Manage My Employees

Short article #41

In his book, The Future of Management, Gary Hamel contends that the current management model centered on control and efficiency, no longer suffices in a world where adaptability and creativity drive business success.

Hamel’s perspective is credible. As well as being a bestselling author he is ranked the #1 Influential Business Thinker by the Wall Street Journal. Some points from his book:

There will be new challenges to competitive viability and profitability: In a world of immediately accessible information, there is less room for mediocre products or services. 

Modern management needs to change its model for the future. "Modern management has also stymied the opinions and free-spirits of human beings by getting them to conform to rigid rules and procedures, and in so doing squandered creative problem solving or innovation. It has brought discipline to operations, but imperils organizational adaptability."

Management innovation can bring significant advantage. In studying over 100 management breakthroughs across two centuries, Hamel notes that major advances in managerial practices often

yield significant shifts in competitive position, with such shifts often producing long-lasting advantages.

There’s too much management, too little freedom. Managers get paid to oversee, budget, control and administer. Consequently, while management may be able to gain control over employees, it often falls short of getting employees to be creative and committed. 

If companies, both large and small, are to succeed at out-inventing, out-strategizing and out-thinking a growing number of competitors, they must learn how to inspire their employees to give the very best of themselves.

Bottom-line: Hamel’s book is insightful and thorough. He provides an excellent prognosis of the issues facing most organizations in the future. However, the book is overly-focused on insights garnered from larger, most often high tech or Internet based companies. Readers who run a small business, or a non-tech or non-Internet-based company may find it too time-consuming or frustrating to uncover especially pertinent points.

Mark Holmes helps companies increase sales, service and employee performance. He utilizes twenty-four years of experience advising, training, and coaching some of America’s most successful small and large companies. His ideas on employee retention, employee motivation, customer service and leadership have been widely featured in major national media like FOX, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, BNET and The Wall Street Journal.