21st Century Management

Management has been around since the dawn of civilization. In primitive societies almost everyone had to do physical labor. To escape this burden, about the only choices were going into politics (kings) or religion (priests). Civilized urban societies led to more specialization, created new vocational alternatives to manual labor, and saw a tendency of those who did not work with their hands to look down on those who did. This particular attitude was fostered by scribes, who used their knowledge of writing to produce literature that mocked the illiterate laboring classes. When we read that the Pharaoh build the Pyramids, we know that in fact that actual work was done by other people. As these laborers cut, moved, and placed the stones, the first managers were there to tell them what to do, to see that they did it, and to chastise those whose performance was unsatisfactory. Basically, these were the functions of managers until the twentieth century. The apogee of this form of management was perhaps reached in late nineteenth in the factory system. One can still visit the Boott Cotton Mills Museum of in Lowell, Massachusetts to see how work and management were organized then. The Lowell mills were famous because instead of relying on immigrants, they also recruited, hired, and provided dormitories for middle class young women, selling the idea that employment and the money it brought were socially acceptable and increased their marital prospects. Today one can still read the work rules that these women had to follow. One stated that only short sleeve dresses were permitted. This was because when the mill managers saw employees talking instead of working, they would strike them in the arm with a rattan. Long-sleeved dresses impeded the effectiveness of this form of disciplinary action. The "hit them with a whip" school of management suffered a decline and fall in the 20th century, though remnants still exist in various places in the world and the wish for such methods still is expressed now and then even by contemporary managers. Other methods of managing workers received classical expression in Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management in 1911. Taylorism led to new management tools involving such techniques as measurement and statistics. What might be called the "efficiency expert" school of management was for the most part supplanted around the 1960s by a more "humanistic" approach, whose classical exponent was the psychologist Abraham Maslow. The changes in management thinking in this decade reflected the more educated workforce and greater respect for democracy that grew out of World War II. In the 1970s Robert Greenleaf invented Servant Leadership, and in the 1990s Peter Block carried this concept forward to Stewardship. These ideas revolutionized the mental model for managers by suggesting that they replace thinking about how to get people to do things with thinking about to help people do things. Best practice management concepts in the late 20th century also included excellence and total quality management, reengineering, systems thinking, cross functional teams, empowerment, delayering and flat organization charts, learning organization, dialogue, reinventing work, and diversity. As knowledge in general increased with "Internet speed," management thought, already heavily influenced by psychological sciences, received infusions from numerous disciplines. Moreover, cross-fertilization between academia and the business community created a vast increase in management related research activity.

Some of these trends such as TQM and reengineering - seemed by 2000 to have run their course. The permanent value of the new thinking underlying them, however, should not be denied; and 21st century versions of these movements should actually be welcomed. Others trends such as learning and diversity progressed to the point where "second generation" (learning organization) or "new" (diversity) versions appeared. In the early 21st century, it was even easy to see the development of a "third wave" in these wellestablished concepts. Just as the 21st century has seen new types of organizations and new ways of doing business arise, so, too, will there be new management trends, ideas, and techniques. While running after every trendy idea is hardly a recommendable strategy, the wise manager will learn, study, and apply the best current thinking. At the start of the 21st century, the following rate to be the most important ideas regarding management: Management is for everyone. As educational levels rise and information technology accelerates, the distinction between "managers" and "workers" will fade away and management knowledge will be everyone's responsibility. Management is for learners. As information becomes the chief product of every business and as knowledge continues to explode, everyone will be a learner and the manager's foremost task will to promote learning. Management is based on communicating. As techniques for planning, strategizing, decision-making, and problem solving become the common province of everyone in the organization, the need for improving communication will be paramount and managers will be increasingly using dialogue and other communication tools. Management is about change. As technology and information reshape all our lives, change management will be "business as usual" and managers will be change agents who guide everyone to find and embrace the best new practices. Management is broad based. As boundaries disappear within organizations and in the world at large, the scope of management will grow and managers will be organizational development experts, diversity experts, facilitation experts, consultation experts and much else.

