. ?The U.S. consumer is in major trouble, with wage and salary income growth evaporating, credit extremely tight or unavailable, home prices continuing to decline, and food and energy costs consuming a large share of household budgets,? said Joshua Shapiro, an economist at MFR, a research firm in New York. ?Whatever the government might or might not do to try to bail out the financial system, a consumer-led recession is upon us, and it promises to be a serious one.? More at *http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/jobs-report-underlines-eco nomic-decline/?hp . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/private/futurework/attachments/200810 03/d4f46a84/attachment-0001.html ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework End of Futurework Digest, Vol 59, Issue 3 ***************************************** _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
