One of the most notable omissions from current thinking on the future of our workplace is history. For some reason-probably the difficulty of fitting it into the requirements of the market economy-the topic plays an almost negligible role In most brochures-cum-studIes by major parties of the consulting world. One or two contain an obligatory mention of Iconic office projects by Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, and the like.’ Most others relegate history to a “siloed legacy” that should be overcome technocratically. Collectively their narratives. drenched In management speak, read like social-realist poetry: we used to be slaves, we became laborers, we are now networkers, and soon we will be free-floating end· less collaborators. And since every concrete answer means less business for consultants, these studies are littered with self-interested clichés and vague announcements of an uncertain future.
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