http://www.manage2001.com/21m.htm

Three Skills Every 21st-Century Manager Needs

by Andrew L. Molinsky, Thomas H. Davenport, Bala Iyer, and Cathy Davidson

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The world of work has changed dramatically over the past decade. Companies are more global and employee groups more diverse than ever before. Organizational structures are less hierarchical and more collaborative. And todays networked offices are full of technological distractions that would have been unimaginable to the 20th-century manager. We asked experts in cross-cultural communication, information networks, and the science of attention what specific skills executives should cultivate to tackle these new challenges. Here are their answers. Skill 1: Code Switching Between Cultures To work well with foreign colleagues, you may have to risk feeling inauthentic and incompetent. by Andrew L. Molinsky Marco, the Italian COO of a technology company in Mumbai, cant motivate his Indian employees. Anat, an Israeli management consultant working in the United States, struggles to give American style feedback. Seungwoo, the CEO of a Korean software firm with a new Shanghai office, has trouble retaining Chinese staffers. All three of these executives should be successful in their respective cross-cultural contexts. They all have what Mansour Javidan, of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, calls a global mind-set: They are seasoned managers who appreciate diversity and have international work experience. They also have specific cultural intelligence: Marco knows that Indian workers are accustomed to leaders who are more authoritarian than those in Italy; Anat knows that most Americans prefer criticism couched in kindness over the blunt feedback she might ordinarily give; and Seungwoo knows that Chinese bosses tend to be more paternalistic than Korean ones. These three leaders are motivated to use this knowledge; in fact, their professional success depends on it. So whats holding them back? Ive spent the past 10 years studying hundreds of savvy business professionals who were thrust into unfamiliar cultures or who work with foreign

colleagues, and I believe that what Marco, Anat, and Seungwoo lack is a very specific skill I call cultural code-switchingthe ability to modify behavior in specific situations to accommodate varying cultural norms. Code-switching requires far more than the right mindset, information, and motivation. It requires a capacity to manage the psychological challenges that arise when someone tries to translate cultural knowledge into action. Executives often feel inauthentic when their behavior conflicts with their ingrained values and beliefs, and doubly uncomfortable when others assume that it is a true reflection of who they are. They may also feel incompetentanxious and embarrassed about acting in a way so far outside their comfort zone. Deeper down, they may feel frustrated and angry that they had to make changes in the first place. After all, managers dont usually have to adapt their behavior to the needs of their subordinates; most often its the other way around. Together, these feelings can prevent executives from making a successful code switch, thus imperiling their careers and their companies success. The good news is that its possible to overcome this problem. The first step is to diagnose the challenges you face. In Marcos case, a deep belief in empowering subordinates was preventing him from embracing the top-down, often harsh leadership style that his Mumbai team seemed to need in order to meet deadlines. Whenever progress was so poor that he had to yell out directives, he felt guilty (I shouldnt treat employees this way!) and ineffective (I sound ridiculous!). The second step is to adapt your behavior to reduce your distress. That means making small but meaningful adjustments that are both appropriate in the new setting and true to your own values. It may mean electing behavior that blends elements of both cultures. Marco was able to find a middle ground between his participative European management style and the more authoritarian kind expected in India. He could be significantly more hands-on and assertive without yelling. Anat was able to give feedback better tailored to an American audience while retaining some of her direct, demanding Israeli style. The third step is to fully appreciate the value of code-switching. One way is to focus on how the desired outcome aligns with your personal goals and values, even if the behaviors themselves do not. Marco knew that adapting his style in India would help him become a more effective global manager, which was very important to him. Seungwoo was able to ease up on his Chinese employees when he reminded himself how important the Shanghai operation was to future growth. Another way is to view your code-switching from the perspective of the other culture, rather than exclusively through your own lens. Once Marco came to see that his employees actually valued his new management style, it became far easier to practice. Similarly, when Anat learned to appreciate the reasons for giving American-style feedbackher colleagues were hurt and demotivated by criticism delivered without praiseshe could more easily change her approach. Being culturally fluent means being able to enter a new context, master the norms, and feel comfortable doing so. In situations where executives perceive a serious threat to their competence and identity, they often show a strong psychological resistance to appropriate behavior. Learning to be effective at cultural code-switching is the key to becoming a truly global leader.

