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Red de Revistas Cientficas de Amrica Latina, el Caribe, Espaa y Portugal
Sistema de Informacin Cientfica
Franck Renand
Resea de "Management Challenges for the 21st Century" de de Peter F. Drucker
RAE - Revista de Administrao de Empresas, vol. 40, nm. 4, octubre-diciembre, 2000, pp. 106-108,
Fundao Getulio Vargas
Brasil
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RAE - Revista de Administrao de Empresas,
ISSN (Verso impressa): 0034-7590
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Fundao Getulio Vargas
Brasil
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1
from Peter F. Drucker
New York : Harperbusiness, 1999. 207 p.
by Franck Renand, Prof. Dr.,
Director, International Executive MBA,
Professor of Advanced Strategic Management, Marketing
and E-commerce, Member of the Scientific Council, Centro
de Cincias Sociais Aplicadas, Universidade do Oeste
de Santa Catarina, UNOESC-Joaaba, Brazil.
E-mail: franck@unoescjba.rct-sc.br
n this hottest masterpiece, the Guru oI
management analyzes the Iorces that will
shape the Iuture oI organizations, managers and
ultimately society as a whole.
Throughout the book, which is divided in
seven parts, the author shows that what is
successIul and accepted today is most likely to
be entirely counterproductive in the years ahead.
Peter Drucker`s main idea
Managers need to adopt new paradigms and
address new chal l enges ari si ng Irom t he
Desafios gerenciais para o sculo XXI.
So Paulo : Pioneira, 1999. 176 p.
v. 40 r. 4 0ul./0ez. 2000 %
Ce::eate c:ltlca
changing social, economic and demographic
realities oI the evolving marketplace. Regarding
the most important challenges companies will
Iace, a survey conducted by the Financial Times
(Smy, 1999) corroborates the author`s main
argument (see Table 1).
Drucker demonstrates how only organizations
which move boldly Iorward, working their way
through the myriad oI issues that arise, stand any
chance oI prospering in the Iuture. We share a
similar opinion considering that the Iuture oI
society as a whole rests squarely on the ability oI
managers to react successIully to the challenges
they currently Iace.
The challenges of new
management paradigms
Peter Drucker discusses the old and the new
paradigms oI management in today`s rapidly
changing world. He states that since the 1980s,
t he ol d paradi gms have act ual l y become
obstacles and must be replaced.
Good management means to be responsible
Ior everything that aIIects the perIormance oI
the organization both Iactors under direct
control and those totally beyond it. Moreover,
in the next century, the Iocus should not be on
managing people but rather on getting people to
work together, and that requires leadership rather
than management. This insight is very useIul
given that the management challenges oI the
present should be embraced as opportunities to
move Iorward rather than ties to the past.
The challenges of economic
and political realities
In this section, the author argues that, to make
progress, business managers should avoid
initiatives that are politically driven or based on
national or regional economies. Instead, the
organization should keep its Iocus on the issue
oI global competitiveness. In the near-term,
managers should be realistic about currency
Iluctuations as the ability to manage currency
exposure will become very important. However,
this assumption seems less important since seven
months aIter the publication Drucker`s book, the
Financial Times revealed that senior executives
are more concerned about the recruitment
implications arising Irom increasing business
globalization (Table 1). Actually, more than
three-quarters oI the respondents put recruitment
concerns as one oI the top three challenges they
Ioresaw in the new millennium (Smy, 1999).
The challenge of change leaders
According to Drucker, change leaders should
Iocus on expl oi t i ng new opport uni t i es
vigorously, but there is a natural bias in any
organization towards continuity. For instance,
when new and innovative services, products or
processes have been developed, the change
leader is totally committed to exploiting those
opportunities to the Iullest with the most able
and best perIorming people in the company
being responsible.
Here, the author accurately shows that the
organi zat i on must have a wi l l i ngness t o
create change, while the organization culture
must see change as a positive and desired
objective.
