Rating: 
Summary: A timely, provocative essay on the changing workforce
Review: The Future of Work provides a lucid, common sense analysis of the changing nature of work. This book will benefit not only MBA types but any senior level manager looking at how decentralization, smart client technology and global connectivity are shaping our present and future of work.
Rating:
Summary: A Communications Cost/Benefit Analysis of Organizations
Review: The title of this book is misleading. A more apt title would have been: The Future of Organizational Structure. If you really want to read about the future of work, I suggest you look for a different book.As an expert on communications costs and benefits, Professor Malone explores how the pros and cons of centralized hierarchies, loose hierarchies, democracies and free markets compare in producing better organizational results. The book abounds with examples, most of which were not new to me. The book's overall theme is that with the costs of communications plummeting and the value of the information communication increasing it is inevitable that organizations will decentralize more than ever . . . by employing hybrid forms of loose hierarchies, democracies and free markets for the same organization. The book ends up with a call to live your dreams that draws on decidedly nonmanagement sources of inspiration. The key idea is that organizations can live values that uplift everyone in them. If you would like a solid introduction into the forces that are influencing shifts towards decentralization, The Future of Work is a good theoretical overview. Professor Malone also points you to online resources for finding out about best practices in some of these areas. As a book for a practitioner, The Future of Work leaves a lot to be desired. Most will find it too abstract and theoretical to help them decide what changes to make in an organization. The book would have been vastly more valuable if it had focused on a few key areas of management performance (such as developing new business models, creating breakthrough new products, or bypassing competitor's established cost advantages) and described how best to apply the concepts in those contexts. I hope that Professor Malone will choose to do this in future books and articles. The writing leaves something to be desired. Although the book is brief, it has a startling number of repetitions of examples and references. I sometimes felt like I was being talked down to (as though I could not make the links for myself or remember the example that had been mentioned two chapters before). Much of the book also suffers from an over focus on the "economic human" rather than the "total human." For instance, there is little reference to psychology until quite late in the book. Any success with organizational structure has to take into account both the rational and emotional sides of those involved in the organization. But I am unaware of any better book on the theory behind this subject, so for the time being we should view this book as the gold standard . . . and thus worthy of five stars. I suspect that many people will find that rereading books about chaos theory as applied to organizations will have new meaning when viewed through Professor Malone's perspective. I encourage you to do some of that rereading after you tackle this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Communications Cost/Benefit Analysis of Organizations
Review: The title of this book is misleading. A more apt title would have been: The Future of Organizational Structure. If you really want to read about the future of work, I suggest you look for a different book. As an expert on communications costs and benefits, Professor Malone explores how the pros and cons of centralized hierarchies, loose hierarchies, democracies and free markets compare in producing better organizational results. The book abounds with examples, most of which were not new to me. The book's overall theme is that with the costs of communications plummeting and the value of the information communication increasing it is inevitable that organizations will decentralize more than ever . . . by employing hybrid forms of loose hierarchies, democracies and free markets for the same organization. The book ends up with a call to live your dreams that draws on decidedly nonmanagement sources of inspiration. The key idea is that organizations can live values that uplift everyone in them. If you would like a solid introduction into the forces that are influencing shifts towards decentralization, The Future of Work is a good theoretical overview. Professor Malone also points you to online resources for finding out about best practices in some of these areas. As a book for a practitioner, The Future of Work leaves a lot to be desired. Most will find it too abstract and theoretical to help them decide what changes to make in an organization. The book would have been vastly more valuable if it had focused on a few key areas of management performance (such as developing new business models, creating breakthrough new products, or bypassing competitor's established cost advantages) and described how best to apply the concepts in those contexts. I hope that Professor Malone will choose to do this in future books and articles. The writing leaves something to be desired. Although the book is brief, it has a startling number of repetitions of examples and references. I sometimes felt like I was being talked down to (as though I could not make the links for myself or remember the example that had been mentioned two chapters before). Much of the book also suffers from an over focus on the "economic human" rather than the "total human." For instance, there is little reference to psychology until quite late in the book. Any success with organizational structure has to take into account both the rational and emotional sides of those involved in the organization. But I am unaware of any better book on the theory behind this subject, so for the time being we should view this book as the gold standard . . . and thus worthy of five stars. I suspect that many people will find that rereading books about chaos theory as applied to organizations will have new meaning when viewed through Professor Malone's perspective. I encourage you to do some of that rereading after you tackle this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Future of work is Decentralized
Review: This is a great book written by Thomas W. Malone.. The book Discusses how a decentraled work environment will change the way we all work and the many benefits of a decentralized corporation. The book starts by going into the different types of decentralized corporations, like Loose Hierarchies where you still have a boss or someone who controls the final product, but you are empowered to make real decisions that effect you, your team and your organization. The second type is a Democracy which allows employees to vote and make decisions like who they will work with and who they will work for. The third type of decentralization is Market. This is where you utilize a market and asign projects or tasks based on pools of willing employees. Also employees can choose what to work on like they are shopping for the right project that they will enjoy and will fit with their talents. The last part of the book focuses on Management and how their role is changing from the command and control style that we use today to coordinate and cultivate. This means that managers should focus on coordinating projects and employees by ensuring that decentralized systems are used properly and that rules are followed. Managers should also cultivate their employees meaning they should discover and encourge positive potential and limit the harm caused by negative tendencies. Management should also focus on putting human values at the center of the organization. The key to how decentralization will work in organizations is through communication. Even blogs like this should be used to provide all employees with information and a way for employees to provide feedback. The better you communication the better decentralization will work for you. This is a great book and I recommend it to any one looking to improve employee satisfaction and have a successful organization
| 
