The Leader - September/October 2008 - (Page 20) th e fu tu r e o f the W o rkp lace : W hat’ s Ne xt I s he re this, the workplace became a lonely and unsatisfying place because all the interactions in the market place were purely contractual. Social interactions were extremely limited, so the global trade union tackled this issue and focused on social networking, learning, reputationbuilding and income smoothing. It now provides a sense of identity for these workers. Despite great improvements in the free market, the increasingly complex marketplace is characterized by its vulnerability to certain illicit activities. The huge volume of international trade has given rise to an environment that could promote the proliferation of dangerous goods, dual use items and slave labor. It seems that opportunities are only presented to those who have access to all that is offered from the global market, exacerbating the gap between rich and poor. Europe has become a strong cut-throat trading bloc. The European economies have become more competitive and flexible. European businesses compete for high-value products and services, the best and brightest minds and managerial talent. However, due to mass consumerism throughout the EU, its societies are becoming fragmented more than ever, and political unification has been placed on the back-burner. The following major trends characterize the Jazz workplace and are listed as: n Networks become the workplace, where most of the tasks are performed by independent teams, which separate once the work is completed n The internet generation makes up the bulk of the work force n The workplace is an agile and adapt- n n n n n able work ecosystem that supports work anywhere, anytime and any way The use of facilities beyond normal working hours has become popular The smart house has become the new office as greater interconnectivity between home, car and office becomes available Smart agents and documents that “take action” on behalf of the worker have been developed for reducing/ eliminating low-value work The workplace has become more than an office. Increased remote working has led workers to use “Starbucks” type workspaces as well as new workspace community centers Organizational culture has become extremely difficult to maintain as social isolation becomes increasingly apparent through the increase in remote working Workspace design has adopted a public presence through the use of shared and mixed use space in the public domain. exteNDING project maNaGemeNt skIlls INto proGram maNaGemeNt management staff are leveraged across disciplines and geographies. In the past, a project manager might have simply managed design and buildout activities. In today’s context, that same project manager may be asked to lead a business unit into an emerging market from the infrastructure and support perspectives, providing seamless facilitation of all the moving parts and activities. These “program managers” leverage the same problem solving skills honed over time from project-to-project. By helping to retool these project managers into “program managers” with Six Sigma or other similar training, CRE/W can help establish a true center of excellence focused on program management of operational improvement activities. These “black belt” program managers can manage any number of operational improvement projects with the same rigor applied to managing cost, time and resources, as in the past. Scenario Two: Wise Counsels This scenario assumes global economic stability and an effort to attain environmental balance and social progress. Institutional improvements worldwide facilitate sustainable development. It is a world where collective, collaborative and consensual action is favored. Negotiation is the name of the game and policy making and decision making has become increasingly delegated and expert. Knowledge has become the key resource. The most important property is now intellectual property, not physical property. It is the hearts and minds of people, rather than traditional labor that are essential to growth and prosperity. It is a secure world in 2030, a shared responsibility. The greatest competition During the last decade, the emphasis within the CRE/W industry has become more strategic, through organization constructs, and better leveraging data and analytics. As transactional activities continue to be out-tasked or outsourced, retained employees with great project management skill-sets are often called on to “wear different hats” or manage more strategic activities. Of the surveyed companies, 72 percent of the respondents have project managers that are still limited to traditional roles of design and construction project management, while 19 percent of the project 2 0 0 8 th e le aDe r 20 septemBer / octoBer
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