Managing External Contributors in Workforce Ecosystems


Book Description

Many executives are struggling to determine the extent to which they should integrate the management of employees and external contributors. The MIT SMR-Deloitte Future of the Workforce team looks at Cisco as a case example of one organization focused on a more strategic integration of its contingent workforce.




Workforce Ecosystems


Book Description

A pioneering guide to understanding and leading workforce ecosystems, which include not only traditional employees, contractors, and gig workers, but also partner and complementor organizations that work with companies to accomplish enterprise and individual goals. Who is your workforce? This was a simple question when most organizations focused on hiring full- and part-time employees, but now organizations engage with both internal and external collaborators including subcontractors, freelancers, app developers, marketplace sellers, and others. As technology enables new, more efficient forms of working, and roles become more project- and outcomes-based, workforces are evolving into workforce ecosystems requiring updated strategies, leadership, and management practices. Workforce Ecosystems by Elizabeth J. Altman, David Kiron, Jeff Schwartz, and Robin Jones is an essential research-driven framework for leading these complex, interconnected workforces. Drawing on case studies, worldwide surveys, and extensive interviews with C-suite executives and senior leaders from Amazon, IBM, Mayo Clinic, NASA, Nike, Roche, Unilever, the US Army, Walmart, and others, the authors explore what workforce ecosystems are and how to navigate their unique challenges and opportunities. Practical and field-tested, Workforce Ecosystems will prepare leaders to identify distinguishing characteristics of workforce ecosystems; take advantage of their increasing relevance as the world becomes more interconnected and technology-enabled; refine business strategies to incorporate them; focus leadership, management practices, and technologies to leverage them; and traverse the ethical, societal, and public policy considerations of workforce ecosystems.




Workforce Ecosystem Orchestration


Book Description

Companies increasingly consider external contributors to be a part of their workforce. But these work arrangements can introduce complex management challenges, given external workers’ relative autonomy and a lack of coordinated management of internal and external talent. The authors describe a framework they have developed, based on three years of research conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte, to help leaders manage — or orchestrate — these workforce ecosystems.




Workforce Ecosystems


Book Description

A pioneering guide to understanding and leading workforce ecosystems, which include not only traditional employees, contractors, and gig workers, but also partner and complementor organizations that work with companies to accomplish enterprise and individual goals. Who is your workforce? This was a simple question when most organizations focused on hiring full- and part-time employees, but now organizations engage with both internal and external collaborators including subcontractors, freelancers, app developers, marketplace sellers, and others. As technology enables new, more efficient forms of working, and roles become more project- and outcomes-based, workforces are evolving into workforce ecosystems requiring updated strategies, leadership, and management practices. Workforce Ecosystems by Elizabeth J. Altman, David Kiron, Jeff Schwartz, and Robin Jones is an essential research-driven framework for leading these complex, interconnected workforces. Drawing on case studies, worldwide surveys, and extensive interviews with C-suite executives and senior leaders from Amazon, IBM, Mayo Clinic, NASA, Nike, Roche, Unilever, the US Army, Walmart, and others, the authors explore what workforce ecosystems are and how to navigate their unique challenges and opportunities. Practical and field-tested, Workforce Ecosystems will prepare leaders to identify distinguishing characteristics of workforce ecosystems; take advantage of their increasing relevance as the world becomes more interconnected and technology-enabled; refine business strategies to incorporate them; focus leadership, management practices, and technologies to leverage them; and traverse the ethical, societal, and public policy considerations of workforce ecosystems.




The Future of Work Is Through Workforce Ecosystems


Book Description

Today's leaders are in need of best practices for dealing strategically and operationally with a distributed, diverse workforce that crosses internal and external boundaries. We contend that the best way to address the shift to managing all types of workers is through the lens of a workforce ecosystem -- a structure that consists of interdependent actors, from within the organization and beyond, working to pursue both individual and collective goals.




Handbook of Research on Strategic Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution


Book Description

This pioneering Handbook surveys the research landscape of strategic leadership in what is referred to as the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’: a fusion of technologies and systems which blurs the boundaries between the digital, physical and biological spheres.




