Altman’s article for the Time online edition was written in 2009 which is already a five year leap backwards into the past. Facebook has since has had its tenth anniversary and ipads and mini tabs are regularly found in the small seemingly competent hands of children in kindergartens. Every day I see support for this statement but what does it mean?
“Work is going to be in the hands of a new generation with different values (Altman, 2009)”. Well I can appreciate this statement too and at some level it feels apt but again what does it mean? How? Can you share more insights with me? What skills will I need how do I future proof myself? What do I do with my organisation? How does my family fit? What are the skills of a next generation manager? How do we nurture in the higher education classroom leadership and team work skills and the entrepreneurial creativity required to create these types of organisations? How do we retain people and what changes are needed in our Human Resource practices? Today I must be in a questioning mood; maybe this is why I am driven to be involved in Future of Work research. Perhaps I am just being the quintessential academic answering a question with a question.
As I reach the bottom of my coffee cup I draw to a point that reaffirms my sense that my research focus of understanding how individuals and organisations successfully engage in virtual space together might assist with how we run successful organisations and that theses competencies might have some importance. What do you think? How will the world around you morph into the future and what will be your contribution?
warmly, Virginia
