Management Challenges for the 21st Century

Rating:
Summary: Peter Drucker Does It Again!
Review: 'Management Challenges for the 21st Century' is a book by a ninety-year-old -- about the future! However, as the ninety-year-old is Dr. Peter F. Drucker, the guru of modern management practices, that is a great thing. His work truly does represent a full ninety years of accumulated knowledge (one can sense his zest for knowledge in his writing), and his writing style has actually improved over the last thirty years (The editing of this book was somewhat spotty, though -- there are several spelling and grammatical errors that detract from the work. This is unfortunate, as Dr. Drucker deserves much better from HarperCollins, his publisher of sixty years.) In fact, Dr. Drucker started writing this book as an retrospective of his past work but, as he wrote and researched, he set that aside to write not of the known past, but of the unknown future.

In the book, one of his primary points is that, over the next century, management will increase the productivity of the knowledge worker (a term Dr. Drucker himself invented over thirty years ago) fifty-fold, which is the increase in the productivity of the manual worker during the Industrial Revolution. For this to happen, knowledge workers will be essentially self-managed. They will be responsible for their own contributions, they will be continuously innovating, and they will be continuously learning and teaching (he has an interesting chapter on how people learn). The difficulty to companies is that knowledge workers are capital assets, not costs, as they possess knowledge. This presents unique challenges to managers as, unlike with manual workers, the company needs the knowledge worker almost as much as the knowledge worker needs the company.

He discusses the collapsing birthrate and its impact on knowledge workers, relative to career length and focus. He also discusses future shifts in distribution of disposable income, a redefinition of corporate performance, global competitiveness, and the growing incongruence between economic and political reality.

He also discusses how to be a change leader in the future. ("One cannot manage change. One can only be ahead of it.") This involves innovation and careful piloting of new ideas. He follows up with his perspective on the increase in available of information, which he says was paralleled by Gutenberg's invention of printing press. He urges that the focus of IT be on the information, not on the technology.

This is an outstanding book, and I highly recommend it. I hope he chooses to write a few more.

Rating:
Summary: Peter Drucker Does It Again!
Review: 'Management Challenges for the 21st Century' is a book by a ninety-year-old -- about the future! However, as the ninety-year-old is Dr. Peter F. Drucker, the guru of modern management practices, that is a great thing. His work truly does represent a full ninety years of accumulated knowledge (one can sense his zest for knowledge in his writing), and his writing style has actually improved over the last thirty years (The editing of this book was somewhat spotty, though -- there are several spelling and grammatical errors that detract from the work. This is unfortunate, as Dr. Drucker deserves much better from HarperCollins, his publisher of sixty years.) In fact, Dr. Drucker started writing this book as an retrospective of his past work but, as he wrote and researched, he set that aside to write not of the known past, but of the unknown future.

In the book, one of his primary points is that, over the next century, management will increase the productivity of the knowledge worker (a term Dr. Drucker himself invented over thirty years ago) fifty-fold, which is the increase in the productivity of the manual worker during the Industrial Revolution. For this to happen, knowledge workers will be essentially self-managed. They will be responsible for their own contributions, they will be continuously innovating, and they will be continuously learning and teaching (he has an interesting chapter on how people learn). The difficulty to companies is that knowledge workers are capital assets, not costs, as they possess knowledge. This presents unique challenges to managers as, unlike with manual workers, the company needs the knowledge worker almost as much as the knowledge worker needs the company.

He discusses the collapsing birthrate and its impact on knowledge workers, relative to career length and focus. He also discusses future shifts in distribution of disposable income, a redefinition of corporate performance, global competitiveness, and the growing incongruence between economic and political reality.

He also discusses how to be a change leader in the future. ("One cannot manage change. One can only be ahead of it.") This involves innovation and careful piloting of new ideas. He follows up with his perspective on the increase in available of information, which he says was paralleled by Gutenberg's invention of printing press. He urges that the focus of IT be on the information, not on the technology.

This is an outstanding book, and I highly recommend it. I hope he chooses to write a few more.

Rating:
Summary: Good for hand few of the Civilisation
Review: A large part of the world is exposed to grave state. This is the stark reality. There has been several monumental works on the how business should think for the future. But with all of these and 1000s Peter Drucker and Dr.C.K.Prahalads the proverty in India and other third world countries will still exist. Looks like even the concept of Spirituality of improved consciuosness is becoming corporate jargon. Where does the real answer lie?

Rating:
Summary: Challenging Read!
Review: An experienced Author's presentation 'Management Challenges for the 21st Century' is a challenging and an inspiring Read. Since years, there has been drastic changes in social and economic levels. Management requires re-shaping the business strategies from time to time. Peter offers new paradigms of management with thoughtful implementations of strategic ideas to face the critical areas, weaker spots, problems, practises and how to face in the 21st century. Slightly for the genius minds, the book demands deep business sense and profound knowledge. Management needs to indepth recognising strengths and analysing on performance, clear goals on how to achieve quality work, motivation and getting quipped with innovation. Peter argues that management will increase the productivity of the knowledge worker and with the global competitiveness, he focus on re-definition of corporate performance. Peter offer lessons with the major chapters like 'Management's New Paradigms, Strategy, The New Certainties, The Change Leader, Information Challenges, Knowledge-Worker Productivity, and Managing Oneself for the new waves. In the chapter 'The Change Leader', he clearly motivates the leaders to be ahead of times by starving the problems and feeding opportunities. The uncertainties can be overcome with change in accepting new and abandoning old patterns of management and make an increase in productivity. The Knowledge worker chapter is to enhance productivity piloting to fresh new innovative ideas. Managing oneself is a thorough learning guide as Peter leaves no room in grooming the new age management leader. An Outstanding Book for Read n Digest especially to all generation next leaders and a Must Read for existing Management CEO's to cope up with the change - Change before the Change!

