I forwarded this privately to Gail Stewart, and after a little prompting thought perhaps it might not be too late to have it join the wider discourse..... -- Charles Brass Chairman Future of Work Foundation PO Box 122 Fairfield 3078 Australia Ph: 61 3 9459 0244 Fax: 613 9459 0344 The mission of the Future of Work Foundation is "to engage all Australians in creating a better future for work"
I'm sharing this interesting post from Bob McDaniel, [EMAIL PROTECTED], with his permission. Wednesday, January 17, 2001 12:02 AM Gail ... As you requested: "I hope we'll hang in for a bit and see if we can make something from our various contributions", here follow some thoughts inspired by your contribution: Megacorporations are increasingly virtual corporations. Almost by definition such virtual corporations have a flattened organizational structure, permeable boundaries and, while having a nominal national affiliation, in a practical sense are essentially placeless. The flattened organizational structure implies that individuals in one firm may interact directly with their counterparts in another firm - no more "going through channels". They may "compare notes" on matters of mutual interest, but short of divulging proprietary secrets. The forming by firms of "strategic alliances" can strengthen what may be a natural tendency. The now somewhat dated notion of the "Matrix Organization" is of some relevance here, too. There may emerge a return to a form of the mediaeval guild system: Individuals have a greater loyalty to their profession or trade than to the firms that issue their paycheques. Such guild-like organizations may have responsibilities similar to present-day unions and to firms that "lease" contingent workers. They may assume the role of care-takers (health, education, pension) as corporations abdicate this role. Such abdication may be forced on firms as we collectively as shareowners demand higher value shares thus forcing CEOs to cut costs to a bare minimum. The formation of some kind of "guild" may be our way of looking after ourselves. The wireless economy with its ubiquitous computing is enabling "contextual marketing" which proactively seeks out prospective customers at their time of need, and does not rely upon advertising and word-of-mouth to bring the customer to a firm's door or website. It is not hard to imagine this technology being applied to workers: Those with the requisite skillset are directly contacted by cell-phone, PDA, laptop or whatever may be the current personal communicating device. And, of course, such a market-place would be global, especially when the task is digitally-based. As suggested by Gail, such skills would include "caring and sharing and nurturing, researching, producing goods, writing, providing services -- in fact any of the activities of a healthy society, done willingly". As a system of micropayments for goods and services is perfected then we may have a viable way of remunerating individuals for the many and varied tasks they may undertake. Barter systems (LETS) may prove to be the precursors of such systems of micropayments. As training/education becomes more accessible electronically (the Internet in its more sophisticated incarnation) workers may master the art of learning how to learn and "learning on the job" may well approach a "just-in-time" task completion rate. Self-service has probably a still greater and more sophisticated role to play as the customer takes on an increasingly key part in the provision of services and manufacture of goods for him/herself. The customer is the worker, and vice versa: Toffler's "prosumer". Customers tap into the virtual firm's facilities and services to custom-design and make their requirements/wants. Bionomics and ecology (the ant colony, slime-mould, organic physiology, the brain, the "web of life") may prove to be a more valuable source of relevant insights than economics as we seek to understand the coherence and survival of billions of interacting objects. As quantitative change (in population, telematics, human interaction) triggers qualitative change reversals in age-old concerns may be expected. Bob Gail Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED]
