University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Redesigning Work
Book

Redesigning Work

How to Transform Your Organization and Make Hybrid Work for Everyone

Lynda Gratton
MIT Press, 2022
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Organizational theorist Lynda Gratton argues the COVID-19 pandemic created a golden opportunity for organizations to reimagine work, improve employees’ lives and boost both retention and business performance. Along with a four-stage process to redesign work, Gratton offers a multitude of practical insights and illuminating examples. Gratton’s intelligent, timely book will help leaders make sense of the new world of work and guide their organizations forward amid multifaceted change.

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked the greatest shift in the work world in living memory.

The need for change in the workplace existed before COVID-19, and the pandemic accelerated the pace of change. Leaders at many organizations had realized that automation and shifts in society were demanding new ways of working – the need seemed particularly clear with regard to reskilling employees at speed, fielding more diverse workforces and providing more flexible work options. However, in terms of their structure, processes, culture and practices, organizations tend to operate on autopilot. This “frozen” state typically thaws only in the face of an external threat. Change may happen in response to that threat, but then organizations “refreeze.”

When the pandemic struck, companies across much of the world unfroze simultaneously and began to transform rapidly. Firms began to offer alternative work arrangements such as remote work and compressed work weeks. People inside companies applied their collective imagination to create organizational change, and a collective journey began. In the wake of the pandemic crisis, leaders have the...

About the Author

Lynda Gratton is a British organizational theorist and consultant known for her work on organizational behavior and the future of work. She teaches management practice at London Business School and is the founder of HSM Advisory.

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