Future of Work: The Promise of the New Digital Work Society (CommerceNet Press S.) - Hardcover

Grantham, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071348301 ISBN 13: 9780071348300

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US, 1999

Synopsis

According to Robert Walker, CIO of Hewlett-Packard, the notion of where a corporation starts and stops is going to be different in future. This volume paints a compelling portrait of how the new workplace that is already taking shape is creating a new framework for the way people think about, and act, at work. It draws on cutting-edge research of the Institute for the Study of Distributed Work, the leading international think tank on virtual workplaces and other trends in the workplace of tommorrow. For anyone interested in the sociology and psychology of the workplace, this text aims to help frame the questions that must be asked now. It explores how the modern moves toward the virtual corporation, the technological consolidation of traditional job functions, and the growth in part-time employment that continues to change the relationship between the workers and their jobs around the world.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Charles Grantham manages an extensive applied research program at the Institute for the Study of Distributed Work. Currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, he has previously held faculty positions at several universities. Formerly the Executive Director of Research and Development at a Regional Bell Operating Company, Dr. Grantham has coauthored several textbooks and appears regularly on national news broadcasts to discuss the social ramifications of new workplace trends.

From the Back Cover

"Technology can augment human function, but it isn't being used to augment humanity." Charles Grantham. How can you survive in a workplace that is rapidly changing because of revolutionary changes in technologies? What does it mean to you that network computing is becoming dominant and the familiar organizational structures and systems that flowed from mainframe computing are increasingly obsolete? How can you achieve a smooth, confident transition from the old, centralized work practices of the immediate past to the many new alternative ways of working, collaborating, and living that are necessary in a global community? The Future of Work is a no-nonsense, well-researched, and very shrewd guide to the "virtual workplace" of tomorrow. Charles Grantham, experienced business professional and academic, explains in detail how various technological development and related concepts are creating a surprising new technology of work. In this new work, he argues, it will be critically important to draw upon individual creativity and heightened communication potential to create networks of people that become viable communities. "The construction of social communities," he stresses, "bears a positive business benefit." Explaining such fascinating new ideas as "distributed work" and "telework," showing how his own research can help sustain the human dimension of the virtual workplace, and exploring such revolutionary possibilities as wearable computing and the physical integration of humans with technology, Dr. Grantham provides a pattern to the apparent chaos of accelerating technological change. The Future of Work is his prescription for success in the new era. His advice: "Take these changes and do something with them to make your life better."

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071348301
• ISBN 13: 9780071348300
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 239