Released by: The Edge
Date: 28 August 2006
Flattened World - A New Playing Field
Look around and you will find that the world is changing so rapidly with advances in the information and communication technology (ICT) and the impact of globalisation. Simply, in order for us to survive in this new era, we have to stay relevant, be competent and purposeful. We can stay relevant by continuously developing and enhancing our own competency in response and adapting to the changing
needs of our times. Thomas Friedman's "flattened world" has created a new playing field where we can now through ICT technology have access to more people in more places in more days and in more ways than ever before. This ubiquitous web enabled phenomenon while threatening traditional ways of doing business has created a window of opportunities for new players who can see the `paradigm shift'.
For when the paradigm shifts, everyone goes back to zero and has to start and compete on equal footing. Past success therefore does not guarantee future success for both organisation and individual if they do not keep
themselvesrelevant through being distinctively competent in what they excel in.
In this rapidly evolving environment, both organisations and their managers have to continually take stock, assess the situation and re-invent themselves. As managers there are a few simple questions we have to ask ourselves: Where are we heading? How do we keep up? What are we worth? Are we still effective, competent and relevant to deal with the demand of today business and professional world?
Management textbooks on the other hand will identify six specific competencies - starting with self management competency, communication competency, functional management competency, teamwork competency, strategic planning and execution competency, industry and global awareness competency.
In their paper The Core Competence of the Corporation, C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel describe core competency as "an area of specialised expertise that is the result of harmonising complex streams of technology and work activity". For organisation and individual to be resilient, both organisational capability and individual competency need to be continuously developed, enhanced and
expanded so that they remain relevant and competitive in the business they are in.
Time Is Short - Optimise Your Career
The up and coming manager has to reflect on a number of things in order to better grasp the current situation and strategise a plan to move forward (and upward). Assuming that an individual enters the job market immediately after completion of his tertiary education at the tender age if between 20 years to 22 years, the individual will have, on average, approximately 35 working years before
retirement at say 55 or 56 years old. In terms of wealth creation and life career development, the 35 years career and time journey is not very long, and the up-and-coming manager ought to identify what he or she hopes to achieve within this short time span before he or she retires.
Let us assume that one expects to be financially independent before retirement. This would imply that one would need a certain level of necessary tertiary education and or a job discipline and competency in order to secure a job which commands a respectable salary in one's career or at least to gain a secure foothold in the climb up the corporate ladder or one's own business.
But we must remember that the significant investment we place in tertiary education is not the end of the journey - in fact it is merely the beginning. Competency today is no longer about how many distinctions you've scored in your exams but about whether you have the passion, knowledge, skills and are able to continuously learn new things and be reasonably good at it to meet with the competency
requirement of your jobs and career advancement.
The Peter's Principle of Competency
Consider the Peter's Principle, coined by Dr Lawrence J Peter in 1968, which says, "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence". Within a hierarchical organisation we will all be eventually promoted to the highest level that we are capable to operate competently. However, after this point, further promotion will only result in the manager occupying a position
where he may become incompetent in carrying out tasks required of him and would need to be trained and developed further otherwise he would be ineffectual.
Competency, as far as the Malaysian Institute of Management is concerned, is about continuously trying to push up one's level of personal competency so that the up-and-coming manager will continuously be competent and relevant as he or she moves through his or her career journey which will become a "road most traveled". Within the 35-year career progression of a professional manager, it is
important that the high performance and high potential manager stay competent at every level that he or she may be promoted to.
The Managerial Growth Competency Matrix
The above chart illustrates the Managerial Growth Competency Model - all employees and managers will, over the years, eventually be promoted through the ranks to a level where he or she can no longer progress due to their incompetence. The "Eagles" are the high flyers who are the high performance-high potential individuals who soar up the corporate ladder due to their self-management competency,
astute business and managerial acumen, strategic foresight and execution capability, ability to learn, adapt, execute and take on new tasks and responsibilities. The "Falcons, Hawks and Pigeons" are used to describe the different levels of managers who will progress in the organisation hierarchy as they travel though their life career journey. The "Sparrows", on the other hand, are destined to
remain in the sub-manager level for the rest of their careers.
