“An ideal management system would be one in which power was automatically redis- tributed when environmental changes devalued executive knowledge and competence.”
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“If there was a single question that obsessed 20th century managers, from Frederick Taylor to Jack Welch, it was this: How do we get more out of our people? At one level, this question is innocuous—who can object to the goal of raising human productivity? Yet it’s also loaded with industrial age thinking: How do we (meaning “management”) get more (meaning units of production per hour) out of our people (meaning the individuals who are obliged to follow our orders)? Ironically, the management model encapsulated in this question virtually guarantees that a company will never get the best out of its people. Vassals and conscripts may work hard, but they don’t work willingly.”
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“The web has evolved faster than anything human beings have ever created—largely, because it is not a hierarchy. The web is all periphery and no center. In that sense, it is a direct affront to the organizational model that has predominated since the beginnings of human history. No wonder managers feel a little queasy when they venture into the far reaches of cyberspace, like space travelers who’ve arrive on a planet where up is down and down is up.”
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“We must now face the obvious question: What is the chance that tomorrow’s most successful organizations will be as different from today’s corporate behemoths as the Internet is different from plain old telephone service? The answer: A lot higher than you think. Unlike your company, the Internet already is adaptable, innovative and engaging.”
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“We have for many decades been living in a “post-industrial” society. I believe we are now on the verge of a “post-managerial” society, perhaps even a “post-organizational” society. Beforeyoustarthyper-ventilating,letmeassureyouthatthisdoesn’tmeana future without managers. Just as the coming of the knowledge economy didn’t herald the death of heavy industry, a “post-managerial” economy won’t be entirely free of executives, supervisors, administrators and overseers. But it does imply a future in which the “work of management” is less and less the responsibility of “managers.” To be sure, activities will still need to be coordinated, individual efforts aligned, relationships nurtured, objectives decided upon, and knowledge disseminated. But increasingly, this work will be distributed out to those on the periphery.”