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Summary:
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.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
FANTASTIC
Customer Rating:
A FANTASTIC BOOK THAT SHOWS THE NEW WAYS OF MANAGEMENT. EVERYBODY MUST READ THIS BOOK TO CHANGE MANAGEMENT THINKING.
Management innovation to reinvent the principles, processes, and practices of management
Customer Rating:
Gary Hamel is a Visiting Professor of Strategic and International Management of the London Business School, co-Founder of international consulting company Strategos and Director of the Management Innovation Lab. He is the author of several business books, such as Leading the Revolution, Competing for the Future (with C.K. Prahalad) and numerous articles for Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and other class-leading publications. This book was published in 2007, consists of 4 parts and a total of 11 chapters. Hamel's books are never boring and this one is almost as radical as `Leading the Revolution'. This fact is highlighted in Hamel's introduction of the goal of this book: "My goal is to help you become a 21st-century management pioneer; to equip you to reinvent the principles, processes, and practices of management for our postmodern age."
The three chapters of Part I explain why management innovation matters, whereby the author argues that modern-day management has evolved rapidly in the first half of the 20th century but that the "technology" of management has now reached a local peak rather than a 8,000 metres Himalaya monster. "In fact, most of the essential tools and techniques of modern management were invented by individuals born in the 19th century, not long after the end of the American Civil War." In the second chapter, Hamel explains management innovation: "Put simply, management innovation changes the way managers do what they do, and also does so in a way that enhances organizational performance." Chapter 3 proposes an agenda for management innovation, whereby one is "going to need a passion for some very specific, very noble challenge" in order to invent the future of management. It is "a passion for solving extraordinary problems that creates the potential for extraordinary accomplishment."
Part II - Management Innovation in Action's chapters 4, 5 and 6 explain Whole Foods Market, W.L. Gore and Google as examples of management innovators. This part serves the author's goal "to demonstrate that it really is possible to defy management orthodoxy and still run a successful business; that you can flout conventional management wisdom and still ship products on time, satisfy exacting customers, and deliver mouthwatering results. Turns out, we haven't reached the end of management. We really can reinvent the way big companies are structured and run. ... So no more excuses. It's time for you to buckle down and start inventing the future of management."
In the first chapter of Part III - Imaging the Future of Management, we come across the search for better ways to emancipate and compound human capability, whereby all of these searches start with simplest of all questions, Why? In Chapter 7 Hamel introduces five key design rules for building companies that are fit for the future. "... the task of reinventing management for the 21st century is going to take time. But what you can and must do is to get your colleagues thinking and talking about the opportunity to reinvent your company's management DNA." The next chapter introduces some new management principles, which combine big ideas with the power to inspire dramatic changes in tradition-bound processes and practices. Chapter 9 concludes this part and helps you extract maximum value out of your journey to the fringe. The author introduces 6 questions for this purpose.
The first chapter of Part 4 - Building the Future of Management recaps the 9 rules for management innovators. The final chapter introduces the 5 essential building blocks for management innovation, whereby the goal [of management of innovation] is for companies to gain a performance advantage by first amplify and then aggregate human effort. Hamel concludes this book with: "Indeed, I think the most bruising contests in the new millennium won't be fought along the lines that separate one competitor or business ecosystem from another, but will be fought along the lines that separate those who wish to preserve the privileges and power of the bureaucratic class from those who hope to build less structured and less tightly managed organizations."
Yes, I do like this book. It is just like the other books (co-)written by Gary Hamel and challenges the reader. This book in particular requires the reader to have a good look at existing management and business practices and see whether these can be done in a radical new innovative manner. But be warned, this exercise to reinvent management for the 21st century is going to take time and can probably best be started through thinking and talking with colleagues. Recommended to all looking for new ways to do business and manage.
Worst internet service I've ever consumed
Customer Rating:
I've tried twice to buy this book at Amazon and I didn't received, however the money was taken from my account.
Six Elements Review - 7.3/10
Customer Rating:
"Why does management seem stuck in a time warp? Perhaps it's because we've reached the end of management."
Content
Part I: Why Management Innovation Matters; in this part, the author stated the problems we face with the current modern management and how can the new management have the "Ultimate Advantage" over the current management.
Part II: Management Innovation in Action; the authors demontrated examples of Whole Foods, W. L. Gore, and Google and how their "Management Innovation" shapes their management philosophies.
Part III: Imagining the Future of Management: in this part the authors showed how we can escape the orthodox management practices and embrace the new principles including Life, Markets, Democracy, Faith, and Cities while overcoming difficult challenges that we are going to face.
Part IV:Building the Future of Management: this part tells us how can we learn the lessons from IBM and Best Buy along with how can we put the beliefs we demonstrated earlier into practices.
Review Method: The score will show how close this book is to the ideal: A business book which is easy to read, distinct, credible, practical, insightful, and provides great reading experience.
Ease of Understanding: 7/10: The Future of Management is a book with a straightforward structure, there are examples followed by the related principles of Life, Markets, Democracy, Faith, and Cities that define the new management. And the conclusion and the "idea" on how to implement them are clear but we couln't say this is the easiest read because of the abstractness of the ideas.
Distinction: 9/10: To be perfectly honest, there are many books on the so-called "future" already, we already talked about Google and the idea of flat organisation is not new. The reason that I give The Future of Management a near-perfect score on distinction is how the book uses some wise definitions of management, Part III, which are stunning. I never thought of comparing an organisation and management to "cities" together with "life", "faith", "democracy", and "markets".
Credibility: 8/10: Gary Hamel and Bill Breen did well linking the examples of Whole Foods, W. L. Gore, and Google to their ideas on how the organisation should, and would be. The linkage and references are solid making us believe that this is probably the way " new management" will be.
Practicality: 3/10: No one will disagree with me on this, this is not Management Guide for Dummies, we know it, the authors know it. The authors stated that they do not know how to achieve this but this is a book that will inspire us on how to invent the future of management.
Insight: 8/10: Very insightful, examples of companies are packed with examples of practices that are thought-provoking. New principles are not loosely described but with solid ideas.
Reading Experience: 9/10: You'll find reading this book is like a journey. It is not futuristic like watching Star Wars but more like watching the Matrix trilogy! The authors portray the current modern management and then "unplugged" you to the new world that you have never imagined. For orthodox managers, you will feel like watching "28 Days (Weeks) Later" where out of nowhere, there are flocks after flocks of zombies (future employees) chasing after you! Beware.
Overall: 7.3/10: excluding "practicality", I'd say The Future of Management is more than 8/10. If you want a book packed with remarkable management examples and motivating ideas on how the future will be without much concern on practicality of ideas; The Future of Management by Gary Hamel and Bill Breen is a safe bet.
[...]
Philosophical. Inspiring. Great for top management who think they dont need it
Customer Rating:
Key story line: Management innovation is the only long term sure-fire strategy for a business, whereas Whole Foods, WL Gore and Google are elaborated as role models to pitch the author's ideology of the perfect business organisation, which is like the internet: democratic, tightly connected and flat. I am not qualified to comment on the value and practicality of the author's ideas. However, I am obliged to say that this is an inspiring and insightful book that outstands itself from the tons of its genre which had little substance but large portion of business cases. A good food for thought, even if you are not in the very top who can make the change. Recommended!
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