Management Futures - The World in 2018

31 March 2008

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You may also wish to download Environmental scanning - Trends Affecting the World of Work in 2018 (Executive Summary)

The world of business has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. Markets, competitors and means of supply have become increasingly complex and technologically driven and are becoming more so every day. The management and leadership skills needed to survive today, let alone to prosper, are very different from those of a generation ago, and those skills are likely to change dramatically again over the next generation. More than ever before, business leaders need to equip themselves with a clear idea of what the future might hold and take action to ensure that they are as prepared as they can be for its challenges and opportunities. We can neither predict nor determine the future.

What we can do is see more of it and, with that vision, get a better grip on it. This study sets out to find out what the future of work and management looks like and examine how

businesses can prepare for it. It aims to identify the forces that will change and influence the world of work in 2018 and make a significant contribution to management thinking that will influence and shape business and policy decisions over the next decade. The future exists in our minds and information that indicates future developments is readily

available. However, we need to examine what we know methodically in order to understand what it means. This is what this study is about. Based on the perspectives of a broad range of business leaders, futurologists and academics and a close analysis of the trends affecting UK organisations, it investigates two fundamental issues:

• What will the world of work and management look like in 2018?
• What do we need to start doing to enable business leaders to deal with tomorrow?