The Reorganization of Work
Title
The Reorganization of Work
Author
Heckscher, Charles
Research Area
Social Institutions
Topic
Work and the Economy
Abstract
In recent decades, the bureaucratic organization of work in stable hierarchies of “jobs” and “offices” has come under increasing fire, seen as unresponsive and resistant to innovation. Practice has turned to two major alternatives: freeing individual “stars” to take independent initiative and building cooperative teamwork. Academic research has lagged far behind practice, often stuck in narrow positivist frames that miss the systemic and evolving nature of these organizational shifts. The emerging paradigm is not yet clear, but it certainly involves major modifications of the Weberian principles of bureaucratic efficiency.