The future of work: A guide to a changing society

by Charles B. Handy

In this work, Charles Handy, author of "Gods and Management" and "Understanding Organizations" presents two scenarios for the future. In one, full-time employment remains essential to the economy, the individual's self-esteem and social life, and as a means of social control. The result? A bitterly divided society in which the top 30% of the population in formal employment forms a rich top layer. Poverty will increase, social instability will grow. In this scenario, Britain could veer towards becoming a police state. But the feature of this book is the positive and possible alternative scenario Handy presents. This is no less than a sweeping reform of education, pensions, taxation and the unions - and a psychological re-evaluation of what work means. His plans for progress and survival include a state subsistence wage for everyone over sixteen, a formal working life of only twenty-five years (from 25-50, for example), increased voluntary and community work, more free-lance work and a wider domestic life.

Genres: Business

201 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Charles Brian Handy was an Irish author and philosopher who specialised in organizational behavior and management. Among the ideas he advanced are the "portfolio career" and the "shamrock organization" (in which professional core workers, freelance workers and part-time/temporary routine workers each form one leaf of the "shamrock").
Handy was rated among the Thinkers 50, a private list of the most influential living management thinkers. In 2001, he was second on this list, behind Peter Drucker, and in 2005, he was tenth. When the Harvard Business Review had a special issue to mark the publication's 50th anniversary Handy, Peter Drucker, and Henry Mintzberg were asked to write special articles.
In July 2006, Handy was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Law by Trinity College Dublin.