Chapter 3: Chaos Out of Order: New Perspectives in Career Development in the Information Society

According to many futurists and scholars (Handy, 1994; Rifkin, 1995; Schram & Marshall, 1993; Toffler, 1980; and Toffler & Toffler, 1994), our culture is in a transition from an industrial society to a postindustrial society, or information society. According to Naisbitt (1982), the transformation from an industrial society to an information society is ultimately driven by the dramatic and pervasive forces of technological infusion in all sectors of the labor force, as well as increased global economic development and competition. According to Cascio (1995) and Wegman (1991), the effects of these forces will likely result in (a) changes in the structure of organizations from large, stable, vertically-integrated hierarchies to temporary, interconnected networks of specialized functions, (b) the reengineering of business processes, particularly in the areas of personnel selection, training, rewards, and incentives, (c) a shift from product orientation to customer-service orientation, and (d) a shorter length of job tenure.