Work is an important part of our lives and is essential to human societies. It takes many forms: paid employment, house chores, volunteering, or creative pursuits. It has been a major part of every human society from gathering natural resources by hand in hunter-gatherer groups to operating complex technologies in agricultural, industrial, and post-industrial societies. It can be physical or mental effort and is usually accomplished within an institution, whether a company, school, or organization.
But what is work, and when does it happen? If a girl pushes a truck but the truck never moves, then she has not done any work in the scientific sense of the word. The change in kinetic energy of the truck, measured in joules, would have to be very large for her to have done any work on it.
If a car is driving downhill, and the force of gravity pulls it at a constant rate, then the distance the vehicle travels will be greater than if rolling resistance or air drag were ignored. This is because these forces cause the object to decelerate and the frictional force between the road and the car causes the object to exert a smaller force against the road, so it moves less. This is not work in the scientific sense of the word; it does not transfer any energy.
On the other hand, if a man holds a 5.0 tonne girder stationary while his friend nailed it in place then he is doing work in the scientific sense of the word. This is because the resulting change in the kinetic energy of the girder is equal to the work done by the crane.
In fact, there are many examples of objects that are moving but do not do any work. For example, a cannonball fired into deep outer space could possibly keep on moving forever, but it does not do any work because the net change in kinetic energy is zero. The amount of energy needed to change an object’s kinetic energy depends on how long the force is applied and the direction of the displacement.
Redefining work is about more than just changing what people do or replacing routine tasks with robots. It requires cultivating and drawing on intrinsic human capabilities to enable workers to undertake new and different types of work for fundamentally different purposes. It will mean rethinking organizational structures, leadership and management practices, work environments, operations, and more. Redefining work will allow employees to focus on the unseen—imagining solutions for needs that haven’t yet emerged and seeking out fresh opportunities—to unlock the value of human work in new ways.
