Practical Coach: Management Skills for Everyday Life, The

The New Rules

What do we expect of managers today? Managers must be able to manage a diverse workforce in a decentralized, global, and boundaryless organization. Managers must be able to manage virtual teams in which team members rarely or never meet face to face. To achieve and maintain competitive advantage, managers must be able to decrease product cycle time without compromising quality or costs. Because of downsizing, they must be able to accomplish more with fewer employees. And, they must understand and leverage new information technologies, lest they fall behind on the information highway.

Imagine a school with children that can read or write, but with teachers who cannot, and you have a metaphor of the Information Age in which we live. ...