Warning over ‘myopic management’ danger
1 min read
Manufacturing employers must focus on their "purpose, people and potential" to improve the UK's long-term economic prospects, according to a report from a group of leading managers and parliamentarians.
The Commission on the Future of Management and Leadership – founded by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Management and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) – has warned that "myopic management" threatens the UK's global competitiveness.
The Commission's report – Management 2020: leadership to unlock long-term growth – has brought together interviews and expert testimony from more than 60 individuals and organisations, plus data from a new CMI survey of over 2,000 business leaders and managers, 175 of which are from the manufacturing sector.
It pinpoints a crisis in management. More than half of leaders (57%) surveyed in manufacturing admitted their organisation performed poorly or could do better on key measures.
The Commission has called for employers in the manufacturing sector to learn from the way that leading companies focus on three key areas:
• Purpose – manufacturers need to define their long-term aims beyond just making money or hitting targets. Yet, only 44% say their CEO is rewarded for delivering value to all stakeholders, rather than solely on meeting narrow financial targets.
• People – Government data shows that the UK labour market will need a million new managers by 2020, yet 75% of the leaders surveyed by CMI in the manufacturing sector confessed they could do better at training first-time managers, or don't train them at all. Manufacturing employers are also neglecting mentoring and coaching: less than a quarter (21%) of respondents said their organisations do this well or very well.
• Potential – UK plc is not investing enough to develop the potential of the next generation of managers and leaders. More than half (55%) of manufacturing managers admitted their organisation did not offer young people work experience and a further 72% confirmed that their employer did not report on how their organisation is working with schools, colleges or universities, or does so poorly.
CMI has developed a free management benchmarking tool – www.managers.org.uk/management2020 – to shine a spotlight on the areas identified by the Commission.
