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Deconstructed jobs: what happens if the petrified hierarchical nature of companies is removed?

Experts in an emerging labour trend warn that, though it has benefits, there are also dangers to a less rigid, more skills-based approach

'Deconstructed' employees work on multiple assignments simultaneously across different parts of their organisation. Photograph: iStock

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Olive Keogh
Thu Feb 1 2024 - 10:00

Deconstruction is about breaking things into constituent parts in order to understand them better. Academics have been at it for years, it has become popular on TV cookery programmes (deconstructed cheesecake, anyone?) and now it’s trending in the workplace, where it’s seen as a way of combating growing skills shortages and staying ahead of the curve in a commercial environment that’s changing at breakneck speed.

Why anyone would want to deconstruct a perfectly formed cheesecake is open to question, and the idea of doing something similar to jobs is not going to sit well with traditionalists who like their cheesecake the right way up. Job deconstruction is a relatively new phenomenon but it’s here to stay, experts say, and organisations need to embrace it or risk getting left behind.

Job deconstruction essentially involves replacing conventional titles and descriptions with something more fluid. “Deconstructed” employees no longer work at one thing in one area of a business. They work on multiple assignments simultaneously across different parts of their organisation.

“In these emerging work structures, jobs are broken down into tasks and projects, which are then matched to the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees within the business,” says Prof David Collings, chairman of sustainable business at Trinity College Dublin business school.

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Unilever is one of the early adopters to the deconstruction model, as it believes “traditional employer-employee dynamics are no longer fit for either individuals or businesses”.

Its answer is U-Work, an initiative that aims to create a flexible workplace that, “values openness and adaptability, builds resilience, and elevates skills and performance”. Those participating in U-Work receive a monthly retainer and benefits, but they don’t have a fixed role within the business. They work on different assignments of different durations that the company says gives them the freedom and flexibility of contract roles but the security of a regular pay check.

Employees like the model because it adds variety to their working lives and allows them to broaden their skills base and manage their working hours better. Companies like it because it allows them to tap into in-house talent that can hit the ground running.

There’s a lot to be said for shaking up the status quo of ‘petrified’ jobs in hierarchical organisations, but we need to proceed with care

—  Prof David Collings

“There’s a lot to be said for shaking up the status quo of ‘petrified’ jobs in hierarchical organisations, but we need to proceed with care,” says Collings.

“Job deconstruction has real benefits, but only if implemented in a human-centred way. Taking away traditional structures is a big deal because so often our jobs are core to our identity. Jobs give us stability, boundaries and purpose, and it would be very challenging to suddenly have all of that taken away. It is also a challenge to ensure that people who effectively become like gig workers within a deconstructed environment still feel part of their organisation.”

Collings and his colleague, Prof Philip Rogiers of Esade business school in Spain, have recently co-authored a paper on job deconstruction, which was published earlier this year by the Academy of Management. Writing about the trend in Forbes magazine last December, Rogiers echoes Collings’s concern about the need to proceed thoughtfully.

“Replacing today’s jobs with on-demand project stints and improvised teams surging to meet the demands of businesses could lead to the ubiquitous marketisation of labour,” he says. “If not done right and for the right reasons, deconstructed jobs are likely to reduce individual job discretion and agency and take away the reference that we all use, to a significant degree, to define ourselves and others.

“This doesn’t mean that the status quo of outdated jobs and bureaucratic institutions has to remain unchanged, but it is worth considering how to fuse the best of both worlds: leveraging the flexibility and talent-matching potential of deconstructed jobs, while providing employees with the stability, security and purpose they gain from traditional jobs. The path towards the future of work lies in carefully changing job structures – not abruptly ending them,” says Prof Rogiers.

It’s an approach that requires a major change in mindset for managers as they will have to get used to the idea of sharing talent, not keeping it to themselves

—  Collings

To some extent job deconstruction, skills-first HR and the creation of internal talent marketplaces are similar in concept if not execution. What makes them different from what’s gone before is that rather than using qualifications and experience as the basis for selecting someone for a role, candidates are matched to assignments that play to their skills and talents.

“It’s an approach that requires a major change in mindset for managers as they will have to get used to the idea of sharing talent, not keeping it to themselves,” says Collings. “Employees will have a lot more agency over of the type of work they do, and this means some loss of control for managers, which may not sit easily.

“There is also the question of employee acceptance of the model if they perceive it to be more risky. Also, what happens if people choose to hang back? Do we end up with one group who are open to opportunity and progress in the business while those that decline to engage with the new structures are sidelined? Deconstruction is a significant shift and one that may need education and coaching to help people navigate its challenges.”

SMEs regularly feel left out when business and management gurus wax lyrical about emerging trends, as they often don’t have the resources to implement them. However, Prof Collings says deconstruction is one area where SMEs may actually have the edge as they’re generally less hierarchical in structure and employees are more used to pitching in wherever they’re needed.

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