- Marketplace change. Relentless competition. Offshore and US companies ferociously pursuing customers, marketshare, and margins. Competitive edge provided by low cost, process management, project management, and technology.
- Work change. Fundamentally changing work. Shift from ‘what’ was being done to ‘how’ work can best be maximized using people, processes, projects, and best practices.[i]
- Workplace change. Little job security. More contract work. Rise in outsourcing. Rise in incentive pay. Loss of middle management. Rise in self managed and directed teams. More mandatory and often uncompensated overtime. Rise of Brand U’
- Technology change. “Today’s Internet is a direct result of a torrid pace of improvement in recent years in computer networks, processing power, data storage, software, display technology and user interfaces like the Web browser.”[ii]
- Family change. Less family time. More uncertainty. Less cohesion. Less discretionary income and time. Two income families. Younger family members work.
- Personal change. Search for meaning and balance. More uncertainty. More individual change.
[i] Read, Ronald G. “The Engineer in Transition to Management,” IIE Solutions, September, 1996, pp. 18-23.
[ii] Lohr, Steve, “The Economy Transformed, Bit by Bit,” NY Times, December 20, 1999, p. C38.