Talent is king
So, companies will move away from the permanent staffing model because it results in them not being able to leverage the best talent.

It will happen also because talent will seek freedom -- the best experts may not want to be tied down to a single organisation. They will perennially want to go where their talent finds the best recognition.

And it will happen because, with accelerating talent shortages, organisations will increasingly need to go beyond traditional sources of talent. They will be willing to tap talent that may not be willing to work in full-time employment.

Does this mean that organisations as we know them will wither away? Not at all. There will still be a need for people with highly specialised, company-specific knowledge to formulate strategy, and to orchestrate talent in the above manner. These will still be done by full-time employees.

The cons
There are, of course, some barriers. One hurdle is that this mode of work needs teams to be formed with people who may be at physically remote locations. Even though technology may dissolve this hurdle to some extent, labour laws and contractual issues are unable to accommodate such flexible mode of work and will need to change.

And where the work involves actual parts fabrication or assembly, where workers often need specialised machinery to be productive, such a change will be difficult. So initially this change will primarily come about in "knowledge-based" work in the manufacturing or services industry.

And so, organisations will get leaner, with boundaries that are more porous and re-configurable. And while the organisation will not go away, the concept of employment will change.

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e-mail: Dr Vivek Kochikar

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