John Naisbitt’s 1982 Megatrends

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John Naisbitts 1982 Megatrends

• Industrial Society to Informational Society 60
  of Americans now work as programmers, teachers,
  clerks, secretaries, accountants, stock brokers,
  managers, insurance people, bureaucrats, lawyers,
  bankers, technicians, or in healthcare.
  Manufacturing too now has more information
  workers.
• Forced Technology to High-tech/High-touch the
  trend away from factory-like production systems
  to high technology robots, computers, and
  cutting edge automation requires a greater sense
  of self and closeness with others.
• National Economy to World Economy although were
  more likely to compare industries between
  nations, industries are becoming global. Example,
  automobiles share components made worldwide.
• Short-term to Long-term we are becoming more
  aware of the long term implications of short term
  fixes and strategies.
• Centralization to Decentralization best
  performing companies increase the autonomy of
  workers across organizations, at all levels in
  the hierarchy. Control is maintained through a
  nucleus of shared values (common culture).
• 6. Representative Democracy to Participatory
  Democracy People must be a part of the decisions
  affecting their lives. Employees assert their
  rights as citizens _at_ work

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• 7. Hierarchies to Networking this trends means a
  shift away from emphasis on the formal, vertical
  structure of reporting relationships toward a
  lateral, diagonal, and bottom-up style of
  management and interaction.
• Institutional Help to Self-help for decades
  institutions such as government, the medical
  establishment, and the school system were
  Americas buffers against reality the need for
  food, education, and healthcare. We are slowly
  weaning ourselves from our collective dependence,
  as we learn to trust ourselves and become more
  self-reliant.
• North to South An irreversible restructuring of
  America is rooted in 3 other Megatrends a.) the
  change from industrial to information, b.) the
  move from national to global, c.) the
  reorganization from a central to a decentralized
  society. In 1980 118M Americans lived in the
  South and West, and 108M in the North and East.
  In 1982, 17 House seats went South and 2/3 new
  jobs were created in the sunbelt. Of 18.4M new
  jobs created from 1968 to 1978 the North and
  Midwest got 6.1M and South and West got12.3M. At
  the same time the North lost jobs from
  Massachusetts to Minnesota now marred by vacant
  factories warehouses.
• Either/Or to Multiple Option Personal choices
  for postwar America remained limited through much
  of the 1960s. It was an era of Leave It to
  Beaver and Father Knows Best, men went to
  work, and women kept house and raised 2.4
  children. Phones were black, bath tubs and
  refrigerators were white, and checks were green.
  Ford or GMC vanilla or chocolate. Sometimes a
  3rd choice was added strawberry, Chrysler, NBC,
  ABC, or CBS. Homogenous tastes nurtured by mass
  markets and mass communication are being
  liberated by niche markets and decentralization.