Most recently Peter Drucker warned of the imminent crisis in self-management. Drucker diagnoses this as an "unprecedented change in the human condition" and argues that this condition is brought about by "substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people" having choices. An unexpected consequence of the wide variety of choices people have is that "for the first time, they will have to manage themselves ", and "... we are totally unprepared for it."

We must learn to heed Drucker's warning because he is undoubtedly the most unique among Management thinkers today who has consistently demonstrated the unusual capacity to look ahead and recognize the need for change. As workplaces undergo unprecedented changes, as the very concept of work and workplace changes and as the traditional corporate umbrella yields to considerably small protective umbrellas designed and managed by individuals, it becomes critical to develop skills to manage one-self. Drucker's assessment that we are simply unprepared for this challenge is a cause for concern.

It is truly remarkable that modern civilization will have come a full circle from ancient times to the future decades when, once again, the emphasis will be to "Know Thyself", the stirring admonition found in identical words in all great languages of the Indo-European family: gnoti seauton, nosce te ipsum, atamanam viddhi, connai-toi toi meme, et cetera. It is ironic that an idea whose origin is religious now stands as a possible governing principle of management. How does one prepare oneself to depend upon oneself, in a business context? What kind of training can one expect to receive? Once again one needs to look back and begin to learn the fundamentals pertaining to one's goals,one's aspirations and one's talents in order to obtain a self assessment. This will not be easy as it demands an unusual level of objectivity.

In a way this eventual development began in the 90s as enterprises began to downsize and reduce the traditional support structure. Suddenly "managers" found themselves answering telephones, word-processing (typing material!) and making copies etc; chores that were once routinely handled by secretaries and served as a symbol of position and power.The organization of the future will be alive and well even if it contains only one person. The smaller the organization the greater will be the need to put in force a mechanism to self-manage and to enforce unsurpassed objectivity. Even when the organization is not small, the need to self-manage will assume an unusual level of importance as responsibilities will continue to be driven down to the lowest level where the match between the task and talent will have reached a desired optimum. In such an organization the "support structure" will be an elegant box which will have in it an integrated capability to prepare reports, e-mail, fax and voice mail.

It will be a new day and we need to learn to live with it. This webpage intends to serve as a forum to examine these and other questions pertaining to self-management. We may begin to look at the workplace at its transitioning stages. To set the stage for such a dialog, we may begin with an overview of the emerging workplace prepared by the author and may be accessed by visitors to this site.

If you wish to review (a) background of the author, and (b) a review paper by the author on the Emerging Workplace, here is a quick way to access them: Background, Emerging Workplace

REMEMBER THE SAYING 'INNOVATION IS CREATIVE DESTRUCTION'.
MAY WE BEGIN THAT PROCESS NOW IN ORDER TO SET THE STAGE FOR SELF-MANAGEMENT!