Who says our organizations have to be bureaucratic and politicized? Or that life within them has to be disempowering and boring? Control, standardization, and conformity aren’t virtues anymore. They’re outdated management models. Organizations are being pummeled by rapid change, unconventional rivals from around the globe, and demands to become more innovative, more agile, and more responsive to both customers and employees. In this precarious environment, what’s most likely to limit the performance of your organization over the next three-to-five years? According to Gary Hamel, it’s your management model.
In a recent webinar with Harvard Business Review (you’ll need a computer to see and hear it; here are the hardware and software requirements), Hamel, professor of strategic and international management at London Business School and co-founder of the Management Innovation Exchange, says that the old command-and-control styles of management, which elicit obedience and diligence from workers, won’t be as valuable in the future. Organizations with management models that foster initiative, creativity, and innovation, he says, will gain the clear advantage, as their employees set the strategic vision and create the products and services the future demands.
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