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The Future of Management

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80% Recommended by our customers.
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Catalog: Book
Release date: 2007-09-10
Media: Hardcover
Number of pages: 288
Ean: 9781422102503
Book Isbn: 1422102505

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Authors:

Bill Breen	see more Books by Bill Breen
Gary Hamel	see more Books by Gary Hamel

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Professional Review:

What fuels long-term business success? Not operational excellence, technology breakthroughs, or new business models, but management innovation - new ways of mobilizing talent, allocating resources, and formulating strategies. Through history, management innovation has enabled companies to cross new performance thresholds and build enduring advantages. In "The Future of Management", Gary Hamel argues that organizations need management innovation now more than ever. Why? The management paradigm of the last century - centred on control and efficiency - no longer suffices in a world where adaptability and creativity drive business success. To thrive in the future, companies must reinvent management.Hamel explains how to turn your company into a serial management innovator, revealing: the make-or-break challenges that will determine competitive success in an age of relentless, head-snapping change; the toxic effects of traditional management beliefs; the unconventional management practices generating breakthrough results in 'modern management pioneers'; the radical principles that will need to become part of every company's 'management DNA'; and, the steps your company can take now to build your 'management advantage'. Practical and profound, "The Future of Management" features examples from Google, W.L. Gore, Whole Foods, IBM, Samsung, Best Buy, and other blue-ribbon management innovators.

User Reviews:

Written on February 29, 2008
Summary: Change is easier to say than to do, but THIS IS OUR TEXTBOOK FOR CHANGE!
A really great book which has become our textbook for change. We are experts in behavioural change in Management and Sales and know from experience that it is usually harder for competitors to imitate an unconventional management model than it is for them to decode an unconventional business model. This is one of the reasons why traditional Management models have to change: Today the most valuable human capacities are precisely those less manageable. Getting the most and the best out of people, seldom means managimng them more. It means managing them less. It also means changing what people work for. Either they work for the boss and his bureaucracy, or for a community. In a Bureaucracy (Max Weber) the basis for exchange is contractual. In a community exchange is voluntary. In a bureaucracy you are a factor of production - in a community you are a partner in a cause. These are the main points, where change has to start. Or, like Quincy Jones: "Sometimes I have to fire the best musician from my orchestra. Due to his attitude."

Written on February 8, 2008
Summary: Management 2.0
This book starts with the hypothesis (if I may it term so) that management theories and practices of the twentieth century are not sufficient to ensure business success in the twenty-first century since many of the past assumptions of management are no longer valid for organizations of this century. Conventional management practices focussed on producing more with less, in other words improve operational efficiencies through automation, adherence to and improvement of internal processes. Theory X instead of Theory Y. "When I hire two hands, why does a brain come along with it?"

Human contribution in organizations they work for have been listed as: Obedience (conformance to rules), Diligence (follow defined processes), Knowledge (related to the task/function assigned), and Initiative (within certain boundaries). These are easily controllable and measurable attributes with the aid of performance measurement systems and well written manuals. In other words, these can be hired and demanded from employees.

What about Creativity and Passion? Unfortunately, conventional management practices ignore these two great traits in human beings that can provide the largest value addition for innovation and growth argues the author. The book also tries to quantify the big difference these traits can make. Creativity and Passion are employees' gift to organizations and cannot be "hired".

Organizations need to continuously adapt and innovate to succeed. Innovation should form a part of its DNA. "A dog cannot dance since its DNA has given it four legs".

The book devotes a chapter each to discuss how companies like W.L.Gore, Whole Foods, IBM and Google have successfully tapped creativity and passion of their employees to achieve great business results. This shows that management innovation can cut across industry verticals and can be successfully practiced with a conscious effort to recognise and unleash full human potential, particularly creativity and passion, the main elements of the innovation DNA.

There are several real life situations from which companies can draw upon to create a vibrant and dynamic environment for innovation. Markets for example are one such. One company has created an internal "market" for "valuation" of ideas and innovation projects. Generating passion through appealing for higher purpose of accomplishment through principles of Human Life and Faith is another. Celebrating diversity and using it as a catalyst for encouraging new ideas, as large cities do, is a great example for global companies leveraging diverse talents and cultures.

One need not be a CEO to be a management innovator. In the case of Best Buy, a vice president uses James Surowieki's the principle of "Wisdom of crowds" to forecast demand for various items. The crowd (ordinary employees) outperforms the experts on every occasion in its accuracy of forecasts.

Finally, there is a chapter linking the dimensions of Amplification and Aggregation. Organizational success depends on simultaneously expanding these two dimensions. Web 2.0 is a great aggregator. I recommend "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More" by Chris Anderson and "Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything" by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams as essential supplementary readings to better appreciate this book.

If Web 2.0 is changing the way people collaborate, Management 2.0 will change the way companies are managed. Alignment of the two is the new DNA for success that can make even "elephants to dance". Dogs now have much less to worry about!!

This book is a classic and a must read for all managers.

