Work is traditionally understood as a “job,” and workers as “jobholders.” Jobs are structured by titles, hierarchies, and qualifications. In Work without Jobs, the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau propose a radically new way of looking at work. They describe a new “work operating system” that deconstructs jobs into their component parts and reconstructs these components into more optimal combinations that reflect the skills and abilities of individual workers. In a new normal of rapidly accelerating automation, demands for organizational agility, efforts to increase diversity, and the emergence of alternative work arrangements, the old system based on jobs and jobholders is cumbersome and ungainly. Jesuthasan and Boudreau’s new system lays out a roadmap for the future of work.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives, Third Edition
The demand for organizational accountability has never been greater. The future of work, talent, and employment are changing at an unprecedented pace, and organizational decisions about how to invest in people are under increasing scrutiny. Leaders realize their decisions about human resources are crucial in an uncertain and interconnected world, yet decisions about people remain among the least systematic and evidence-based, compared to resources such as money and technology. Investing in People draws upon state-of-the art practice and research across disciplines including psychology, economics, accounting, and finance to provide HR professionals and leaders with proven guidelines for evaluating key HR initiatives.
Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach for Applying Automation to Work
Your organization has made the decision to adopt automation and artificial intelligence technologies. Now, you face difficult and stubborn questions about how to implement that decision: How, when, and where should we apply automation in our organization? Is it a stark choice between humans versus machines? How do we stay on top of these technological trends as work and automation continue to evolve?
Human Resource Excellence: An Assessment of Strategies and Trends
Tracing changes in a global sample of firms across the US, Europe, and Asia, this landmark volume by Ed Lawler and John Boudreau (Stanford University Press, 2018) provides an international benchmark against which to measure a company’s HR practice.
Lead the Work: Navigating a World Beyond Employment
A detailed look at the evolution of employment and its far-reaching implications Lead the Work (John W. Boudreau, Ravin Jesuthasan, David Creelman (Wiley, 2015) takes an incisive look at the evolving nature of work, and how it’s affecting management and productivity at the organizational level.
Global Trends in Human Resource Management: A Twenty-Year Analysis
Global Trends in Human Resource Management, the seventh report from CEO, provides the newest findings about what makes HR successful and how it can add value to organizations today. Edward E. Lawler III and John W. Boudreau conclude that HR is most powerful when it plays a strategic role, makes use of information technology, has tangible metrics and analytics, and integrates talent and business strategies.
Short Introduction to Strategic Human Resource Management
Reflecting an increasing uncertainty in global business, Cascio and Boudreau consider ways of dealing with risk in managing human capital. Numerous examples in every chapter illustrate key points with real business cases from around the world.
Effective Human Resource Management: A Global Analysis
Ed Lawler and John Boudreau measure how HR management is changing, paying particular attention to what creates a successful HR function–one that contributes to a strategic partnership and overall organizational effectiveness.
Transformative HR: How Great Companies Use Evidence-Based Change for Sustainable Advantage
Transformative HR (John W. Boudreau and Ravin Jesuthasan) demonstrates how some of the world’s most admired and prominent organizations are redefining HR leadership by using evidence-based change to inform human capital decisions that optimize efficiency, effectiveness and strategic impact.
The Chief HR Officer: Defining the New Role of Human Resource Leaders
Patrick M. Wright, John W. Boudreau, David A. Pace, Elizabeth “Libby” Sartain, Paul McKinnon, Richard L. Antoine, Editors (Jossey-Bass, 2011) The Chief HR Officer offers the most current thinking on the evolving role of the chief human resource officer (CHRO).
Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives, Second Edition
Investing in People introduces a breakthrough approach to Human Resources (HR) measurement that systematically aligns HR investments with organizational goals and helps make HR the true strategic partner it needs to be. Wayne F. Cascio and John W. Boudreau show exactly how to choose, implement, and use metrics to improve decision-making, optimize organizational effectiveness, and maximize the value of HR investments.
Retooling HR: Using Proven Business Tools to Make Better Decisions About Talent
With Retooling HR, John Boudreau reveals that the tools HR managers still need to create lasting strategic value don’t have to be invented from scratch.