Andrew L. Molinsky is an associate professor of organizational behavior at Brandeis Universitys International Business School, with a joint appointment in the department of psychology.
http://hbr.org/2012/01/three-skills-every-21st-century-manager-needs/ar/1

As part of its 10-year birthday celebrations, Working Knowledge - the Harvard Business School publication which provides a first glimpse into cutting-edge research from Harvard faculty - asked several influential management thinkers and faculty, including the new Dean, Nitin Nohria to shed some light on the most significant ideas and developments that have impacted business management in the first decade of the 21st century and also the most productive management research areas in the decade to follow. Based on responses from the reputed faculty researchers, we take a look at five areas or trends which are emerging as the key influencers of business and management in the 21st century and are also likely to spawn a good share of research in the domain. Globalization The melting of barriers among nations and their increasing interconnectedness, accelerated by technology, has led to a change in the world order that has had a profound impact on global business. The emergence of nations such as India and China has replaced the era of unquestioned dominance of the Western countries or any one particular region, paving the way for a flattened business arena where developments in one part of the other are certain to have a spiraling impact. Perhaps the best evidence of this is the recent financial crisis. A recent 335-page study by the AACSB, the leading accreditation agency for business schools around the world, highlights the implications of this and asserts that rising expectations from business and society for graduates with global competencies, coupled with the increasing complexity and global connectedness of higher education, command the attention of business schools around the world. Technology If the current wave of globalization has been the driving force behind the most far-reaching and powerful changes in business, then information technology has indisputably been the facilitator. Drawing attention to the fact that four out of the top five companies in Businessweek's annual list of most innovative companies are technology-driven businesses, Professor Teresa Amabile writes in Working Knowledge, Customers are courted and supply chains are managed via websites, social media, and email; marketing, manufacturing, and distribution processes are managed by sophisticated real-time information systems; colleagues working 12 time zones apart can see and hear each other as they work at their desks-or in airport lounges on opposite sides of the planet. Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility For business to be sustainable, and even profitable, our planet has to be sustainable - this realization has hit businesses perhaps the hardest in recent times. HBS Dean Nitin Nohria feels that in the coming decade, we are likely to see a lot of focus directed towards applying management principles to solutions of complex social issues such as environmental sustainability, energy security, access to healthcare etc. This will also underline the need for increased interdisciplinary interaction and influence on business management. One evidence of this growing engagement with issues of society and sustainability is the increase in number of companies who have intensified their CSR focus and the innovative ways in which they have engaged themselves, points out professor of marketing, Michael

Norton. Shifting steadily from corporate philanthropy to more direct and effective engagement, companies have devised new models of extending a social footprint. Drawing attention to the Pepsi Refresh project, Norton has highlighted how the company encouraged users to submit projects with social impact-from cleaning up a river to saving animals-and allowed other users to vote on which projects Pepsi should fund. The Study of Psychology Speaking of interdisciplinary influences on business, the study of human psychology probing into cognition, motivation, behavior and performance - has become a key pillar of organizational management. From employee management to customer satisfaction and social engagement, satisfaction of business objectives requires effective analysis of both individual and institutional psychology. A good amount of research is therefore likely to be focused on how psychological theory and research can be integrated into business academics and management practice; Professor Amabile feels that with more evolved tools and access to ever-growing information databases, managers will have the power to substantially improve both the practice of business and the welfare of society. Business Ecosystems Professor Carlyss Y. Baldwin feels that one of the most notable trends in management has been the rise of business ecosystems - defined as groups of firms which together provide complex products and related services to meet end-to- end requirements of users across the value chain. The integration between media, technology and telecommunication firms would be an apt contemporary example. This has important implications for management because innovation in business ecosystems has a character distinct from traditional, vertically integrated firms. Every organization in the ecosystem has to be aware of the bigger picture. As Professor Baldwin tells Working Knowledge, Innovation in ecosystems requires collective action to both invent and appraise, efficient, cross-organization knowledge flows, modular architectures, and good stewardship of legacy systems. It rests on multiple, complementary platforms.