CASE STUDY: THE FUTURE OF WORK A team from PwC and the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization at the Said Business School in Oxford came together in

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$$to develop a series of scenarios for the future of people management. The result was three 'worlds of work', which provide a lens through which to examine how organizations might operate in the future. The forecasts are based on the results of a specially commissioned survey of

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$$people in China, India, Germany, the UK and the USA and a survey of almost

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$$HR professionals across the world. The report predicts that competing social, political, economic and technological forces are likely to result in three future scenarios or 'worlds of work'. They also suggest that most organizations are likely to be a mix of all three The orange world $-$ Small is beautiful in this scenario, specialization dominates the world economy. Companies begin to break down into collaborative networks of smaller organizations. The emphasis in the orange world is on maximizing flexibility while minimizing fixed costs. This is likely to take advantage of the rise of the portfolio career, hiring a diverse mix of people on an affordable, ad hoc basis. The blue world $-$ Corporate is king In this scenario, big company capitalism rules. Organizations continue to grow bigger and individual organizational preferences trump beliefs about social responsibility. Here the emphasis is on profit, growth and market leadership. Scale is the crucial differentiator in this world as it allows these mega$-$corporations to reach out across the globe and compete for talent and resources $-$ constantly innovating and keeping pace with customer demands.