Managing in the Next Society 8

Part IV The Next Society
Chapter 15 The Next Society
- …
- The Manufacturing Paradox
- Will the Corporation Survive?
- The Future of Top Management
- The Way Ahead

Manufacturing was gaining its success during the last century. The economy of the world boosted very significantly because of it. Information and IT are less important than the new theories used in manufacturing. The success, however, has led to significantly decreasing value per manufactured unit. This is because the new theories and practices have enabled factories an extreme widespread efficiency resulting in fierce competitions. Only because the productivity has increase sharply at the same time does the total value enjoyed by its labor remain preserved. The manufacturing successful cycle is really similar to that of farming. Like farming, today's manufacturing is only supported by a small fraction of the world's workforce.

Together with the phenomenon of aging population, the manufacturing's previous success in developed and new economies will have serious difficulty to repeat its tremendous success in developing countries. Big economies like China, Brazil, and India probably will be able to count on their domestic markets, but small ones like Paraguay and Thailand probably will face serious barrier to enter export markets. Discussing about barriers, Drucker forecasts that the trend of regional economic blocks, like European Union and NAFTA, will be more and more dominant. For developing countries like Mexico, economically it is most rational to integrate with North America's two developed economies albeit politically unthinkable. The regional economic unions promote free trade among members, but implement barriers for others outside to enter, despite the lip service of the world free trade, especially from the developed world. Barriers of export-import trade are becoming likeable tools for many countries in order to survive their own industries. This is also very similar to barriers imposed to farming produce previously.

The shift from manufacturing-based economies to knowledge-based economies and societies, according to Drucker, will also impact corporations. A few principles, among others, used in manufacturing-based economies are (1) labors need corporations more than corporations need workers, (2) maximum integration puts corporations in the edge, and (3) corporations have more information than do customers. In the knowledge economy, the principles change drastically. Now knowledge workers are capitalists in two ways. One, all together they have the most scarce production factor, i.e. the knowledge. Two, all together they have investment capital through many institutions, such as pension funds. The fact that knowledge workers are significantly more powerful turns the table around. Corporations need knowledge workers more than knowledge workers need corporations. Another important note related to this issue is the trend of short-term, part-time employments as opposed to lifetime ones. Disintegration of businesses is the best strategy, since the cost of coordination, transaction, and information exchange goes down drastically. Moreover, because of information revolution, customers do have more information, therefore more power.

Bribery imposed to knowledge workers always fail. Stock options and high salaries are not the incentive for them, although the absence of dignified money benefits as common payoff is really a disincentive. What puts knowledge workers on fire is the recognition. They are not only workers but also associates or affiliates. The situation of bosses and subordinates is not the norm anymore. Senior and junior situation is more suitable. Knowledge workers also have strong affinities to their specialized expertise colleague, even outside their own organizations. They work at the organizations but do not belong to. The upheaval caused by sudden changes in societies should put countries, including developed countries, in caution. America is again proving itself resilient to it, but what about other countries, especially ones with rigid labor markets, such as Germany, French, and Japan.

Corporations' development and innovation once were the functions of their internal research labs. The technology used in an industry was unique in the particular industry. Nowadays, however, technologies are used across industries. Corning, a glass company, already shifted to high tech product markets. Successful consumer electronic companies like Sony use transistors born from Bell Lab that gave them away because of their little value to Bell. Not based on internal labs anymore, corporations now are more likely to have joint ventures, minority participations, strategic alliances, etc to innovate and develop. A venture is more likely consisting of corporations from various industries since technology developed in a particular industry can be applied across.

Many executives in the world fail as CEO's, although they exceptionally performed in their previous jobs. This shows that current top management practices are becoming unsuitable and will likely be irrelevant in the next society. Drucker argues that if the executives are best people, proven by their previous experiences, their failures as CEO's really a sign of system failures. Many corporations have experimented with new models of corporations and top management practices. There is a case in which a corporation has many CEO's rather than one. Each CEO has a specific, top responsibility like HR and finance, parallel with his or her role as a head of one operation unit. Another new practice is in the case where the CEO plays a role as a human information system, connecting, aligning, and coordinating various parts of the corporation's operating units. Drucker, however, does not give specific, single management practices for the future. He suggests that there should be various models of corporations and top management practices from which we can choose ones suitable for our own businesses. More unprecedented will occur.

