10 The Loose Coupling of Jobs The Subcontracting of Everyone? Nancy DiTomaso There are many changes under way in organizations and employment that pro- foundly affect the nature of society. Organizations are said to be increasingly knowledge-based (i.e., populated by highly educated and technically trained workers; Drucker, 1988), boundaryless (i.e., open and permeable; Hirschhorn and Gilmore 1992), interconnected (via partnerships, alliances, and networks; Hamel, Doz, and Prahalad 1989; Johnston and Lawrence 1988; Kanter 1989), engaged in customized production (the flexible organization; Piore and Sabel 1984), both global and diverse (Ohmae 1995; Reich 1991), and subject to continuous discon- tinuous change (Limerick and Cunnington 1993). In other words, organizational hierarchy is being dismantled and decoupled- "de-differentiated" according to Clegg (1990; see also Heckscher 1995). Furthermore, global enterprise webs spill out of formal organizational boundaries (Granovetter 1985; Miles and Snow 1986; Orton and Weick 1990; Reich 1991), creating new issues regarding accountability and evaluation. Limerick and Cunnington (1993) call this the "new" organization. The evolution of knowledge-based organizations populated with "knowledge" workers implies a transformation of what has come to be called the "employment relationship" (i.e., the nature of the connection between employers and em- ployees). Some have portrayed these changes as revolutionary in their impact on employers, employees, and society (e.g., Reich 1991), but the long-term implica- tions are yet to be fully understood. When the term "knowledge" worker is used, many people think of educational attainment, but this would be a misunderstanding. Formal education in years is only part of knowledge work. In addition, knowledge includes other types of learning; Nancy DiTomaso • Department of Organization Management, Rutgers UniverSity, Newark, New Jersey 07102. Sourcebook of Labor Markets: Evolving Structures and Processes, edited by Ivar Berg and Arne L. Kalleberg. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 2001. 247