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Management Challenges for the 21st Century (平装)
by Peter F. Drucker
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Management, Leadership, Business |
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Drucker's first major book since Post-Capitalist Society (1993) |
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1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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Kirkus Reviews (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
The master of management theory (Managing for the Future, 1992, etc.) combines a succinct vision of what's ahead with a condensed training course for weathering the change. Looking toward the future, Drucker analyzes the forces that will impact society and business and describes how the structure of organizations must change in order to deal with them. As a prelude to his outline for managing change (and changing management) he dismisses some concepts for example, the idea that there is only a single correct organizational structure for a given situation. Drucker suggests considering the modern employee as a "volunteer," motivated to work by a deeper power than the paycheck. Similarly, he states that in the modern workplace a more apt role for a manager is as "leader,'' not boss. Other changes affecting business are the "crisscross'' impact of technologies and the emergence of the "transnational'' organization. Like most of Druckers two dozen or so previous works, this one goes beyond analysis to application. Two of the key arguments in his outline for action: companies need "change leaders'' who see change as opportunity, and organizations must learn how to "exploit success.'' Information technology, a major component of the coming century, is described through the historical perspective of the printing press, then updated with consideration of the Internet, a major new method for the distribution of information in printed form. Drucker believes that, just as traditional management was instrumental in increasing productivity for manual work, modern management must be transformed to play a similar part in the increase in the productivity for "knowledge work,'' the biggest management challenge of the next century. Finally, he explains that as "individuals can expect to outlive organizations,'' they must have unique responsibilities in order to survive, if not thrive. Invaluable advice for building a business bridge to the 21st century. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Peter Drucker has a beautiful mind, forever fresh and overflowing with innovative thoughts. This book, published just as the master of management began his tenth decade of life, shows him at his perpetual best. The text carries with it the sweeping knowledge, deep experience, and astute analysis that a reader might expect from Drucker at this point in his life. But you will find no timid conservatism, no holding on to safe ground here. Drucker has made a lifelong habit of leading the way in business thought and this book confirms that he just can't help himself.
In contrast to the typical business book which is 200 pages too long, every chapter and every page of Management Challenges for the 21st Century relentlessly tweaks the noses of bad assumptions while focusing our attention on the future. Drucker pulls together diverse trends and forces to map out the truly new management challenges. His first chapter, "Management's New Paradigms" argues that organizations (or what ManyWorlds calls "business architecture") will have to become part of the executive's toolbox, yet we continue to operate on outdated assumptions about the role and domain of management.
Fortunately much recent management thinking explicitly challenges one assumption pulled apart by Drucker: The idea that the inside of the organization is the domain of management. This assumption, says Drucker, "explains the otherwise totally incomprehensible distinction between management and entrepreneurship". These are two aspects of the same task. Management without entrepreneurship (and vice versa) cannot survive in a world where every organization must be "designed for change as the norm and to create change rather than react to it."
Although Drucker is intent on uprooting old certainties and focusing organizations on constant change, he does not leave the reader without a compass. In the second chapter, "Strategy-The New Certainties", Drucker says that strategy allows an organization to be "purposefully opportunistic" and explains five certainties around we can shape our strategy. While other writers have addressed a couple of these, too little attention has been paid to some of the inevitabilities analyzed here, including the collapsing birthrate, shifts in the distribution of disposable income, and the growing incongruence between economic globalization and political splintering.
The book's third chapter, "The Change Leader", gives Drucker's unique perspective on the need for 21st organizations to be change leaders. "One cannot *manage* change. One can only be ahead of it." Change leaders have four qualities. They create policies to make the future which means not only continual improvement but “organized abandonment” - a practice still almost unknown in practice. Contrary to typical company reactions, change leaders will starve problems and feed opportunities. For Drucker this means, in part, having a policy of systematic innovation and - in tune with recent calls for new budgetary practices - having two separate budgets to ensure that the future-creating budget is not stopped off in difficult times.
Strong as the first chapters are, I found the other chapters of this book even more incisive. The reader may come away with the sense that many of Drucker's points are obvious, but will realize that they only *became* obvious after hearing them. In his chapter on "Information Challenges", Drucker gives his own, historically-rich, controversial, and provocative take on our current information revolution - the fourth such revolution, he says).
The man who coined the term "knowledge worker" has no shortage of fresh thoughts in the chapter on "Knowledge-Worker Productivity", and has profoundly important things to say in the final chapter on "Managing Oneself". Management Challenges for the 21st Century is, of course, essential reading for aspiring manager-entrepreneurs in these confusing times. As for aspiring business writers, I can only say: Read it and weep!
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Mitchell Kirschner (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Peter Drucker is a thinker who gets to the heart of issues and can make one see the world, and one's self, in a different way.
That may seem like a grandiose claim for what, on the surface, is merely a business book. But if you're the least bit familiar with Drucker's numerous books and articles, written over a 60-year career, you already suspect that this isn't a mere business book. We live in times of turbulent change. Drucker's task is to make us SEE, to give us guiding insights and principles. He illuminates the deeper forces of history, of economics, of society, which managers in ALL kinds of institutions - hospitals, universities, churches, nonprofits, governments, and of course businesses - will inevitably face. Drucker not only calls for a new paradigm of management, but he outlines that new paradigm - and more importantly, contrasts it with the old paradigm. The word paradigm itself has become cliché, but Drucker's analysis is hardly fluffy or faddish.
