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| Almaden Institute |
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The Future of Work |
Abstract:
For the first time in human history, information technologies are now making
it possible for us to have the economic benefits of large organizations--like
economies of scale and knowledge--without giving up the human benefits of
small ones--like freedom, creativity, motivation, and flexibility. This
talk will describe how these benefits can be achieved in decentralized business
organizations such as loose hierarchies, democracies, and markets; how new
leadership skills will be needed in these new organizations; and how all
this freedom in business may help people get more of the things they want
in life. |
 Presentation [117Kb] |
Biography
Thomas W. Malone is the Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT
Sloan School of Management. He is also the founder and director of the MIT Center
for Coordination Science and was one of the two founding co-directors of the MIT
Initiative on "Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century."
Malone teaches classes on leadership and information technology, and his research
focuses on how new organizations can be designed to take advantage of the possibilities
provided by information technology. The past two decades of his research is
summarized in his book The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business
Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life (Harvard
Business School Press, 2004). Malone has also published over 50 articles, research
papers, and book chapters; he is an inventor with 11 patents; and he is the
co-editor of three books: Coordination Theory and Collaboration Technology
(Erlbaum, 2001), Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century (MIT
Press, 2003) and Organizing Business Knowledge: The MIT Process Handbook
(MIT Press, 2003).
He has been a cofounder of three software companies and has consulted and served
as a board member for a number of other organizations. His background includes
work as a research scientist at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a Ph.D.
from Stanford University, and degrees in applied mathematics, engineering, and
psychology.
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