The creative consulting firm PSFK has released a report about the future of work. One article immediately caught my eye: Getting By In A World Without Bosses. The article talks about how organisations are becoming more horizontal, particularly with the advent of the so-called digital generation on the work floor. This is a change that I’m waiting for and that I want to work on to make it happen.
I actually find it surprising how closed Europe seems this idea. Generally, our companies are quite rigidly structured. Even worse, public institutions ranks frequently still operate on the seniority principle. And worst of all, the governments hardly show signs of understanding something is changing. The government of the region of Flanders, for example, likes to portray itself as an innovative region. But their New Industrial Policy is based on new factories, typically vertically structured and imposed by management. They do have something about the workforce, too, but the idea is that education should produce the right profiles. That’s just more factory thinking right there: schools as a factory producing workers. They’re basically pushing all the wrong buttons. How many students that are actively building up their web presence and social network would still be interested in studying techniques for repetition afterwards ? Or would they look forward to being hired by somebody they never heard of, who then churns out commands with little room for discussion ?
No, it’s clear that employee emancipation is key in the following decades. There will be protests against the idea of having employees involved in decision making, just like there were arguments against the idea of having women participate in voting. But in the end, it looks like an unavoidable trend. It will bring competitive advantage to those companies who implement it first and shame to companies who implement it last. And in the end, people will look back, not understanding how it could ever have been different.