Most up and coming managers will attempt to follow the path of the "Falcons" as that would be the most normal and healthy progression curve in the chart - a gradual and steady rise through the ranks to the highest level of management before the end of one's career through continuous professional development and life long learning.
Time Span of Work Complexity
All jobs and tasks come with certain a time spans in which the tasks at hand are expected to be planned and completed. Factory floor workers strive to finish batches of work within the day. Unit manager schedules production work for the coming weeks. The General manager look at projects and work which has a two to four years time span and the CEO or Managing Director would be looking into the time
horizon of more than four years in his planning approach. These managers are the ones who will have to look at long term strategic direction and build capacity for future sustainability of the business. They will also be concerned about future trends, threats and opportunities that will appear on the horizon.
Holistic Management Competency
Competency training and development for potential managers will also have to consider the operating level of the worker. These different levels will determine the amount and degree of interaction the up and coming manager will have to master. At the primary level the worker must be concerned with the development and acquisition of self-competency. This is the pursuit of personal mastery level
where the worker learns to deal with his own work knowledge, skills, needs, wants, ambitions, aspirations, fears, concerns, motivation and self confidence.
This then expands to dealing with colleagues within the working unit (Intra-Group Management) and then within the department (Inter-Group Management) moving to Functional Management and onwards. Competency in dealing and managing expands further to the whole organisation, between organisations in the industry and eventually operating at the global level.
The real challenge and task is to recruit and develop people to achieve mastery and competency at every level of management to be high achievers and performers.
Life-Long Learning and Continuing Professional Development
Life-Long Learning (LLL) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) have become buzzwords in today's global economy, just like the ubiquitous MBA.
Human Resource departments in major companies all over the world are constantly enrolling their staff in courses, seminars and classes to better develop their human capital. And the subjects that are learnt cover a myriad of areas related to their work, the operation of the organisation or the much larger needs of industry and globalisation.
It should come as little surprise that many are taking up Mandarin classes as the burgeoning Chinese economy attracts businesses of all kinds to its shores. Not only is the global workforce becoming increasingly bilingual or trilingual, it is also embracing new technology. The stakes are higher for managers as they must also make themselves familiar with new skills and know-how to better manage
and sell their respective organisations to the world. The General Managers and Managing Directors of tomorrow must be well versed with every facet of the organisation from strategic planning to marketing and finance to human resource and ICT. Only then can each component work with the other and drive the organisation towards excellence and sustainable high performance.
The Competent Manager and the Ideal Future Manager
Many confuse the possession of an MBA as a stamp of quality, a signal to current and prospective employers that the holder of the post-graduate qualification is a "competent manager". This is a common fallacy.
The MBA does not indicate high competency in management but it does indicate that the holder of this piece of paper is capable of acquiring knowledge to get the job done. Only when the MBA is coupled with the right attitude towards work and its challenges, then can we say that we have the makings of a Competent Manager.
Knowledge acquisition and behaviour performance are obvious ingredients of today's Competent Manager. Some individuals upon being promoted remain first line managers all their lives due to the fact that they do not display any inclination to learn and discover more despite being good at what they currently do.
On the other hand we sometimes find unique individuals continuously promoted through rank and file to achieve the pinnacle of the careers with many more years to spare before retirement. It is these same individuals who are even retained, on contractual basis after retirement, to continue running or advising the company. Not only have they much knowledge to impart, they are also capable of
acquiring more knowledge despite moving up to the highest levels of management.
It is important that management realises that an important segment of its business is the retention and development of its human capital. Human capital development should not be seen as an unnecessary cost but as an investment for the future. Ignoring this fact will only result in the organisation and its individual managers becoming stagnant and eventually all together irrelevant.
That will be the death knell in the environment where the manager's learning and competency must change faster than the rate of change. Workplace productivity, optimisation and retention of talent must take into account competency development and assessment to ensure people progressing and traveling on their "career road most traveled" will be well equipped to meet the challenges and demand of
being a relevant and competent manager in the 21st Century.
Dr Wilson Tay is CEO of the Malaysian Institute of Management. The Institute, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, invites companies and professional managers to be members. Contact MIM Membership Support & Outreach at (03) 2164 5255; fax: (03) 2165 4681; email: inquiries@mim.org.my or visit www.mim.org.my
