Issue 1991
Interviews

Charles Handy: The Future of Work in a Changing World

Published October 27, 2006
Keywords
  • Charles Handy,
  • The Age of Unreason

Abstract

If you put a frog in a pot of cold water and slowly heat it, the frog adapts its body temperature to that of the water until at 100 degrees centigrade it boils alive. Charles Handy uses this story to illustrate the dangers for people who do not notice that the world is changing. People think they are clever at adapting to the changing world; however, according to Charles Handy, people must do more than just adapt to change. They must jump out of their changing world and take charge of it if they are not to be boiled alive while they sleep. Charles Handy is Visiting Professor at the London Business School, writer, teacher, and broadcaster. His 1989 book, The Age of Unreason is an argument in favour of discontinuous change as opposed to continuous change where the future is anticipated as more of the same, only better. In these times of discontinuous change, he believes that small changes, such as changes in the way work is organized, will make the biggest differences in our lives. He expects that in the future, people will have shorter and more careers, and they will do more part time work and volunteer work. More people will work independently in small businesses where they contract out their services to larger organizations. More workers, especially women, will work from their homes. With the move toward more self-employment and more work from the home and away from the organization, comes more choice and more responsibility, for both worker and employer. Individuals will have more freedom to shape work to fit the way they want to live instead of fitting life into a work schedule. But they also will have the freedom to do poor quality work, by cheating or by laziness. The organization will have more flexibility but can abuse that flexibility by exploiting the outsider, tightening its conditions, and reducing the rewards. Charles Handy explores the way in which the world of work is changing and what the thoughtful individual's choices and responsibilities should be.