Circumventing the Machine – Wake Up! The World is Changing

By Michelle Malay Carter on January 27, 2008 

punchcardcomputer.jpgI watched a video presentation by two futurists called Media Megatrends.? In it, Glen Hiemstra mentions that his assistant, a member of the?younger?”digital native” generation, remarked that once her phone/mobile device?had projection capability, she would no longer need a computer.? With projection, she could watch video on any wall, and she could type on any flat surface via a projected keyboard.? In essence, she would be circumventing the cpu/monitor machine.

It occurred to me that this concept of, Circumventing the Machine, is a metaphor for our times.? Film makers no longer need the Hollywood “machine” to reach an audience.? Song artists no longer need the record label “machine”, and writers, such as myself,?no longer need traditional media outlets to speak their minds.?

Consequently, traditional media machines are scrambling to figure what their role is within this new paradigm.

Management Megatrends

A parallel in this same universe is that recognition that workers no longer need the “organizational machine” to find work, and young high potentials have the most options.? Enduring years of boredom and other various forms of organizational sadism with an eye toward reaching the C-suite or simply just feeding one’s family is no longer the only way.? The monopoly has been broken, and organizations are struggling to find a way to compete for talent.

What do employees want?? Quite simply, they want to be led compellingly and to be free to use their gifts and talents unencumbered by the trappings of the current “management machine”.

To offer that to employees, organizations will need to:

Incremental Change Will Not Work
Working harder or smarter to implement current management systems is not the answer.? It is time to fundamentally change the way we approach talent management, organizational structure and managerial leadership.? To date, the Requisite Organization model is the only total system model that integrates these items into a coherent whole.

Some Name Dropping
W. Edwards Deming offered his highest compliment to the Requisite Organization model by simply stating that, “Requisite Organization is a system.”

Marshall Goldsmith has this to say about the recent edited book published by Requisite professional society:? “While my work involves helping executives improve themselves, their people and their teams — this book?[Organization Design, Levels of Work & Human Capability]?can help executives develop their entire organizations to achieve positive, lasting change, and so that every individual in the company can make his or her maximum contribution!”

I’m OK.? You’re OK.? Let’s fix the system.

What trends are you seeing?

Photo credit to Vintage Computing and Gaming – Retro Scan of the Week.

Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Strategy, Talent Management

Comments

One Response to “Circumventing the Machine – Wake Up! The World is Changing”

  1. Circumventing the Four-Year University Machine | Mission Minded Management on January 29th, 2008 4:07 pm

    […] not a futurist, but my last post about Management Megatrends got?me thinking about other potential “machines” that may become either irrelevant or […]