Is work changing?

You are going to read an extract from a magazine article. Six paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each gap (41-46). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

 

Is work changing?

 

Cromford Mill, in the north of England, is now a museum, but when it was constructed in 1771, it was the site of one of the most influential workplace experiments ever seen. This was where textile entrepreneur Richard Arkwright set up shop. Cotton-spinning had been a cottage industry, but at Cromford Mili, spinners from all around came together to use machines provided by Arkwright. It was the world's first factory, and it was soon followed by many more.

 

41.-_____

 

There are good reasons why the model has flourished. Centralising production allowed for dramatically greater efficiency. And bosses - then as now suspicious that workers were not always working hard - could keep an eye on them.

 

42.-_____

 

Two of the biggest forces changing work and the nature of the company are technology and demographic shifts. Unskilled work still exists, as does highly skilled work , but the jobs in the middle have to a large extent been automated or outsourced away. Furthermore, technology has made the move to an economy based on knowledge, not skills, possible.

 

43.-_____

 

As a result of such changes, many of the old certainties are breaking down. You often hear it said that people used to work for money - very much a hangover from the Industrial Revolution, when work was viewed as a straight trade of time for money - but now it's claimed that we are more interested in having rewarding work.

 

44.-_____

 

In other words, what we mean by the workplace is changing - it's no longer always a grand (or otherwise) building with the company's name on topo Increasingly, we can work anywhere - in a coffee shop or at the kitchen table. The demand that employees work in more flexible ways is encouraging this trend, with workers (especially younger generations) no longer expecting to be chained to a desk from nine to five every day.

 

45.-_____

 

In a world of decentralised, non-hierarchical organisations, permanent full-time employment could become the exception. So will the firm of the future be made up of loose groupings of self-employed people, forming and re-forming on a project-by-project basis? Will workers effectively be their own chief executives, using technology to sell their skills to the highest bidder and with little attachment to a place of work, each other or the firms that employ them? It's tempting to think so, but reality is starting to interfere with this picture.

 

46.-_____

 

There is one particular reason why tomorrow might turn out to be not so different from today: human nature. We are social creatures and tend to be at our best in groups rather than operating alone. Work is where we bond, gossip, fight, love and hate - in short, it's where we live.

 

So the prospects for at least some of the familiar aspects of the old Arkwrightian corporate model may not be quite so bleak as painted. Yes, things are changing, but the advocates of the brave new, networked world should remember that work is not the only - or, arguably, even the most important - thing we do when we are at work.

 

A.-

In addition, we are all living longer and working for longer. In fact, in some countries there are now reckoned to be four or even five distinct generations making up the workforce.

 

B.-

For firms, this can seem a no-brainer - they save money on expensive office space while giving their employees a valuable and appreciated perk. It can be tough to implement, though video conferencing and private networks have improved things greatly.

 

C.-

But times are changing, and the pace and uncertainty of the modern world demand more flexibility and responsiveness than hierarchies like this can provide. Organisational structures need to be based on serving the customer rather than preserving the rank and status of managers.

 

D.-

This is true up to a point, but perhaps more significant is the erosion of the boundary between work and other parts of life - education, leisure, play; between me-in[1]work and me-in-my-own-time.

 

E.-

Above all, this format is popular because it works. Or rather, it worked, as, after over 200 years, some observers reckon that the end of employment as we have known it may be near. Are they right?

 

F.-

Of course, we are living in a time of disruption, change and novelty, but the fact is that there are also strong continuities with the pasto As a result, that unstructured form of work may remain a dream.

 

G.-

This groundbreaking idea has become the norm for millions of us to this day, whether we are architects or economists, agronomists or oculists, because modern offices are based on exactly the same principles. They are places where you go in order to work for specific hours, using facilities and equipment provided by your employer to do a job, for a wage.

 

O’Dell, Felicity (2015) Advanced Trainer. 2^nd edition. Reading and Use of English Part 7 Test 3. Cambridge University Press: Dubai. Pages 116 and 117.