Work isn’t working

Posted by steve on April 23, 2010

Sometimes, when circumstances change, the situation calls for you to question the unquestionable. We are over six billion on the planet, one billion are starving and oil production has peaked. The financial system looks to be on the verge of collapse without increasing fossil fuel to keep it growing.

We need to create a positive vision for the future. And we need to take a hard look at that which has worked well for us up to now, but might be our undoing if we carry on too long.
We don’t question – or we rarely question – our attitude to work. Work is something we SHOULD do, it creates a public good and it is even in our religious beliefs that work is good for us. Well, we have come to the point where it needs to be re-evaluated. Let us face it: we, all of us, need to be contributing to a move to a sustainable future. And we need to stop contributing to a counter-sustainable future. However, we have to pay the rent. For the majority of us then, because we are told what to do by our employers (or customers)  – and because following instructions and wishes is often counter-sustainable – we get put between a rock and a hard place. Continue to cement counter-sustainability into the community or try to work for sustainable development and not get paid?
I intend to set out on a mission to find a vision of WORK 2.0 and to put it on this blog. It will be a vision of what work needs to be if we are to hand over a more sustainable future to coming generations. I will also explore what is wrong with WORK 1.O, just in case any of you are feeling a little too smug that business as usual is worth clinging to.
The first in the series is already published. You are welcome to contact me with your ideas, and please vote on the poll on the right hand side of this blog!

Work 2.0 Meeting the needs of the sustainable future

Posted by steve on April 19, 2010

Working together, groups of people can present a formidable force – so you had better be clear that you are headed in the right direction before you set off. As a manager organizing work you need to make strategic decisions about the capabilities of the organization. One of them is the level of resilience against external challenges verses operational efficiency. All networks, be they of living organs and cells, of living things, computers or other machines, can be described in terms of how resilient they are, and how effective they are. These two qualities are opposites of extremes by their nature.

Simply put, resilience describes an organization’s rebound capability, that is to say to what extent and with how much effort an organization can “bounce back” after a “knock” from the external environment. The better the ability to absorb various “knocks” the better the organization gets back to its intended state.

Plants show an amazing rebound capability. You can neglect to water them for a while, cut leaves off, etc and they are still capable of carrying on living. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »