January 1, 2000 - 2000 and Beyond The New Millenium is finally here!
What impact did the Y2K computer glitch have on life where you are? Did you or people you know stockpile food and water? Was it needed?
Did organizations prepare their computers adequately or are your lights still out? Did companies stockpile inventories anticipating disruptions in communications and transportation? Did your government pull people out of foreign embassies the way the United States did with personnel in Russia?
Even if there were no direct outcomes of Y2K there was an indirect cost. For example, fixing the Y2K bug in the United States was estimated to cost $365 for each person.
Assuming that you survived the new age and your computer still works and your Internet access provider is still functioning, letŐs consider the meaning of the next 100 years for the future of organizations.
Predictions for the New Millenium
20th Century management guru Peter Drucker thinks that in the 21st Century organizations as we know them will disappear. Drucker also thinks that the Internet and World Wide Web will not play as large a role in the 21st Century as many people predict. In his view, fish farming will prove to be the revolutionary idea for the 21st Century. Could he be right? Should you drop your current career plans and take out your fishing poles?
Web Exercise
To start, revisit the March 1, 1999 Monthly Web Update and take a look at the Web sites for Y2K in the various countries listed there. How do they assess the effort to cope with Y2K problems in their countries? Do they mention any secondary outcomes of the Y2K effort, for example, more extensive upgrading of technology than would have otherwise occurred?
More to the point, does the fact of the new millenium matter to organizations? If it does, what changes do you think will occur in the next five, ten or fifteen years in organizations? Or, if in your opinion, organizations remain basically the same as they are today, what will prevent them from changing?
An interesting Web Site is www.blowntobits.com that presents an overview of a new book that discusses the implications of the new economy and e-commerce for organizations. Another Web Site that discusses the future of organizations is http://ccs.mit.edu/21c
Based on information from these and other Web sites and your predictions, should you consider making changes to your career plans? Would it be wise to start a fish farm in you bathtub or would it be better to get as virtual as you can as soon as possible?
[ I N T E R N E T E X E R C I S E S | U P D A T E S | F E E D B A C K | S A L E S C A T A L O G U E ]
© 2002 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
A Pearson Education Company
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
Legal Statement