In November, I will be talking to various groups about the “Change in Management“. The following text grew as I prepared the material for my presentations. It is a description of the environment and is supposed to help the audience as an introduction – or maybe as an accompanying “reader“.
Over the last few years, modifications, in modern German called “change” gained in speed in geometric dimensions. The internet changes the world in a way never experienced since the “industrialization”. Post-modern times are at an end, we are quickly entering the “information times” (if that is what they are going to call it a hundred years from now).
A large part of said change is about business. The way we work undergoes change. Young enterprises – offering totally new business models, entrepreneurial cultures and unheard-of products and services – rise and dominate the world in the shortest possible time. Just think of Apple, Dell, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and many, many more. And all that remains for Siemens & Co is to look on with growing envy.
Neither is this the end. Highly qualified persons no longer wish to work under a binding employee contract. Some of them merge and work on an honorary basis, sharing their special expertise and knowledge for common goals. For instance, experts from a totally new field, the software industry, first started getting together and building small associations in the USA with ”free“ and ”open“ products in the GNU time. And this is how huge movements grew. Today, the world is unimaginable without them.
Initially, it was typically “simple“ software tools, such as the (GNU) compilers of the 1980ies. But soon enough, the show really started to get under way. The famous “lamp” software was generated: Linux, Apache, MySql and Php. Yet this is only the tip of the iceberg. Today, we have a huge “Open Source” movement consisting of many small and big communities. And this is where the most wonderful things are developed on an unbelievable scale. And all of a sudden, products that were generated in someone’s leisure time and on an honorary basis actually displace the commercial ones. Now these products are the accepted standard all around the world.
Naturally, less complicated technological parts, too, can be linked as huge software systems, such as automobiles. They can be developed openly in an “engineering” way and assembled locally. And it will only be a question of time before the first open e-mobile will cruise the streets in huge quantities.
This development is supplemented by non-IT open source movements. The most famous one is probably Wikipedia. But Wikipedia, too, is just the tip of the iceberg. You can hear the battle-cry everywhere:
“Knowledge is the only commodity that grows as you share it!”
Simultaneously, many NGOs (Non Government Organizations) are started. Among many peoples, they already enjoy a better reputation than the local government. New catchwords are: community, belonging, collaboration. The prefix “co” in particular, as found in co-operation, has become a favoured part of words. Terms such as co-creation, co-working, co-programming start having lives of their own.
New strategies such as “crowd sourcing” develop, trying to make use of the ”intelligence of the masses“. In doing so, they create a true mega trend. The internet dominates the world. Pads, smartphones and laptops are “in”. The market for apps is exploding.
A short time ago, I read that more Germans can imagine life without a car than without Facebook. Even the “Golden Calf ” (Goldene Kalb) of the last century, the car, seems to be on its last leg.
The same happens in business. Enterprises with a totally different philosophy suddenly push the traditional ones to the side. In private life, functions, career, ties, status and titles get less and less important. To make up for it, the need to live your own life as you yourself want it grows. Using the words of Old Frederik: the people want to “be happy in their own façon”, kissing late capitalism and marketing economy good-bye. As I see it, this is a very nice understanding of freedom.
But how could this have happened?
Very simple – we are living an evolution. And said evolution will not leave persons and their forms of living and group-forming out of the equation. Some people have many antennae and therefore witness quite much of the social development. Using their special training and knowledge, they think about and write down the developments of “yesterday, today and tomorrow”. As a general rule, we are talking philosophers and people trained in similar sciences doing their jobs as “observers of evolution“.
Philosophers also formulate contemporary thinking and describe the predominating values of the last thousand years. And those have changed considerably as the centuries went by.
In Medieval Times they said:
“Whatever God wants is good!”
Basically this is a rather simple rule, except you have to know what “is God’s wish”. Then came Utilarism with Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan) stating
“Whatever is good for humans is good!”
Well, basically, this does not sound bad, does it? Especially if you are a human. But then, Kant did not like it. He felt it was not as easy as this. What you need is something like moral standards. So he came up with a very categorical formulation:
The Categorical Imperative (Kategorischen Imperativ):
“All finite and rationally gifted creatures, and therefore all humans, should judge their actions according to the question if said actions can at all times and without any exception follow a prevailing maxim, thereby respecting the rights of all parties concerned, also if only as an end in itself!”
