The Management Shift

How to Harness the Power of People and Transform Your Organization For Sustainable Success

V. Hlupic

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781137352941
• eBook ISBN: 9781137352958
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Strategy
• Index: Business

Research shows that corporate life expectancy and performance have declined 75% in the last 50 years - organizations need a different approach if they are to survive, let alone thrive. While people are often stated as a company's greatest asset, few businesses have a clear model of leadership that improves engagement, removes barriers to innovation, and uncovers hidden strengths in people and the organization. This book addresses that need and, more importantly, demonstrates HOW organizations can make The Management Shift to a new way of thinking and working. Professor Hlupic argues that organizations now need to adopt a leadership style that focuses on people, purpose and knowledge sharing, creating new types of value and ultimately improving innovation and engagement - leading to improved business. Based on leading-edge research supported by numerous case studies, which demonstrate the power and impact of change, The Management Shift offers managers a practical and systemic approach to diagnose leadership issues in their organization. It then provides an implementation process to shift their mindset and organizational culture to the new level of thinking, performance, and ultimately business success.

chapter 1

Why it is Time Now for The Management Shift

KEY INSIGHTS FROM THIS CHAPTER

This chapter provides answers to the following key questions:

• What are the key challenges that organizations and societies are facing today?

• What are the main causes of the problems we are facing today?

• What is the solution to these problems?

• Why do traditional management approaches not work anymore?

• Why do individuals and organizations need The Management Shift to survive, thrive and have a purposeful existence?

• What are the key characteristics of the emerging management approaches?

• How can Peter Drucker’s timeless wisdom be applied to organizations today?

• What are the financial benefits of adopting new management practices focused on collaboration and higher purpose?

• What are the examples of companies that have implemented inspiring management practices?

Organizations Today Face Unprecedented Challenges

Organizations today are surfing on the edge of chaos. Markets change faster and faster, unforeseen influences require quick adaptation, and organizations constantly need to be one step ahead and to reinvent themselves. Many businesses, including small and medium-sized businesses, are becoming global, helped by advances in connectivity and digitalization. This means that competitor profiles are constantly shifting and there is an increasing emphasis on innovation, cooperation and collaboration. Other challenges include an accelerating pace of change, complexity, uncertainty and the fast transition towards a creativity economy. The management dogmas of the past do not serve their purpose anymore; it is time to adopt new thinking, take a different type of action in organizations worldwide and make these organizations more human and fit for purpose. Organizations and societies are better able to adapt by taking a path based on values, integrity, purpose, compassion, continuous innovation and the commitment to make a positive difference and safeguard the future for subsequent generations.

Continuous learning and innovation are becoming progressively more important for sustainable performance. Engaged employees who feel passionate about their work create innovative cultures but can be held back by outdated management practices. Managers need to create the conditions for unleashing the power of human passion, wisdom and ingenuity. It is becoming apparent to CEOs, management thinkers and practitioners that we cannot use old solutions for new problems, as we have never experienced such a magnitude of changes before. There is a dramatic need for a shift to a new mindset and new management practices, what I call The Management Shift. The need for the shift in mindset and actions in turbulent times can be illustrated by this quote from Abraham Lincoln: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise – with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”¹

Many organizations, both in the public and private sectors, need to make profound systemic changes, not just to management practices but to organizational cultures, business processes, regulatory frameworks, work arrangements and work ethics. Traditionally managed organizations resemble supertankers, finding it difficult to respond to any sudden changes in their environment and to change their course. Modern organizations should be managed and led as sailing boats – a general direction is to be determined but the journey towards the destination should be flexible depending on the environmental conditions.

Management thinking has been traditionally influenced by scientific discoveries. Conventional management approaches have been based on the Newtonian machine model that focuses on hierarchical linearity, a culture based on rules, command and control and formal relationships. It is no more than a metaphor, and while such an approach might have worked well in predictable and stable environments when the objective was efficiency in the production economy, there is ample research evidence that in dynamic and complex business environments this traditional approach inhibits creativity and innovation and decreases motivation and productivity. In traditionally managed organizations, structures distribute power and processes distribute tasks. Structures and process are about creating stability, repeatability and predictability, and this is happening in an unstable, chaotic world, which demands innovation. So we ask people to innovate in a system that is designed to produce the reverse. We cannot then be surprised that many organizations are not utilizing their potential for innovation.

Management innovation is a greater potential source of competitive advantage than traditional innovations of products, services or technology.² Einstein’s insights into relativity influenced other disciplines such as art, music, religion and literature ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Praise for The Management Shift
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• 1 Why it is Time Now for The Management Shift
• 2 The Need for a New Type of Leadership
• 3 Insights from the Leading Management Thinkers: from the Why and What to the How
• 4 The Emergent Leadership Model: From the Stagnating to the Unbounded Culture
• 5 The 6 Box Leadership Model: An Organizational Body Scan
• 6 The 6 Box Leadership Model in Action: Practical Examples
• 7 The Management Shift is Achievable Now: A Call for Action
• Appendixes
• Notes
• Contact Details
• Free Trial of the 6 Box Leadership Diagnostic
• Index