An Exploration of Emergent Contributors Within IBM Collaborative Lifecycle Management Ecosystem


Book Description

Today, software ecosystems have become transparent, allowing users to submit issue reports and new feature requests to the development team. The more permeable boundaries of ecosystems provide an open culture paradigm where stakeholders, customers, developers and other user groups have the access to participate during all phases of requirement development. One example of this open culture in software ecosystems is found in work item discussions, which are aimed to improve how requirements are elicited, analyzed and validated. In this thesis, we investigate who participates in requirements discussions, identifying and focusing on emergent contributors; discussants that are not officially part of the development team or required to participate, but contribute to work item discussions. We report form a case study of online requirement discussion in IBM's collaborative lifecycle management. We find that external contributors emerge frequently during discussions and that they mediate the clarification of requirements. Our results indicate that it is important for emergent contributors to be involved early in the requirements process, otherwise there is a negative effect on the work items' progress. We discuss the implications of our findings for both practitioners and researchers with suggestions for future studies.




Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists


Book Description

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.




Enterprise Strategy for Blockchain


Book Description

How companies can gain strategic advantage by developing blockchain capabilities. Blockchain is far more than cryptocurrency. Regarded for a decade as complex and with limited application, blockchain has now matured to be on the verge of fully realizing its disruptive potential. In Enterprise Strategy for Blockchain, business strategy expert Ravi Sarathy shows how companies can gain competitive advantage by developing and deploying blockchain capabilities. Sarathy explains what makes blockchain unique, including its capacities to eliminate intermediaries, guard against hackers, decentralize, and protect privacy. Presenting examples drawn from such sectors as finance, supply chains, computer services, consumer products, and entertainment, he describes how executives can strategically assess blockchain’s applicability to their business. After outlining blockchain’s technological features—and its technological obstacles—Sarathy describes disruptive technologies already happening in the financial services market with the emergence of decentralized finance, or DeFi, arguing that a wave of innovation might be positioning DeFi as blockchain’s “killer app.” He also explores, among many other uses, a blockchain application that addresses chronic supply chain problems, pilot blockchain programs aimed at facilitating cross-border payments, and the use of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) that allow digital art to be collected and traded. And he outlines a path for organizations that includes establishing a business case for applying blockchain, evaluating enterprise cost-benefits, and preparing the organization to develop the requisite knowledge and people skills while overcoming resistance to change. Business leaders should invest, explore and experiment with blockchain now, positioning their organizations to be first in their fields, ahead of both rising startups and late-to-the game incumbent peers.




Open Innovation Ecosystems


Book Description

Sharing information and knowledge, co-innovating with clients, communities, and competitors and adopting cognitive technology, robo advisors, crowdfunding, and blockchain reflect current socio-economic behaviour. Emerging growth regions in Asia, demographic shifts, intergenerational wealth transfers and increasing regulations are other trends that amplify each other, disrupt the client journey, and affect the entire economy. Moreover, unprecedentedly, new market entrants outside the financial sector, be it Amazon, Apple, Google, or Facebook, are increasingly expanding their scale and scope to offer financial services. Featuring case studies of Chinese business ecosystems, such as Alibaba/Ant Financial, that have transformed from displaying domestic and organic growth to rapid global expansion, this highly readable book gives you glimpses of how banking services are evolving. We break down everything you need to know about the foray of challenger banks into the financial services. You learn how they link health to wealth data and gain advantages through analytical capabilities in the race to attract sophisticated clients with highly personalized experiences. The next level of creating and capturing value for clients and businesses involves platform models embedded in cross-sector ecosystems. Digital platforms are the crucial entry point to global markets, creating value for multiple sides. They leverage self-driving ecosystems that go beyond linear value chains applied in traditional business models as the sources of growth in an interconnected world are collaboration and network effects. The winners will be those who open up and engage themselves in an ecosystem that transcends organizational boundaries and performs without sector borders because every actor contributes to the value constellation of the system. The book provides practitioners and scholars with new insights into open and holistic business models, where competition in future will be between ecosystems rather than at the company level. It encourages leaders to expand their skills and think through the lens of the ecosystem theory while developing compelling strategies to serve the next-generation clients.