Rating:
Summary: Applicable to the management of organizations and yourself
Review: Chapter 6 on Managing Oneself has opened my eyes to my own learning and communicating styles and how to understand those same things with my collegues in order to develop better working relationships. (Used as a text in MBA school)

Rating:
Summary: A PERSPECTIVE OF FUTURE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
Review: Dr. F. R. Bosch an apologist, researcher, and lecturer who integrates [Biblical] faith and knowledge, is a full-time university professor in Southern California, U.S.A.

"Management Challenges for the 21st Century" is a brief and stimulating book. It addresses some insightful topics that Prof. Drucker thinks will influence and shape the future. He encourages the reader to consider "management" in a larger than "business" context - the universe of our personal, family, career, volunteerism, and corporate lives - which all need to be managed for success to occur.

He begins by discussing how our "basic assumptions" make up our reality paradigms that affect our perception of the world and the decisions we make. In spite of the important role that assumptions play in our lives, Drucker says that the assumptions are rarely analyzed, studied, challenged, and rarely even made explicit (p. 3). The implication is that we need to invest some quality time and thought about the assumptions that profoundly affect our lives. He goes on to say that "what matters most...are therefore the basic assumptions. And a change in the basic assumptions matters even more" (p. 4).

The basic or fundamental assumptions that make up our reality paradigms are very important. The examples Drucker cites throughout the book clearly convey his belief of the profound role that fundamental assumptions play in managing our lives. There is a definite cause and effect relationship between what we embrace to be true and the product of their application.

Although the Harvard Business Review says that Drucker "discusses how the new paradigms of management have changed and will continue to change our basic assumptions about the practices and principles of management," Prof. Drucker has said in other of his writings, as well as in this book, that the "Fundamentals do not change. But the specifics to manage them do change greatly with changes in internal and external conditions," and that "there is a need for continuity in respect to the fundamentals...because change is a constant...the foundations have to be extra strong" (Managing in Turbulent Times, p. 9; Management Challenges for the 21st Century, p. 92).

Clearly, we need to differentiate between foundation and structure, and realize that the changes being discussed mainly relate to the structure (application), and not necessarily to the fundamental presuppositions. Actually, when the fundamental assumptions change the world changes. Thus, changes of fundamental assumptions are major life-changing events - revolutions (shifts) in paradigm language. However, Drucker seems to convey the notion that the application of management principles is what is changing and not the principles themselves.

"Management Challenges for the 21st Century" is an eye opener and energizing primer to view and practice management.

Rating:
Summary: Another Drucker Masterpiece
Review: Drucker has done it again. I'm sure he's forgotten more about management than most writers know. Another very timely work with profound insights which I highly recommend is RESPONSIBLE MANAGERS GET RESULTS, by Gerald W. Faust, et al. It provides several practical approaches for dealing with the challenges Drucker so vividly describes.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Book
Review: Drucker is a master at Business management and a great visionary, this book is a must for anyone planning for the future--CraigAdams.net

Rating:
Summary: A call for action for the knowledge workers
Review: Drucker last book is another one in the line of The New Pioneers of Petzinger. The main role spins around the individual, the person, the knowledge worker...the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of each individual...but to be productive knowledge workers must be considered a capital asset...rather than a cost...and...in most knowledge work, quality is not a minimum and restrain. Quality is the essence of the output...and is defined as "a positive customer satisfaction"...so important too is the chapter about information as only individual knowledge workers can convert data into information. This book must be read too, by those interested in our future.Drucker normally teaches by way of example, and this book is certainly one of his major books, easy to read, and not too long but full of essence.

Rating:
Summary: How to Manage a Company Full of Knowledge Workers
Review: Drucker's covers a spectrum of topics which is not easily organized, but his wealth of experience (first business book written in 1939, this one written 60 years later) makes it worth reading regardless.

"One cannot manage change. Once can just be ahead of it." (pg 73)

An outline might look like this:

1) For starters, people must understand that a) Management does not only pertain to business. 90% of organizations are the same. b) There is no such thing as a RIGHT ORGANIZATION. The organization fits the task. c) In the knowledge economy, you cannot manage people. Only lead them. d) Management focus is external, not internal. "Management exists for the sake of its institution's results." (pg 39)

2) For knowledge workers, money is not enough. They require a challenge for motivation and must believe in the company mission to really perform. It is the quality of their work, not the quantity that matters.

3) Management needs to clearly define WHAT SHOULD BE DONE, rather than HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE. For manual labor, HOW matters because there are minimum quality requirements. For knowledge work, quality is a given.

4) Increasingly a company's comparative advantage will be its ability to attract and retain the most talented people. Likewise, knowledge workers should be treated as a capital asset, not as a cost.

5) Successful companies have a culture of organized abandonment. People are encouraged to abandon what does not work. It is innovation in motion. Opportunities are fed and problems starved.

6) The new Information Revolution is about concepts, not data. Going forward, IT will focus less on the T (Technology) and more on the I (Information). Once again, it is a question of quality ~ not quantity. Likewise, the ultimate test of any information system is that there are no surprises.

7) Since knowledge workers have a long working life (evidence, the author), they must actively manage their careers. To achieve this, Drucker gives straightforward advice: Know yourself. What are my strengths? How do I perform? What are my values?

8) Everyone should develop secondary interests (volunteer work, different job, hobbies) to challenge, and motivate themselves. Do not get stuck mid-career without any alternatives.