The invention of the telephone was a huge disappointment for managers of the old school (which at that time, of course, was the only school). They believed that the new device would enhance their control over their underlings. Now, they only had to lift the receiver, bark an order, and the dog would obediently perform its tricks. The results, however, confounded these expectations: under-managers became less servile, not more.
Answering back proved psychologically easier over this disembodied medium. Moreover, not only could the boss ring you: you could ring him. Management thus took a great step forward on the long journey from order and obey to advise and consent. That journey is by no means over. But each advance in communications technology has profoundly affected the way in which managers manage. Today's extraordinary array of communication tools is like Pandora's box. Open it, and the world will never be the same.
The opening is not optional. Mobile phones, E-mail, voice mail, the World Wide Web, video-conferencing, call centres, portable computing, etc. have either become as commonplace and essential as the fax machine or will rapidly equal its ubiquity. The impact on management is already clear. Group working, supplier partnerships, horizontal or flat organisation structures, empowerment and the other guru-blessed elements of the new order have all been facilitated and encouraged by the telecommunications boom - and that, in some respects, is still in its infancy.
The examples are mind-blowing by the conventions of quite recent times. A successful American challenger to a Japanese world-leader in high technology operates from a base in the Philippines over a network of PCs and telecommunications. A fast-growing computer services company is based in London, but hooked up to its low-cost programmers in India and Ireland. A plastics business and its largest customer marry their computer systems to share invaluable information in real-time.
A European multi-national locates all its accounting services at one location - but its customers dial a local number in their own country and speak to somebody in their own language. For another multi-national, not of British origin, customer service enquiries world-wide are handled from a single site in Scotland. Task forces composed of several nationalities and functions in several locations never meet face-to-face, but share files and discussions over the network. A mid-West manufacturer finds out by electronics exactly why his sales have slipped in Germany without speaking to a soul.
But speaking to people, and listening to their responses, is the essence of communicating. There are worrying signs that the amazing increase in the technological efficiency and sheer breadth of communications may not lead to better understanding. Most major firms these days boast a 'vision' and a corporate strategic plan designed to turn that dream into reality. But few firms, hand on heart, can boast that the strategy has been effectively communicated throughout the business. Without real understanding and cooperation throughout the firm, how can the strategy be carried through to success?
It can't. Managers are very familiar with the concept of the 'strategic gap', the distance between where the business wants to be, and where it is now. But there's another strategic gap in many cases: between the ambitions of top management and the understanding of those plans among the vital parties - customers, suppliers, and employees. The last and most important category doesn't just mean the shop-floor or the counter staff: managers are just as likely to share alarming ignrorance about the policies which they are expected to implement - that is, to judge by a major Ernst & Young survey.
It found that in most organisations suppliers had no understanding of the strategic plan; customers had only a little understanding; while among middle managers knowledge was only partial. Yet, as the examples given above show, the means exist as never before to communicate with all these groups by the combination of voice, text and images - which, as every public speaker should know, is vastly more effective than any of the three elements on its own.
Use those means, and deeply satisfying results will flow. Raise the strategic understanding of those middle managers from partial to full, by better communication, and, according to Ernst & Young, a significant rise in productivity, quality and profitability will follow. The investigators were so impressed by this improvement in the Holy Trinity of modern management that they declared the communications exercise to be 'a strategy for competitive advantage.' If middle managers are fully informed, of course, they can lead other employees out of what must be even deeper darkness.
Such ignorance is inexcusable. The technology has made possible a quantum leap ahead of notice-boards and printed media. The Halifax Building Society is one of many companies that have opted for 'business television.' Organised like a broadcast news programme, it's viewed in the branches as part of the staff meeting. Companies can put out messages from top management, explain breaking news (good and bad) and - if the company is far-flung geographically - reach the whole world via satellite. Interaction between speakers and audiences is technically feasible, which makes the medium more powerful still.
The key word, though, is powerful. One of the more entertaining episodes in IBM's generally gloomy period of travail came when the former chief executive, John Akers, delivered a diatribe to a group of senior executives, attacking the flaccid management reaction at a time when 'the company is in crisis.' A member of the audience was so deeply impressed by the message that he sent his notes to the staff by E-mail - forgetting that the system was open. Within minutes, Akers's rage had rushed round the world, and into the headlines.
That was involuntary use of the technology. But what if Akers had wanted to electrify the company by awakening everybody to the urgency of its situation? And wouldn't that have been wise? Just as the telephone widened communication, so do the new media. They make it harder and harder to keep unnecessary secrets and to withhold information. That is the time-honoured (or dishonoured) way for managers of the old school to preserve their power. The new communications and the new school of management thus work hand-in-hand to the benefit of customers, suppliers, employees at all levels - and investors.
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