Managing 21st century realities

The 21st century is regarded as an era of transformations; with the most dramatic technological revolutions in human history after the industrial revolution.

Catalysed by the acceleration of connectivity and cognitive technology, the century has seen the nature of work changing more than ever before. Companies are going more global, and employee groups getting more diverse.

The advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) characterised by such things like, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT) is making almost every profession to be reinvented, fashioning what many call the “augmented workforce”.

These occurrences are expected to disrupt the traditional conceptions of brick and mortar offices, rigid working hours, full-time jobs, consultancy assignments, among other practices.

Certainly, management in the 21st century cannot be done the same way as management in the 19th and 20th centuries.

DIFFERENT APPROACH

Managing the 21st century realities will require a different approach from our industrial past.

Management expert Stephenson Unyimadu argues that the idea of management was pertinent during the three epochs of the Industrial Revolution.

Prof Rita McGrath of Columbia Business School says that before, the concept of “management” did not exist at all, implying that the enterprise owner was handling tasks such as planning, coordination, controlling and resource allocation and rewarding.

The 1st IR (1760-1840) involved the development of the steam engine and played a crucial role in improving the transportation of goods and raw materials.

Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive director of the World Economic Forum, explains that this phase of the industrial revolution saw work shift from family-led home production to factory production.

MASS BATCHES

The factories could employ hundreds and even thousands of workers who produced mass batches of standardised goods more cheaply than they could be produced in homes.

The 2nd IR (1830-1915) involved the use of electric power to create mass production. There was the emergence of the modern corporation, in which managers coordinated work, in a factory setting.

Each worker executed the job; differently, workers appeared to be chosen without regard to whether they matched a particular role, management appeared to be whimsical, and there was little standardisation of equipment.

David Bright and co-authors note in Principles of Management that it was possible for workers to avoid work or even destroy machines if they hated management’s ideas.

As a result, production quantity remained mysterious to both management and the worker; management did not clarify how they determined what should be produced. Although this era saw significant changes in technology, management was still lagging behind.

DIGITISATION ERA

The 3rd IR (1969-2010) ushered the digitisation era. This period also witnessed a remarkable growth in theories of management, such as the Theory X and Theory Y and Bureaucratic Management Theory of motivation (Douglas McGregor and Max Weber).

Knowledge began accumulating about what worked in organisational management, according to Prof McGrath.

As knowledge spread to different regions, the new reality of managing knowledge obliged companies to rethink about the proper strategy of managing the relationship between manager and subordinate.

As organisational theorists got more into exploring these philosophies (with a key emphasis on emotional intelligence in management), the importance of management was shifting once more.

The 4th IR (21st century) is witnessing the fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. As Schwab explains, this a stage that is rapidly changing the way humans create, distribute and exchange value.

Today, billions of people are connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited.

These possibilities are expected to be multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, 3-D printing, autonomous vehicles, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing inter alia.

classical curve

Accordingly, managing the realities in the 21st century is probably the most challenging thing in turbulent environmental circumstances in the history of management.

Obviously, the disrupters of 4th IR may follow the classical curve of technology bearing, from hype to disillusionment to a more gradual long-term transformation.

Change may land later than anticipated and affect society and markets in unexpected ways.

However, it should be recognised that the predictable flood of radical developments credited to 4th IR is coming on top of momentous innovations in information technology, communications and media in the last few decades.

Currently, these have already enabled transformative business models like Uber, Amazon and online education among others.

The 4th IR disruptions started slowly but are continuing and accelerating. Neither technology nor the interrelated disruption is an exogenous force over which people have no control.

Everyone is responsible for managing its evolution, in the decisions we make on a day-to-day basis as managers. Drawing on pertinent issues of the 21st century, managers need to learn how to circumnavigate through the uncertain and complicated terrain and of the current highly competitive global economy.

It is thus incumbent for leaders to make sure they take their followers along with them by empowering and motivating them with the skills and knowledge to perform their duties and move the organisation forward. In the end, it all comes down to people and values.

Ndegwa is the Kenya Institute of Management executive director.