The Power of Work Design: Unlocking Talent Across Generations - OECD Skills Summit 2026

Thank you for attending John Curtin Distinguished Professor Sharon Parker's keynote speech on 'The Power of Work Design: Unlocking Talent Across Generations' at the OECD Skills Summit 2026 in Istanbul.

You can download a copy of the presentation slides below.

For those who'd like to explore the ideas further, the full reference list can be found in the presentation slides. Below are selected resources from Professor Sharon Parker that were referenced during the keynote speech:

About work design

Parker, S. K. (2014). Beyond motivation: Job and work design for development, health, ambidexterity, and more. Annual review of psychology, 65, 661-691.
Parker, S. K., & Knight, C. (2024). The SMART model of work design: A higher order structure to help see the wood from the trees. Human Resource Management,63(2), 265-291. A practical version of this paper is here: Parker, S. K., & Knight, C. (2025). Design work to prevent burnout. MIT Sloan Management Review,66(2), 1-6.
Parker, S. K., Morgeson, F. P., & Johns, G. (2017). One hundred years of work design research: Looking back and looking forward. Journal of Applied Psychology,102(3), 403.
Parker, S. K., Knight, C., Klonek F., & Zhang, F. (2025). Transformative Work Design: Synthesis & New Directions. Part of the SIOP Organizational Frontiers Series. Oxford Uni. Press, New York. See also www.transformativeworkdesign.com

Work design, learning, and cognition

Parker, S. K., Ward, M. K., & Fisher, G. G. (2021). Can high-quality jobs help workers learn new tricks? A multidisciplinary review of work design for cognition. Academy of Management Annals,15(2), 406-454. A practical version of the paper can be found here: Parker, S. K., & Fisher, G. G. (2022). How well-designed work makes us smarter. MIT Sloan Management Review,63(3).

Ageing and Work Design

Andrei, D. M., Parker, S. K., Constantin, A., Baird, M., Iles, L., Petery, G., ... & Chen, S. (2019). Maximising potential: Findings from the mature workers in organisations survey (MWOS).Sydney: ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research.
Parker, S. K., & Andrei, D. M. (2020). Include, individualize, and integrate: Organizational meta-strategies for mature workers. Work, Aging and Retirement,6(1), 1-7.

AI and work design

Parker, S. K., & Grote, G. (2022). Automation, algorithms, and beyond: Why work design matters more than ever in a digital world. Applied psychology,71(4), 1171-1204.
Parker, S. K., Ballard, T., Billinghurst, M., Collins, C., Dollard, M., Griffin, M. A., ... & Walsh, T. (2025). Quality work in the future: New directions via a co-evolving sociotechnical systems perspective. Australian Journal of Management.
Parent-Rocheleau, X., & Parker, S. K. (2022). Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs. Human resource management review,32(3), 100838.

Policy and work design/work quality

Parker, S. K., & Jorritsma, K. (2021). Good work design for all: Multiple pathways to making a difference. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology,30(3), 456-468
Parker, S. K., Van den Broeck, A., & Holman, D. (2017). Work design influences: A synthesis of multilevel factors that affect the design of jobs. Academy of Mgt Annals,11(1), 267-308.