Research and Insights Archive

Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations

Work without Jobs: How to Reboot Your Organization’s Work Operating System (Management on the Cutting Edge)

Work without Jobs: How to Reboot Your Organization’s Work Operating System (Management on the Cutting Edge)

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.

Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives, Third Edition

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

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?

Lead the Work: Navigating a World Beyond Employment

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: 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.

Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives, Second Edition

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.