Ralph Stayer E verybody remembers the traditional covenant between American companies and their workers. For the next 30 years or so, remain loyal, work hard and climb the corporate ladder. In exchange, expect a paycheck, benefits and job security for life. Today, that compact seems as outmoded as a manual typewriter or a mimeograph machine. At a time when change is the only constant, few employers feel secure enough to offer an unwritten lifetime guarantee.
Fewer employees expect to get one.
To prosper in the 21st century, management gurus say, organizations and their employees need a new compact, based on the concept that the only certainty about the future is un certainty. While employees bear the ultimate burden of constantly upgrading those abilities, companies must share the responsibility for more than altruistic reasons. While there's little dispute that the old employer-worker relationship is dying out in most industries, there's little agreement about exactly what's evolving to replace it. Five years from now, it's going to be totally different. Meanwhile, not everyone finds the shift desirable.