The challenge of information
The need Ior executives to routinely seek
new kinds oI business and market inIormation
that today`s technology provides was already
present in Drucker`s (1998) previous book,
Managing in a time of great change. Now he
argues that Ior the 50 years the inIormation
revolution has already been under way, most
oI t he emphasi s has been on col l ect i ng,
s t or i ng, r et r i evi ng, t r ans mi t t i ng and
presenting data.
Recruitment of skiIIed staff
Increased pressures from stakehoIder groups
Increased environmentaI demands
Increased worId trade friction
Currency voIatiIity
Access to finance
Re-emergence of infIation
TabIe 1 - Most important business chaIIenges
companies wiII face in 2000
ChaIIenge
Source: Smy (1999).
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Maaaemeat c|alleaes |e: t|e 21
IJ
ceata:,
2000, RAE - Rev|sla de Adr|r|slraao de Erpresas / EAE3P / FS\, 3ao Pau|o, 8ras||
& v. 40 r. 4 0ul./0ez. 2000
In t he 21
IJ
cent ury, t here wi l l be l ess
emphasis on data and more on inIormation
how to redeIine tasks using greater amounts oI
i nIormat i on and how t o redeIi ne t he
organizations carrying out that task.
We go along with the idea that inIormation
syst ems Ior managers wi l l be equal l y
compatible with the needs oI all knowledge
workers within the organization. For Drucker,
the real key is to develop a system to gather
this type oI inIormation about the broader
envi ronment , market s, cust omers, non-
customers, technology, Iinance and society in
general.
The challenge of knowledge
worker productivity
In the 20
JD
century, manual workers have
always been viewed (economically) as costs oI
production, to be controlled and ultimately
reduced wherever and whenever possible.
However Ior the new millennium, knowledge
workers are not a cost that should be minimized.
They are assets that need to be managed and
preserved. 'The most valuable assets oI a 20
JD
cent ury company were i t s product i on
equipment. The most valuable asset oI a 21
IJ
century institution, whether business or non-
business, will be its knowledge workers and
their productivity (Drucker, 1999).
Drucker (1994) already explored this issue
in the Iamous Post-capitalist societv where he
explained that knowledge not labor, land, or
other Iorms oI capital is the planet`s primary
resource. Pursui ng t hi s assumpt i on i n
Management challenges for the 21
IJ
centurv, he
remarkably demonstrates how all the economic
and social gains oI the 20
JD
century, including
the emergence oI the 'developed countries,
were made squarely on the back oI increases in
the productivity oI manual workers as newer
and better tools became available. Comparable
work on i ncreasi ng t he product i vi t y oI
knowledge workers is just getting underway.
The challenge of managing oneself
Pet er Drucker argues t hat knowl edge
workers will have a longer working liIe than
manual laborers. In Iact, most knowledge
workers will have productive careers oI 50
years or l onger. Si nce t he average l i Ie
expectancy oI a successIul business is only
about 30 years, knowledge workers must be
prepared to have two or three careers. It Iollows
that people should manage themselves rather
t han Iol l ow a pat t ern set down by an
organization.
To conclude, this book should be regarded
as a valuable masterpiece both Ior executives
and academics. The paperback helps to open a
window on the Iuture at the same time as it
questions the biases oI our centralized mindset
(Malone and Laubacher, 1998).
However, we acknowledge that reviewing
the work oI the master oI management was a
delicate task. As a result, we choose to close
this academic book review on the Guru`s
latest message: 'The changes discussed in
this book go way beyond management. They
go way beyond the individual and his or her
career. They actually deal with the Iuture oI
society.
Relerences
0RuCKER, Feler F. Fcst-capita|ist sccicty. hew York . harerCollins
Fublishers, 1OO4.
0RuCKER, Feler F. Marair ir a timc cf rcat c|arc. Flume,
1OO8.
MAL0hE, Thomas w., LAuBAChER, Roberl J. The dawn ol lhe ELance
Economy. |arvarJ 5usircss Fcvicw, v. 7G, n. 5, . 144152, Sel./0cl.
1OO8.
SMY, Lucy. Recruilmenl. skilled slall is a lo concern. |irarcia| Timcs,
0ec. G, 1OOO.