Conclusion: A Possible Future


The erosion of the old employment contract has been lamented by many because it delivered—the system distributed the benefits of the post-World War II economic boom broadly enough that a vast middle class gained a share in the American dream. Even as it was providing prosperity, though, many social critics noted that the system undermined individual initiative and the craft ethic (Reisman 1950; Mills 1953).

The new, more flexible employment system has left in its wake the disruptions of downsizing and the anxiety associated with contingent employment, but it has also played a role in reviving initiative and the craft mentality. In the mass production era, many workers' jobs involved the performance of simple, repetitive tasks. Job security and a chance at being promoted were the rewards offered to workers for their acceptance of assembly line or forms-filled-out-in-triplicate drudgery. The newly-flexible organizations of today increasingly depend on all workers using their judgment and intelligence to the fullest. Work in restructured corporations and startup firms, while less secure, has often proven more interesting and fulfilling than the typical job at a large firm in the 1950s and 1960s (Hammer 1999). In addition, to encourage a sense of accountability, firms operating under the new models increasingly grant workers a share in their financial success, through employee stock plans or profit-sharing.

The tradeoff for more interesting work and a shot at the upside has been greater risk. Workers now bear the brunt of their company's and the economy's misfortunes in ways they did not under the traditional system. The challenge is to create a buffer against the worst of the downside risk. This task initially appears daunting, since recent history suggests we must accept a tradeoff between innovation and engaging work accompanied by risk, on the one hand, or security accompanied by bureaucracy and drudgery, on the other.

In a different context, a similarly "inevitable" tradeoff existed a generation ago, among manufacturing engineers, who believed they had to choose between quality and low cost. Within the framework of traditional mass production techniques, this tradeoff was indeed all too real. But the quality movement showed that when the manufacturing problem was reframed, this seemingly inviolable tradeoff went away. Under new lean techniques, low cost and high quality could be achieved simultaneously, with major improvements in manufacturing productivity as the result (Womack et al. 1990).

The problems manufacturing engineers faced a generation ago were on a significantly smaller scale than those American society faces today in attempting to reconstruct its employment system. But the principles by which a solution might be found may not be so different. By combining nimble, quickly reconfigurable business organizations with stable, enduring guilds, the U.S. economy may be able to remain innovative and at the same time provide security, and even participation, for workers. If so, more Americans will be able to enjoy the very real economic benefits of twenty-first century business organizations.




Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century
Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century
ISBN: 026263273X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 214

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