1] Work will be reframed because of fundamental change in the value of human outputs. C20th work was based on mass production principles of "value adding". What you did on the assembly line "added value" to what was done downline from you. Then the Internet moved this mass production model online and this system received a major boost from a new age version of interconnectedness [see photo]. However... the arrival of digital networks changed that steady progression of "value adding" chains. This happened because digital networking is fundamentally not sequential - encode, send, receive - it is a scramble - divide into packages, find best parthways, reassemble the total package - and so this is not a mass production model. The new imperative for C21st work is that it produce "use value".
2] Workplace is an old term that must now be replaced with the notion of workspace. The question is simple: "is your workspace shared?" If so who is producing the "use value" that pays the bills and keeps the lights on. The second question is also simple: "do customers share this space with workers?" If the answer is "yes" then the focus must be on the "user interfaces" not on the worker or the customer per se. Thus the connection between the worker and the customer must be friendly, swift, valued, and replicable. Under this new schema [workers and customers are constantly linked in digital space] labour productivity is either improve or eroded by the efficacy of interface between worker and customer or between worker and "use value" provider. In the C21st workspace the issues of worker retention, rewards, hours, etc will focus on who provide "use value" and who does not.
Richard.
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