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
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?
Optimizing Work Automation: Getting Past the Hype
Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau will present findings from their forthcoming book, Reinventing Jobs, with Harvard Business Press. They will describe a new set of tools to answer these daunting questions.
The Future of HR
John Boudreau and Ravin Jesuthasan will share their latest research, examples from companies, and next steps on the Future of HR. They will review cases and examples of what companies and CHRO’s are doing today to meet the changing demands of business.
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.
The Future of HR, 7/21/15
John Boudreau (CEO), Ian Ziskin (CEO), and Ravin Jesuthasan (Towers Watson) shared their latest research, examples from companies, and next steps on the Future of HR. They reviewed cases and examples of what companies and CHRO’s are doing today to meet the changing demands of business.
Business Partnership with Impact: Creating Strategic Change Through Transformative HR
John Boudreau, CEO Research Director and Professor, discussed findings from his forthcoming books, Transformative HR with Ravin Jesuthasan, and Effective HR: A Global Analysis with Ed Lawler.