Paradigm Shifts for 21st Century Business and Management Professionals
The 21st century is a daunting century full of challenges and possibilities. As the world rapidly changes, Business and Management Professionals should be able to not only manage change but themselves be the change. Old ways of doing things are not anymore proving to be effective. We have to evolve new forms of management and supervision that are appropriate to the sweeping transformations happening all around us and inside us.
What are the paradigm shifts that we need in order to arrive at a new age of global prosperity and peace?
From Competition to Networking
From the inception of free enterprise as signalled by the French Revolution led by the bourgeoisie, competition has been the name of the game. Competition has been progressive and fruitful as it literally changed the economic landscape of the world into modern industrial centres with the defining edge of technology. Yet pure and unbridled competition can also bring the whole world into ruin. Statistics would reveal that in 1920, the ratio of the rich and poor is 1 rich person for every 3 poor persons. Now it is believed that 1 rich person exists for every 72 poor persons. We all know that if this trend continues fifty more years from now, there would be no winners. All will be losers. So we have to redefine competition now with the concept of networking and cooperation. This is very important for the sustainability of business operations worldwide. It’s a get on together or a blow up together.
From Anthropocentrism to Biocentrism
Francis Bacon’s call to conquer nature through scientific enterprise has reaped a lot of good results with the high technology and productivity that the world now experience. However much scientific inventions and discoveries that benefitted us now, Mother Nature is now on the brink of collapse. If that happens, then our whole society will also collapse. Corporations must now inevitably factor in the environment in its operations. We have to realize that all of human life is possible only because of Mother Nature’s support. From a macro level point of view, the human species literally suckle from the breasts of Mother Nature. Thus we now need to expand our development framework to include the interests of the Earth in strategic planning.
From the Mechanical View to the Organic View
Business Managers and Professionals must now do away with the mechanistic approach to organizational management. This kind of paradigm treats the whole set up like a giant clockwork. The problem with this kind of paradigm is that it is limited to analyzing causes and effects only. It cannot analyze counter effects. We have to shift to the organic view that looks into the human organization as a living organism in which all the parts are mutually interrelated with each other. Rather that analyzing causes and effects only, we can analyze relationships which are mutually interdependent with each other where even the tiniest part can send ripples upon the whole and vice versa. Thus there is an innate and holistic appreciation of the whole and the parts.
In these times of changes, the best attitude is to welcome change with open arms and be willing to be the change ourselves.