TECHNOLOGY IS A MAJOR DISRUPTOR

Technology—particularly in the form of information technology and intelligent computing—will increasingly be a major disruptive force when it comes to how, when, and where work is done and how it should be managed. Many previously repetitive, tedious tasks have been taken over by technology, and virtually all organization communication has changed dramatically as a result of such advancements. They will continue to have a major impact on when, where, and how work is done as well as what work is done. Already many individuals can and do work anywhere, at any time and, in many cases, with anyone.

There is also little doubt that we are just at the beginning of the information technology revolution. What people do, and when, where, and how they do it, is going to change dramatically and continuously over the next decades. How their performance is monitored and measured is also sure to change.

Organizations are increasingly going to need to be able to quickly change what they do and how, when, where, and how well they do it, as well as deciding who will be responsible for doing it. And they will need to change as technology makes certain products and services obsolete as well as the means of producing them. Just as no one sits at a typewriter today and prepares letters, in the future it is very unlikely that people will sit at a personal computer and send e-mails. It is inevitable that, increasingly, manufacturing tasks will be done by smart machines and by companies that globally distribute production based not just on labor costs but also on the quality and nature of the workforce, infrastructure, and technology in other countries.

Technology is driving and enabling the economy and organizations to use an increasing number of part-time and freelance crowdsourced workers who do work that has traditionally been done by full-time employees. The app economy is upon us, and it creates the opportunity for organizations to use various types of employment relationships that are flexible, adaptable, and can be driven by their changing needs for both skilled and unskilled workers.

Technology is impacting where and how work is done, and we are just at the beginning of this revolution. People will increasingly have the ability and all the tools needed to do many kinds of work and to connect with others around the clock and year round—virtually anywhere in the world. A key issue is how organizations develop a workforce, and how they coordinate and evaluate the performance of individuals who are not necessarily colocated but can communicate quickly and easily with each other.

Advances in computer hardware, algorithms, and data analytics will increase the work that machines do and migrate many kinds of work from individuals to technology-based operations. Intelligent computers are now capable of learning, playing complex games, responding to customers, and performing complex medical diagnoses and even some surgeries. This is an area where the rate of change is likely to accelerate as digital assistants are able to provide an increasing number of services in response to voice commands and IBM Watson–type computer systems are developed. In addition, the Internet is creating a world in which machines can connect and perform in ways that once required humans. Three-dimensional printing is changing manufacturing, and virtual reality is changing entertainment.

The challenge for organizations is to find the optimal balance between human-and machine-controlled operations and decision making. It is unclear how the new technologies will affect the total number of jobs that exist, but one clear outcome is that there will be fewer and fewer simple repetitive tasks, less human monitoring needed, and less supervision performed by managers. Another result will be that an increasing number of employees in complex organizations will be “knowledge workers” of one kind or another. Others will be talent that will be asked to work anywhere, at any time, on complex assignments that involve developing new technology and programming it. And more and more knowledge work will be done by computers as they develop more analytic and decision-making capabilities.

The best estimates tell us that organizations are just at the beginning of the disruption caused by changes in how, where, when, and with whom people work. Technology is moving rapidly in terms of the capability it has to solve problems, process data, learn, manufacture products, monitor activities, and connect people. Global organizations are likely to be leaders in the use of technology to increase their effectiveness in the areas of cost control, product design, production, marketing, sales, and internal operations. In order to do this they will need to be leaders in changing how they manage talent.