Applied Organizational Studies—Friedman
Exercise
For this unit, you are to have read Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat (NY: Picador, 2007). Friedman’s book is important, not because he discovered something for the first time (he didn’t—almost all of his data come from other published sources) but because he realized that, taken together, they point to a game-changing shift in how people and social groups interact. And he gave it a catchy name.
So, here’s the assignment:
- Friedman lists 10 forces that changed the world since 1990. Briefly list and summarize each of them. Then add 4 more to the list, of your own invention, if forces in the Twentieth Century (name and describe each, and make a case for why they are game-changing).
- Friedman talks about the “triple convergence.” Briefly list and describe the three elements that had to come together to flatten the world.
- Look out to 2020. Write a “scenario” (a piece of fact-based fiction) describing how the sector of US business in which you are interested in working responded to the triple convergence, and how you personally positioned yourself to take advantage of those shifts and lead your part of the business to greater success.