Group items tagged

The greatest asset any company has is its workforce, yet too many employers fail to motivate their staff, writes management expert Gary Hamel in an edited extract from his new book

t took decades to build the managerial foundations of the modern industrial enterprise, back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries-and it's going to take time for today's management pioneers to lay the groundwork for Management 2.0. These trailblazers need our constructive criticism and encouragement, and we should take time to provide it-because we all have a stake in their success.

I'm a capitalist by conviction and profession. I believe the best economic system is one that rewards entrepreneurship and risk-taking, maximizes customer choice, uses markets to allocate scarce resources and minimizes the regulatory burden on business. If there's a better recipe for creating prosperity I haven't seen it.

In a recent post I promised that I'd lay out a blueprint for building a company that's as nimble as change itself-and I will, but first I'd like to share an anecdote about a simple experiment in workplace freedom.

The experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of "Generation F" - the Facebook Generation. At a minimum, they'll expect the social environment of work to reflect the social context of the Web, rather than as is currently the case, a mid-20th-century Weberian bureaucracy.

I'm a big fan of New Yorker cartoons. There's usually at least one in every issue that provokes a wry smile or a wince of self-recognition. While I've never actually participated in the magazine's weekly caption competition, I occasionally gin up a prospective entry. Last week, the contest featured a drawing of a couple sitting in a living room. The husband (perhaps?) was perusing a newspaper on the sofa while his wife lounged in a nearby armchair. She was a mermaid-naked from the waist up, her large flipper resting demurely on the floor. With her head angled towards her companion and her mouth open in mid-sentence, I imagined her to be saying: "After ten years, I think you could have learned to scuba dive," or "Hiking in the Alps again? I thought we could take a beach holiday this year."

A Towers Watson global workforce study found that only 20% of employees are truly engaged in their work - heart and soul. As a student of management, I'm depressed by the fact that so many people find work depressing.