June 20, 2008
What sociologists can teach managers
Some talk of the Rumble in the Jungle.
Others recall the Thriller in Manilla.
But last week I was lucky enough to witness Dialectic in the Park.
Let me explain. London Business School was hosting a half-day seminar entitled “Humanising Work”, held under the auspices of the Lehman Brothers centre for women in business.
Two great names from the world of sociology, (Lord) Anthony Giddens and Richard Sennett, both gave fascinating talks. Giddens discussed the addictive nature of work, while Professor Sennett, who is based at the London School of Economics, spoke about managers’ loss of control over the organisations they are supposed to be managing.
I referred to Lord Giddens’ talk in my column on Tuesday, and will be discussing Prof Sennett’s thoughts next Tuesday. Speaking purely for myself, it was a very efficient afternoon out.
But why am I bothering to tell you this, apart from the obvious attraction, to me, of naked self-promotion?
Just this: we instinctively look to so-called management gurus and business school academics for ideas and enlightenment. But some of the biggest ideas that might help us understand contemporary business life could come from other, perhaps unexpected sources.
You might not have thought that a sociologist could help you run your company better. But, at least as far as these two distinguished gentlemen are concerned, you would be wrong.
Tom Peters – a genuine, honest-to-goodness management guru – says that when he is at an airport he makes a point of picking up magazines he wouldn’t normally have read, to make sure he is regularly being confronted with new material. Worth a try.
At a certain age (40 plus?), it isn’t possible to change men… A best seller of the 80s in the European allemanic region was “Der kleine Machiavelli”, one of the chapters being devoted to managers in mid-life, asserting that they cannot be changed. By chance I met one of the co-authors (a well-known business consultant) and asked him how much of the book was true.
“All of it” he replied.
Imo, Human Relations should deal with topics like humanising work especially as teams today often consist of people (m/f , transgenders etc) from different nations, of different cultures and skin colours.
Posted by: J.J. | June 22nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm | Report this commentManagers should be left to run the business. Interestingly the German word for “manager” is “Leiter” (leader) as in “Abteilungsleiter” - department manager.
Come to think of it, management gurus and business school academics hardly figure in the allemanic media, although I can think of Stephan Garelli (IMD in Lausanne) who gets asked questions each year when the World Competitiveness Report comes out (the one where the USA and Singapore usually head the list).
Otherwise it seems to be bank economists (headed by O Issing, ex DB now ECB, who seems to be the doyen) and bank stock market analysts who get invited by the media. Another group is top managers who get to comment on their results.
Posted by: J.J. | June 22nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm | Report this comment[…] of are sociologists and Stefan Stern, columnist at the FT, wrote after the event that managers can learn a great deal from sociologists. […]
Posted by: How People Live their Lives at Lady Geek | June 29th, 2008 at 6:13 pm | Report this comment