The Changing Nature of Work and Its Challenges

Abstract

We begin this chapter by reviewing the changing nature of work, and use this as the context for the chapter that follows, to better understand how well traditional notions of work and well-being capture and express this changing landscape. We look first at how global competition and internationalization, advances in technology, and a more diverse work­force have led to an emphasis on higher value-added services and a “weightless economy” (Coyle and Quah 2002). We follow this discus­sion on the changing landscape of work by exploring: new challenges facing management practices, and the values and ideology that sur­rounds them (Ghoshal 2005), whether organizational research needs to become more relevant (Dutton and Glynn 2008), the changing nature of leadership (Podolny et al. 2005), the links between positive psychol­ogy, business ethics, and corporate responsibility (Giacalone et al. 2005), and the role and significance of Human Resource Management as the agent for organizational integrity, trust and authenticity (Sears 2010).