Abstract

The American workplace of the twenty-first century is in the midst of a vast transformation not unlike the Industrial Revolution of the late nineteenth century. The United States has moved from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. This new era has been variously denominated the Technological Revolution, the Electronic Revolution, or the Digital Revolution. Thomas Friedman has described the transformative change as a flattening of the world. Historians will almost certainly have a name for this monumental change in the economy, which, of course, is affecting not only the United Sttttes but many other countries in the world as well. As for the new workplace, Professor Katherine Stone has described it as "boundaryless."

One of the hallmarks of this new workplace is the increasing use of electronic technology, the focus of the current symposium issue on the electronic workplace. The implications of this change are widespread and the articles included in this symposium reflect some of the areas in which the electronic revolution is affecting the workplace. While the changes have begun, they are not yet complete and we will continue to see dramatic impacts on the workplace in future years. This introduction will highlight some of the current effects on the workplace and put the articles in the symposium in the context of those changes.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Comments

Co-authored with L. Camille Hébert.

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