Wharton Chapter 18 - Designing the Customized Workplace.

Chapter 18 addresses the issues of the "human capital"factor as it relates to emerging technology and how firms should attempt to balance them. Emerging technologies are surrounding in uncertainties and it's difficult for firms to keep and maintain the talent when it could be years for results to materialize. How do firms balance the people when projects are cancelled and employees are not needed without hurting the morale? Firms must also consider how they recreuit their talent -hire people out of high school and train them or hire older, more educated employees.

The workforce is driven by different motivators (time versus money) and how do these motivators impact the workforce of companies? Employees are becoming less loyal to companies after the fallout of the .com's and tech companies are looking for ways to balance the needs of the employee with the needs of the company. Employees are becoming more powerful with the knowledge that carry and firms worry about how this knowledge can walk out the door to a competitor in such a competitive industry.

There has been a great shift in the structure of organizations to become more flexible with employees by offering them trainings, benefits, bonuses, and mini-sabbaticals. These tactics haven't worked well so businesses are looking for ways to customize the workplace to "suit the needs of both customers and workers simultaneously". Employees now have the power to choose their direction in the company, choose their working schedule, and how to do their work when balanced with the goals and objetctives of the company. Employees should be managed as individuals and not as groups, have outlets to share information and responsibility for the firms situation, and be trusted.

This chapter analyzed the best things about working for a small, tightly-held company and applied it to larger, corporate firms. In smaller companies, employees have the flexibility, the voice and responsibility to share information about the firms situation, and to be trusted. In the following article, it illustrated that little tech firms can play ball with the big firms while offering the customized workspace http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/03/26/cloud-computing-utility-tech-intel-cx_ag_0326cloud.html.