"The Corporate Implications of Longer Lives" winner of MIT Sloan Management Review 2018 Beckhard Prize

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the editors of MIT Sloan Management Review announced that Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott are the winners of the 2018 Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize, awarded to the authors of the most outstanding MIT SMR article on planned change and organizational development published from fall 2016 to summer 2017.

The prize was awarded for the article entitled "The Corporate Implications of Longer Lives" from the Spring 2017 issue. Gratton is a Professor of Management Practice and Andrew Scott a Professor of Economics, both at London Business School.

In the prize-winning article the authors found that the traditional work-life stages, progressing from full-time education to full-time work to retirement, no longer apply to much of today's workforce. With longer life expectancies, men and women may want or need to be productive for longer, which will necessitate more (and different) life stages and continuous learning. Yet, as the authors point out, most corporations are out of sync with those needs.   

"Gratton and Scott brought a fresh and valuable perspective to a critical challenge facing organizations today," the judges found.  "The authors' conclusion that it's time for companies to rethink their HR practices to reflect the changing workforce has major implications for recruitment, retention, learning, training, compensation, promotions, and retirement."

In offering frameworks to address the phenomenon, the authors suggest that, rather than adhering to linear career models that emphasize the accumulation of financial assets, employers must incorporate intangible factors into the equation, including "productive" assets like skills and knowledge and "vitality" assets like health and work-life balance.

This year's panel of judges consisted of distinguished members of the MIT Sloan School of Management faculty: Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management John Van Maanen, adjunct professor of operations management Zeynep Ton, and retired senior lecturer Cyrus Gibson.

About Richard Beckhard and the Beckhard Prize

One of the founders and architects of the field of organizational development, Professor Richard Beckhard was a member of the MIT Sloan School of Management faculty for more than 20 years. A longtime friend of MIT Sloan Management Review, Beckhard was known for his efforts to help organizations function in a more humane and high-performing manner and to empower people to be agents of change.

About MIT Sloan Management Review

MIT Sloan Management Review leads the discourse among academic researchers, business executives and other influential thought leaders about advances in management practice, especially those shaped by technology, that are transforming how people lead and innovate. MIT SMR disseminates new management research and innovative ideas so that thoughtful executives can capitalize on the opportunities generated by rapid organizational, technological and societal change.

CONTACT: Deborah Gallagher, 1-617-253-3967, [email protected]

SOURCE MIT Sloan Management Review