And that's just in the first chapter. In the rest of this brief (207 pages) but potent book, he expounds (as evidenced by the chapter titles) on the following themes: Strategy - The New Certainties; The Change Leader; Information Challenges; Knowledge-Worker Productivity; Managing Oneself. The latter chapter alone - which is about managing one's career(s) in light of the insights provided in the foregoing chapters - is alone worth the price of admission. There are several small gems of practical advice in that chapter alone, and it also gives one food for ongoing thought (as does the rest of the book).
As Drucker himself concludes, this book is ultimately not about the future of management. It's about the future of society. In reading it (or any of Drucker's other works), you get the sense you're in the presence of a great thinker who has a passion for truth. This book isn't just for managers, it's for all "knowledge workers" who seek a sophisticated perspective on deep historical forces which will affect everybody in all developed countries. Drucker consciously intended - and in my opinion succeeded - to write a practical book for people who aren't afraid to think and challenge their assumptions about the world and themselves. Drucker's focus is ultimately on *action*. He doesn't give recipes, he gives questions, insights, and principles on which to formulate actions and make decisions. He even offers advice on how to get the most out of his book.
A couple of notes about Drucker's writing style, for those who haven't read him before: Drucker's prose and word rhythms can sometimes be quirky. He has a fondness for occasionally "quoting" words and for EMPHASIZING THINGS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. He's not a fuzzy-minded loudmouth, though. That's part of his natural, unpretentious style, and his message doesn't suffer for it.
Also, in this particular book, Drucker uses a layout technique which I initially found to be confusing, but I eventually came to appreciate. He sprinkles the entire book - without warning or explanation - with paragraphs that are indented further in from the "main" paragraphs. At first I thought he was quoting himself from his earlier works. But I finally realized that the indented paragraphs are "meat", in the form of specific examples or historical references. Once I figured that out, they didn't bother me, and in fact I appreciated the layout.
In summary: read this book! It's much more worthwhile than most business or change-your-life seminars, which can cost hundreds of times more. |
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Jean-Claude le Gal (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
This is the invitation made by Peter F. Drucker in his book: Management challenges for the 21st century. The author writes: "Reading this book will upset and disturb a good many people, as writing it disturbed me" and "It is a very different book from the one I originally envisaged". These two sentences explain that the pressure of the future is so already with us that ideas coming to the author have difficulties to organize on the paper. But this stressing environment gives one of the best book of Peter F. Drucker with issues not to be ignored by knowledge-workers and executives who will have to work on them to make sure to be among the leaders of tomorrow.
In the 2 first chapters, we are sharing ideas from the Management's assumptions, which are no more valid in the "New Economy" to The New Certainties on which very few organizations and very few executives are working on and are invited to a call for action in front of a period of a profound transition.
In Chapter 3, Peter F. Drucker is describing, the Change leader, which mission will not be to manage change, because it is not possible to manage change, but to be ahead of it. Different recommendations are given, but the more important one is piloting the change to permanently test reality. If making the future is highly risky, it is less risky than not trying to make it in a period of upheavals, such as the one we are living in.
In chapter 4, the author convinces us that IT Information Technology has to move from the T to the I. That means that Technology as such is not the concern of executives when Information is. It is true that executives did not get always, with the Information Technologies Revolution, the Information they need for acting. But Information requires also to move from internal information to external Information, because strategy is mainly based on the last one. Information being the key resource for knowledge workers asks to be organized at individual and group level to anticipate and avoid surprises in front of significant events and to prepare for action.
In chapter 5, after discovering that the main contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase of productivity of the manual-worker in manufacturing, we are presented the challenge for the 21st century as being the increase of knowledge-worker productivity. The move there is from quantity measurement to quality measurement of an agreed defined task of a knowledge-worker, which is part of a growing population in developed countries. Knowledge-workers, owning their means of production, the knowledge between their ears, are becoming assets instead of costs. And if costs need to be controlled and reduced, assets need to be made to grow. This means a change of attitude of management but also of corporation governance who have to find balance between the interests of shareholders and knowledge-workers contributing to the wealth of the organization.
In the final chapter, we are presented the impact of all previous evolutions on the individual knowledge-worker, who will have to manage himself in this new environment. This is a real revolution in mentalities due to two new realities: workers are likely to outlive organizations, and the knowledge worker has mobility the manual-worker did not have. Partnership is becoming an answer to these changes with all the consequences for the individual who has to ask himself: "what should be my contribution" and "where and how can I have results that make a difference", yes a real revolution already there.
Management Challenges for the 21st Century is giving the basics to enter the period of profound transition we know with the arrival of the "New Economy" and will make the difference for the people who read this book. We really have to thank Peter F. Drucker for this important contribution at the age of 90, a masterpiece after more than sixty years devoted to management development.
