Oxford Professor Makes Case for Reinventing Companies to Suit Workers’ Needs

If you want to create change in the workplace, start a conversation.

So says Theodore Zeldin, Oxford University historian, philosopher, author, management consultant and BBC radio personality.

The soft-spoken Zeldin might seem an unlikely expert on talk. But for the last three years, he has been conducting what he calls “human audits” of British workers across a spectrum of occupations and professions.

This work is part of a research project funded by the European Commission (the administrative arm of the European Union) to create a vision of work for the new millennium.

What has the good professor learned so far? The new economy doesn’t need more talk--it needs a whole new conversation.

Zeldin believes that most of us are working in jobs that make use of only 20% to 25% of our potential. So companies, he argues, need to be reinvented to allow us to do work that we will find enjoyable.

In an interview with Fast Company at Oxford’s St. Antony’s College, Zeldin got the new conversation rolling.

Question: What conversations should we be having about work?

Answer: The jobs that currently exist don’t correspond to the kind of human beings we’ve become. Our interests and our needs have become more diverse, and yet our education systems make us specialists. My question is not “How do we fit people to a career that will satisfy them?” but “How can we change the work they do so that it suits them?”

Take the hotel sector, which is stuck in a century-old model. Yes, hotels are places to sleep, but they are also places where foreigners meet. And since many people who work at hotels speak different languages too, why can’t hotels become cultural centers or language schools?

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Q: Why do you call it a “new conversation?”

A: Conversation creates a new kind of network within organizations. Current networks are used for competitive advantage, but conversation is focused on encouraging people to realize their potential. We are already seeing the creation of a new kind of network based on friendships: Start-ups, which are often founded by friends, are the beginning of something that could reshape social relations.

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Q: Aren’t we supposed to be enjoying our work more now?

A: We should abolish “work.” By that I mean abolishing the distinction between work and leisure, one of the greatest mistakes of the last century, one that enables employers to keep workers in lousy jobs by granting them some leisure time. We should strive to be employed in such a way that we don’t realize what we’re doing is work.

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Theodore Zeldin can be contacted at theodore.zeldin@sant.ox.ac.uk.

(c) 2000 Fast Company