[2107]
MANAGEMENT STYLES
Once I had abandoned science in favour of management, this became my life. In any case, I make no apologies for management in all its aspects being one of the main foci of the overall compendium. Where previously natural selection had been at the heart of evolution, management is at the heart of social evolution which has taken over our progress to the future. Effective management is, therefore, essential for the future of humanity; especially where the pace of evolution is growing exponentially.
Effective management is not necessarily, though, what is taught on MBA courses at business schools. Indeed, I would support those who question such teaching even though I was one of the small group which produced just about the most successful MBA course for the masses.
I have, of course, written a number of books on the subject. Even the more traditional of these do, however, try to apply some commonsense to their subjects. Of these, the best selling and hopefully the most influential were those on marketing, brought together in:
2012 Marketing Material
Especially my MBA text, starting at:
9430 Marketing Chapter 1 - Introduction
Though my attempt to apply even more commonsense to the subject was relatively unsuccessful (at least in terms of sales):
9014 Marketing Practice Chapter 1 - Theory and Reality
And then there were the more traditional, but also popularly oriented, version:
9090 Marketing Manager 1 - Philosophy of Marketing
And that, latterly, catering for e-business at the time of the dot.com boom:
But my most important contributions, at least in terms of future developments, are those in the formal sections reporting the outcomes of the Futures Observatory:
To put all of this in context, though, this collection contains information about many of my practical experiences in the field of management. As well as covering a wide range of different roles, across the spectrum of industries, it illustrates a deal of bad management practice and occasionally some good practice! It also, for the record, tracks the changes over the past half century.
Starting at the beginning, my first work in the advertising agency (0136
FCB
(0136T*)) was atypical or the wider world. My first real experience of management was,
therefore, that at PST. As brand management this was very much at the
leading edge of marketing and indeed of management in general. Although its
man-management practices, along with its ethical standards, left much to be
desired it represented some of the best operational management I have
experienced.
9268 PST - Phillips Scott and Turner
(9268T*)
0157 Brand Management at PST
0188 PST planning
My subsequent job at Gallagher's, however, started in a management environment which was a hangover from previous times:
0190 Gallaher leaf
0164 Gallahers - tobacco production
Most of my experience there was, though, of management styles which were at
least as good as those of PST in the context of marketing, and was more
generally applicable:
0111 Gallahers training
0177 Tobacco Division
0197 Condor to brand leader
0105 Gallahers market research
0146 Condor advertising
0126 Gallahers Commercials
Though the new style didn't last forever:
0156 Gallahers -- John Elliott resigns
But Cussons, where I moved next, demonstrated many of the worst elements of bad management:
0107 Cussons
0145 1001 Dri Foam
0175 Cussons sales force
0167 McCann Ericsson
0169 Cussons - financial madness
Whilst BTR displayed some of the worst ethical standards (0158 BTR politics), some of its management styles were ahead of its time. Moreover, though some of its operational activities were almost antedeluvian (0127 Polymeric Production (boots), 0101 BTR moulding shop & 0160 BTR production control) and its corporate strategy was at times woefully wrong, its general approach in the US style, again ahead of its time, was often commendable.
0151 BTR -- British Tyre and Rubber
0183 BTR new products
0189 BTR management
(0189T*)
Above all, I would cite the example of IBM which followed my time at BTR as the best managed company I have ever worked for. In my original book I justifiably eulogized about its management practices as superb; almost without exception, from shop-floor operations to its long range planning. The later (unpublished) version of this book, included in this compendium, has the advantage of also being able to examine its later mismanagement which nearly destroyed it in the later 1980s/1990s.
9412 IBM Chapter 1 - Introduction
It was, at the time though, the almost perfect corporation; especially in terms
of its human resource policies.
9010 IBM Chapter 7 - Human Relations Strategy
0143 The Advantages of Working There
And, especially in terms of its sales operations.
9053 IBM Chapter 5 - Sales Supermen
0162 Sales Enthusiasm & Learning
0138 Idiosyncratic Selling
0172 Sales Prioritisation
0114 Sales Detective Work
0117 Reference Visits
0199 Presentations
0165 Account Management
9267 Sales Territories
0104 Competitor Salesmen
0185 Hundred Per Cent Clubs
As well as its commitment to education:
0153 Teaching
0163 Business Education
0259 Education Staff
0173 Sales Trainer
0129 Dummy Calls
0244 GSD Education
0220 GSD Business School
(0220T*)
9120 LBS Teaching
And, whilst it was selling large mainframes to DP managers,
even its marketing made sense.
9069 IBM Chapter 9 - Marketing Strengths
0246 GSD Marketing Group
0255 System/38
0209 IBM 5110
0181 Terry Osborne
0219 IBM Corporate Strategy Group
But, as soon as it tried to respond to the demands of mass markets, its approach to management - especially to marketing management - fell apart:
0206 IBUs IBM Independent Business Units
0213 Demise of Biomedical
9093 IBM Chapter 11 - Microsoft
9056 IBM Chapter 12 - PC Disasters
9057 IBM Chapter 15 - Whodunit?
Offering some balance, my experiences of setting up a small
sized (or to be truthful, medium sized) business of my own showed just how easy
it is to get everything wrong!
0261 Setting Up Computerland
9281 Computerland Business Case 1986
0260 Building Computerland
9110 Computerland Brochure 1986
0184 Computerland Sales Force
0269 ComputerLand Salesmen
0290 ComputerLand Systems Support
0222 Computerland - the Road to Bankruptcy
9134 Computerland Follow-Up Prospectus 1987
And the software house I then joined was little better:
9178 Mentor 1 - Consultancy after Computerland
9121 Mentor 2 - Mentor
But, despite all the criticisms made of it, I admired the top level of the Civil Service and especially its recruitment procedures:
9312 - Civil Service Selection Board
As you will see, from the other sections, my practical work at the Open University paradoxically as opposed to my academic studies - was focused on matters other than management. Even so, its collegial organization held until it abandoned it - many lessons for the future shape of corporate governance in the knowledge age(s).
9180 OU 1 - Starting at the Open University
9124 OU4 - The OBS Family
(9124T*)
9179 OU14 - Head of Centre -- Strategy and
Policy
(9179T*)
Overall then, though my predictions of future developments may be useful, I believe that it is my historical record of the IBM of 25 years ago which best shows the way forward!
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