The Power of the Uncertainty Principle

TRIMILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT
The Power of the Uncertainty Principle

By Biju Verkey

The millennial organisation will be complex and nimble. And the millennial manager will have to be capable of dealing with the uncertainty involved in managing this organisation. Caveat: traditional ways of management will not help

Organisations are, essentially,human creations. They are expected to fulfill specific objectives, or, to paraphrase Peter Drucker, help common people do uncommon things. However, at the beginning of the millennium, we find that organisations have become complex entities. They are omnipresent in our lives; all human activities involve some kind of organisation, formal or informal. And the various factors that will impact our individual and organisational lives this millennium will affect them, and, in turn, affect the primary instrument through which organisational objectives are achieved-the manager.

I see several factors at play at the beginning of the millennium: globalisation; the increase in the number of mature and aware customers; technological advances that make the concepts of space and time meaningless; an increasing concern over good governance; and the emergence of a 21st Century workforce. These will make the task of the millennial manager exciting, and extremely difficult.

As if these are not enough challenges for one species of organisational life-form (the manager) to cope with, there are more inner-organisational changes. People no longer work in brick-and-mortar offices alone; they work from homes; they work from hotel rooms; and they work from wherever they can. Managers will suddenly find themselves having to manage employees over the wires. Thus, the millennial organisation will be complex and nimble. And the millennial manager will have to be capable of dealing with the uncertainty involved in managing this organisation. Caveat: traditional ways of managing will not help.

One characteristic that all millennial managers must possess is the expertise to deal with temporary relationships. Organisations will be a collection of diverse groups of people, integrated for synergy. This will be a temporary structure that stays relevant till it achieves its purpose. That done, it will disband.

The role of the manager as we now know it was defined in the 20th Century in the context of (relative) stability. A manager's role then involved a set of pre-defined sequential activities focused on resource-optimisation. That is no longer the case. In this millennium, organisations have to achieve a high level of performance by providing superior products and services to the customer within an ethical framework of governance. I believe the millennial manager will have to fulfill six roles:

THE INFLUENCER. To manage in the midst of uncertainty, managers have to be capable of understanding the dynamics of complex markets. This understanding comes from a mastery over business realities in 2 capacities, as a specialist in one's domain, and as a generalist who understands the implications of changes outside the domain on the function, and then of changes in the domain on other functions. Control will no longer be a relevant management tool, and will be replaced by influence. This will be acquired through individual expertise and is a function of credibility-which is about the manager's locus standi to be an influencer-and confidence, which is about the employee's faith in the manager's abilities. Any lag between the manager's learning curve and the knowledge-curve (in his domain of specialisation) will weaken his or her role as an influencer. Thus, millennial managers will have to learn continuously.

THE NETWORKER. Dealing effectively with complexities will require higher levels of interdependence, thus making networking a prime managerial competency. Only a widely networked manager will be able to integrate efforts and produce results. Networking will bring the manager closer to sources of information and help cut across organisational barriers.

THE SELF-AWARE INDIVIDUAL. Knowing oneself is no longer a philosophical exercise. While dealing with complexities and uncertainties, every manager must be aware of personal capabilities and limitations.

THE WORK-LIFE BALANCER. Work, the domain where managers spend most of their active life, is meaningless if it fails to provide growth on the material and spiritual fronts. The concept of the organisation-person, who gives long hours to work, ignoring other facets of life is dated. Organisations and individuals are becoming sensitive to this challenge and an increasing number of organisations are installing specific programmes to see that people lead a holistic and healthier life without compromising their contribution.

THE KEEPER OF DIVERSITY. Millennial managers will have to deal with diversities at 2 levels: in the marketplace and the workplace. This diversity could be the preferred product feature of an ethnic, religious, linguistic group; or the work preference of women, older people or the physically challenged. The millennium belongs to managers who are capable of celebrating diversity.

THE CHANGE MASTER. Dealing effectively with complexities needs effective change management skills. Overcoming resistance to change, and creating an organisational context that facilitates change, will be prime managerial responsibilities this millennium. Managers need to master change enabling skills which will stimulate creativity and provide the basis for creating an organisation that will compete successfully in the 21st Century.

Managers who aspire for linear career progression or prefer stability will turn out a losers. The structural metamorphosis of organisations, the re-definition that jobs are certain to undergo, and changes in the competencies required to be effective will prevent the straight-jacketing of managers into pigeon-holes. This calls for a shift from traditional models of stable career planning which most managers are used to, to an unstable model where managers search for opportunities and options continually.

THE ONUS OF PLANNING THE CAREER WILL BE ON THE INDIVIDUAL. Organisations will be only serve as secondary factors supporting these career-plans. Every manager will have to undergo a periodic re-examination of career-and life-goals, and learn to identify opportunities for growth from places outside the workplace.

Thus, the millennial managers role is a complex one. He-and, increasingly, she-will have to deal with a complex external environment, and an equally complex internal environment. The ability to deal with diverse groups of customers and diverse groups of employees, each with their own bundle of motivations, will be a pre-requisite to organisational competitiveness. This, I believe, will be the biggest challenge facing the millennial manager.

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