With his evolutionary theory, Darwin provoked the precise Victorian data and Nietzsche was in a hurry about enlightenment (Aufklärung). And we already knew that humans are just ordinary creatures that developed from ape-like ancestors and that they should ideally strive to abolish all uncertainties, answer questions and correct errors through knowledge acquisition.
During the postmodern era, enlightenment became a radical concept and now it can probably no longer be neglected. But the process continued.
After the war, for instance, came Habermas. He said something about the dominance-free (ethical) discourse (Diskurs) as a basis for communication and knowledge acquisition and came up with the following fantastical rules:
- No outward constraint must ever hinder a discussion.
- The best argument will prevail.
- Every participant gets the same chance to take part in the discussion.
- Every participant must be capable of “self-presentation without affront“ and make himself transparent for the others.
- Every participant must verbalize the basic decisions of his or her life and be prepared to accept criticism. (There is a highly sophisticated system of thesis and anti-thesis, the duty to give reasons for all statements, etc).
- Nobody enjoys privileges because of his or her age, experience, authority, etc.
- Every participant must be willing to exchange behavioral expectations with all others. Every participant must be prepared to switch roles with all others.
- The discussion will continue until a consensus is reached. As soon as the new truth has been accepted, it will dominate the life and behavior of all participants.
As I see it, the most important issue for our current development is the term “dominance-free discourse“. It probably originated with Habermas. To be sure, the primary literature is a little clumsy, but still nice reading. If you want to read more, I recommend this small speech (Rede). It contains a few nice suggestions.
And then, there was also an Adorno. Here is a citation:
“If the opponent will not give in, he is disqualified and accused of not possessing exactly those characteristics that were stated as the basic requirements for the discussion. These requirements will be twisted in such a clever way that the other party cannot help but be persuaded; thus, the discussion turns into a farce. Behind this tactics, there is an authoritarian principle: the dissenting person must accept the general opinion of the group. Untouchables project their own untouchability to the one who does not want to let himself be terrorized. Using all these methods, actionism becomes part of the trend it believes and professes to oppose: bourgeois instrumentalism that fetishes the means, because its practical ways cannot bear the reflection on the ends.“ (pp. 180-181).
The citation was taken from the essay: „Marginalien zu Theorie und Praxis“ (1969) and was published by Suhrkamp in the small book: “Kritische Modell 2″ by Adorno. Other than that, you will find plenty of material if you read “Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit” by Habermas, written in 1962.
In my opinion, Adorno and Habermas described quite well what happens today. And today, web 2.0 also helps a lot. And interactive bloggers and twitter, as well as social media like facebook and persons linked in the net are just a logical consequence. But this is only the beginning.
In economics, Hans Ulrich, “devisor of the St. Gallen Management Model“, described the coming change particularly well. I find his eight theses on “new ways of thinking in management” particularly worth reading (you will find them in: Hans Ulrich “Management – Aufsätze 2. Teil von 1981 – 1998″) :
- Accept uncertainty and the unpredictability of the future as a normal state of affairs!
- Extend the borders of your mental horizon!
- Use the categories “both”, instead of “either-or”!
- Think multi-dimensional!
- Use self-organization and self-control as future models for enterprises!
- Consider managing as a meaningful function!
- Focus on what is really important!
- Make use of group dynamics!
Today, it is all about producing more knowledge in order to shape a common future. Consequently, in order to find the right questions, we need and have new communication formats. That is our first creative responsibility, because only after we actually know our problems, we can start looking for solutions.
There was a time when requirements like the “dominance-free discourse” were considered utopian and unsatisfiable. Today, they have become reality and are lived in the internet, as well as in the non-inter-world. New formats, such as jam session, barcamp, open space, fish bowl, Pecha Kucha, Ignite and many more spread all over the place at high speed. They replace many meetings, conferences and in the end even institutions, thereby leading towards a hybrid culture that combines real and virtual life.
These were a few ideas as a pre-view for my presentation (Vortrag) to be held, among other places, at Munich University of the Armed Forces this Thursdays.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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