The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization,
Your Management Style, and Your Life
By Thomas W. Malone
Harvard Business School Press March 2004
304 pages, $29.95
“For the first time in history, technologies will allow us to gain the economic benefits of large organizations, like economies of scale, and knowledge, without giving up the human benefits of small ones, such as freedom, creativity, motivation and flexibility,” writes Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Malone. As a result, he contends, we will move further and further away from command-and-control structures, past decentralization, to something that resembles full-time independent contractors—whether or not you work full-time for a company. He then explains how this structure can function best for all concerned.