Written on February 3, 2008
Summary: Misses the mark--a major disappointment
There is an old Arab proverb: "He who speaks about the future lies even when he tells the truth".
The author makes some good points, particularly when discussing the corrosive affect of calcified corporate cultures on employee morale. But he extends his examples of Google, WL Gore and Whole Foods too far. What works for them might not work for other companies. He never makes this distinction (nor tells the reader how to identify it) and he falls into the trap of missing the difference between cause and effect (see the excellent book "The Halo Effect" to learn more about this all too common tendency amongst business management authors).
He gives some good examples of how technology can break down barriers inside of a company, such as internet enabled 'predictive markets' and their ability to help with m&a strategy. But then he goes on to suggest that company sponsored blogs where employees can vent their feelings about their employer (anonymously) might make for a healthier, more innovative workplace. Perhaps I am missing something, but I don't think this would go over too well in most workplaces.
But the real reason I can give only one star is that he never mentions the impact of different cultures on management styles. This is a gross oversight. What works in the US might not work in China, Brazil or India. I was surprised that someone writing a book with the bold title "The Future of Management" could completely overlook such an important topic, especially when our economy is becoming much more global. I would strongly suggest caution if one were to implement some of his strategies.

Written on January 28, 2008
Summary: Truly the Future - A must of all leaders
I read a great book called, The Future of Management by Gary Hamel.

I found the book to be very well written. I read a lot of business books and many of them are not that well written; however, I still like the books if they are well laid out and organized so often report favourably on them. Gary Hamel is a good writer in addition to having good thoughts.

Part One of the book is where Gary challenges us to think. I was contemplating writing an article before I read the book on, "The Power of Excess Resources", or "Is It Possible to be Too Efficient?"

Here is what Gary Hamel has to say:

Contrary to popular mythology, the thing that most impedes innovation in large companies is not a lack of risk taking. Big companies take big, and often imprudent, risks every day. The real brake on innovation is the drag of old mental models. Long-serving executives often have a big chunk of their emotional capital invested in the existing strategy.

In the pursuit of efficiency, companies have wrung a lot of slack out of their operations. Thatâ(tm)s a good thing. No one can argue with the goal of cutting inventory levels, reducing working capital, and slashing overhead. The problem, though, is that if you wring all the slack out of a company, youâ(tm)ll wring out all of the innovation as well. Innovation takes time â" time to dream, time to reflect, time to learn, time to invent, and time to experiment. And it takes uninterrupted time - time when you can put your feet up and stare off into space.

In section one he also explains what a huge percentage of people are not fully engaged in their work at all levels of the company. As English novelist, Ian Forster said, "A person with passion is better than 40 people merely interested."

He also talked about too much management with too little freedom. The gist of that message is that often managers are over-managed.

Part Two moves into a series of stories about real businesses and real people including: Whole Foods, Goretex, and Google.

One thing that I donâ(tm)t like about many authors is when they talk about company success stories, they tend to attribute success to some characteristic they point out when I think they may have pointed out the wrong characteristic so there might not be a link with success. I also note that every circumstance is different at any different time so it is very difficult to take one solution and apply it to another circumstance. Unfortunately, we all still need to think.

Part Three talks about our beliefs. Sometimes our past success can lead to future failure. It is all about change.

One thing I particularly like about this part is a chapter on Learning from the Fringe which basically points out that many of the better ideas and innovations might not come from the existing business or even the existing managers. They often come from the fringes of the organization or the fringe of the business they do.

In Part Four â" The Building of the Future of Management, talks about management 2.0 and what will the new management look like and how to become effective.

This book was thoroughly enjoyable and I would highly recommend it to any leader.

Written on December 13, 2007
Summary: Great book for the all citizens of the world
This is one of the best books I have read period. The theory, examples, and suggestions laid out in the book are priceless, and it has certainly motivated me to try to change the organization I work for. We are still working under the early 20th century management philosophy for the most part by running under a hierarchical organizational structure. Even though the company encourages innovation to come from every single employee in the company, there is no systemic approach to capture and use the ideas generated by the employees. Moreover, the decisions still are being made by the top few, and there is not much flexibilty in what one is allowed to do for the benefit of the company. The communication also has been poor in that not all data is available to the public within the organization.

FYI, the organization I work for is GE, known to be one of the front runners in management innovation. Having worked in many other companies, I know we do better than most companies out there in areas I described above, but compared to Google, W.L. Gore, and other companies cited as model examples in the book - let's just say we have a lot of catch up to do.

Anyway, I recommend this book to any manager, employee, anybody who is part of any organization to read this book. I am even using the lessons learned here in my Condominium Board!

Comparison map

Wondering how the book "The Future of Management" relates to similar books? Find out at a glance here:

Price comparison	The Future of Management	The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win...	Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused...	What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom...	Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls	Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others...
Our price	$17.79	$17.79	$19.77	$16.50	$7.99	$16.50
List price	$26.95	$26.95	$29.95	$25.00	$26.95	$25.00
Lowest used price	$11.20	$12.15	$17.41	$7.89	$6.09	$11.99
Lowest new price	$16.78	$17.79	$17.30	$12.49	$6.56	$13.90
Collectible price	$26.95	-	$29.95	-	-	$24.00
Catalog	Book	Book	Book	Book	Book	Book
Release date	2007-09-10	2007-12-04	2007-09-12	2007-07-10	2007-11-08	2007-01-02
Media	Hardcover	Hardcover	Hardcover	Hardcover	Hardcover	Hardcover
Format	-	-	-	-	Bargain Price	-
Number of pages	288	224	304	241	288	336
Ean	9781422102503	9781422118924	9781422110300	9781422103128	-	9781400064281
Book Isbn	1422102505	1422118924	1422110303	1422103129	-	1400064287
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The Future of Management