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Dan Ross, USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
I read a lot of business books and I have to say that Drucker really gets the "big picture" better than 99.999% of the people out there. If you want some other good books related to this book try Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink and As the Future Catches You by Juan Enriquez (two chapters succinctly explain the value of the knowledge worker in the 21st Century. The rest of the book is extra information on genomics but it is very easy to read). The nice part about Drucker's book is that he gives tips and suggestions, along with things to look for in the next generation of managing workers. At times his language can be a bit more boring than the previous two titles I mention but the book is definitely worth reading.
Drucker wastes no time in this book by stating what he believes is the most powerful social force working today and some of the consequences that arise from it.
He believes the aging of the population in the developed countries will have profound impacts on future wealth creation and societal structures. This is a result of a lowering of the birthrate in these countries. When you then add the fact that an additional 2 billion people are projected to live on this planet in the next 20 years you begin to really think about the profound potential impact to the planet and business.
Drucker states that "the most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the 'manual worker' in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is similarly to increase the productivity of 'knowledge work' and the 'knowledge worker.' The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or nonbusiness, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity."
That comment alone illustrates that Drucker fully understands the implications that arise from countries evolving their economies from agricultural to industrial to service and technology based knowledge economies. I gave it 4 stars because at times it is pretty tedious reading but definitely a very good book.
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F. Bosch (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
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. |
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Rich M. (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
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. |
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S. Patel (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
An experienced Author's presentation Management Challenges for the 21st Century is a challenging and an inspiring read. Since years, there have 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, practices 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 in-depth recognizing strengths and analyzing 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 reading and digesting 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! |
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Bhaska Majee (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
If his statement is true: that all "Management is Business Management," then, Mr. Drucker, in this work, provides a potent combination of sage advice, well-researched techniques, business homilies, and perceptive insights into current trends in management in a compact six chapter primer that works well for all organizations.
Those six subjects are: Management's New Paradigms: Strategy, The New Certainties, The Change Leader, Information Challenges, Knowledge- Worker Productivity, and Managing Oneself. The chapters and subjects build upon each other except for the last - it provides for the human and individual element within the myriad formations of management.
Drucker highlights the new certainties for the 21st century and they are profound in their implications for all management. This is the best chapter within the text; Drucker is focused and presents a lucid discussion while avoiding unnecessary distractions. The new certainties are: 1) The Collapsing Birthrate in the Developed World. 2) Shifts in the Distribution of Disposable Income. 3) Defining Performance. 4) Global Competitiveness. 5) The Growing Incongruence Between Economic Globalization and Political Splintering."
Another Important point he brings up is Disposable Income. The share of disposable income a customer devotes to purchasing goods is fundamental knowledge any business must know for that factor is "the foundation of all economic information." Drucker attributes growth in the 20th century to four categories: Government, Health Care, Education, and Leisure. Yet, the lone category providing growth in the 21st century is financial services. This, according to Drucker, has occurred because financial services learned how to market to the average customer. He also states it equally important to know who is not a customer, since this is always a larger population base than known customers.
Drucker offers multiple lessons for tomorrow's leaders such as: "starve problems and feed opportunities" by being willing to abandon old ways of doing things and focusing more on the I of IT, that is, information needed rather than the technology. He points out that we have excellent technology to design a building but that does not inform us about the strategic question of whether or not it should be built. Further, rather than fearing resistance to change we must learn to look for and anticipate change for this we need change leaders who see opportunities, not threats, in new developments.
Drucker summarizes the previous three information revolutions and claims we are experiencing the fourth. This one, driven by changes in accounting procedures and publishing advances will cause all business to learn to organize information. The key to remaining competitive in the 21st century will be to organize based on activity-based costing. Its basic premise is that business is an integrated process that starts when the supplies, material and parts arrive at the plant's loading dock and continues even after the finished product reaches the end-user. Service is still a cost of the product, and so is installation, even if the customer pays. Drucker predicts the new accounting will have its greatest impact on service industries. This paradigm shift should cause the forward thinking manager to evaluate the scarcity of resources.
Likewise an organization to be competitive in the 21st century needs to stop thinking regionally or nationally, instead "make global competitiveness a strategic goal."
Drucker starts out by providing the reader with his key assumptions underlying management. One set concerns the discipline and the other set the practice of management. These assumptions and their applicability are critical entry points into the following chapters. Drucker shatters the illusion that management is something that only certain people can do in isolation sitting in air-conditioned offices without regard for the task at hand, the product produced, the customer served or the participation of employees. |
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Alton Lau (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
This book is first published in 1999. Right in the beginning, Drucker defined management as NOT only business management, but management in all kinds of organization: government, university, hospital, army, non-profit organization, etc. The book is easy to read, just below 200 pages. The scope and content is much wider than how we think management usually is. It describes the certainties: collapsing birthrate, shift in performance, global competitiveness, etc, and of course, how it affects all kinds of organizations. It talks about information challenges, the knowledge worker and how one manage oneself in this new century. Concepts like "individuals will outlive their organization", "how to define one's goal and contribution" are all interesting topics and issues that everyone have to face, since, this is the realities. I highly recommend this book to anyone, not just CEO/executives, but those want to know more about oneself, how to behave and contribute in this knowledge-based world. |
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