So, in the very last of his book, Drucker says that we need new institutions, new theories, new ideology, and new practices in order to survive and thrive in the next society. He concludes his main point using the analogy taken from industrial revolutions. In the age were occurring new theories, new ideology, and new practices in responding to unprecedented phenomena and thoughts.

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Jack Welch

Lagi, dari buku Little Book of Big Ideas: Business karya Dr John Lipczynski, saya belajar siapa Jack Welch, setelah Peter Drucker sebelumnya. Saya pernah membaca buku Jack Welch and the GE Way. Dibandingkan dengan buku tersebut, penjelasan dari buku Dr Lipczynski memang lebih ringkas, tapi cukup komprehensif. Kalau Anda betul baca buku ini, Anda akan dapati sorotan pertama yang mencolok adalah Jack Welch bergabung dengan GE selama 41 tahun sejak 1960, 21 tahun di antaranya sebagai CEO. Pernahkah Anda membayangkan kesetiaan seperti itu pada tokoh bisnis lain? Suksesnya dan juga GE sangat dipengaruhi oleh visi strategis, kepemimpinan yang kuat, dan kemampuan komunikasi prima dari seorang Jack.

Jack Welch bergabung dengan GE sebagai insinyur yunior setelah mendapatkan PhD di bidang Teknik Kimia. Satu tahun di GE, ia pusing dengan birokrasi yang ada. Karena memang berkualitas dunia, niatnya untuk keluar dicegah oleh manajemen dengan memberikan kompensasi karier yang cemerlang. Kariernya yang menanjak dengan cepat itu ditunjang pula oleh gaya marketingnya yang agresif. Selang 18 tahun, pada 1979, dia menjadi senior vice president, dan dua tahun kemudian (artinya 20 tahun sejak bergabung) CEO - CEO termuda sepanjang sejarah GE. Untuk mengatasi birokrasi GE yang lamban, Welch memperkenalkan sejumlah reformasi.

Target pertama Jack sebagai CEO adalah merampingkan bisnis. Banyak bagian dan unit yang dijual kalau tidak dapat menjadi nomor satu atau nomor dua di dunia pada bidang industrinya masing-masing tentu. Nyimpang dikit, pernah baca buku Jim Collins? Salah satu kriteria bisnis yang bagus untuk Anda menurut Collins dan rekan adalah Anda mampu menjadi yang terbaik di dunia pada bisnis tersebut. Walaupun GE tidak termasuk dalam daftar perusahaan hebat menurut buku Good to Great, Jack Welch merupakan contoh bagus untuk kriteria yang terbaik di dunia tersebut. Balik ke buku Dr Lipczynski, banyak yang jadi korban reformasi dan inovasi yang dilakukan Welch. Sebaliknya banyak juga yang makin optimal (ini prinsip right people on the bus, wrong people off the bus dari Jim Collins - Y Pan).

Hal lain yang membuat GE berbeda adalah visi Jack Welch untuk membuat perusahaan menjadi organisasi pembelajaran (learning organization). Dengan atmosfer informal, GE ditransformasi olehnya menjadi perusahaan yang tidak mengenal batas antar kelompok. Ini membuat GE lebih cepat dan fleksibel menghadapi tantangan. Debat produktif juga menjadi warna baru. Kemudian, Welch menerapkan pendekatan manajemen kualitas Six Sigma. Sebagaimana disampaikan di muka, kekuatan utama seorang Jack Welch adalah kepemimpinan dan kemampuan komunikasi antar personalnya. Sering ketemu orang-orang adalah kebiasaannya. Dia bahkan terlibat dalam asesmen tahunan terhadap tiga ribu orang manajemen puncak GE (manajemen SDM adalah salah satu tugas yang tidak bisa didelegasikan kata Larry Bossidy dalam buku Execution - Y Pan). Lengkap dan aslinya (dalam bahasa Inggris) dapat dibaca pada buku Little Book of Big Ideas: Business karya Dr John Lipczynski.

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Indahnya Alam

Indahnya Alam
Cipt: Andhika Wiguna

Na na na na na na ...

Hari yang indah mentari bersinar
Langit yang cerah burung berkicau
Indahnya alam hutan yang hijau
Lautan terhampar luas terbentang

Gunung yang tinggi mengalir sungai
Hembusan angin sejukkan hati
Indahnya alam hutan yang hijau
Semua diciptakan Allah yang Esa

Manusia wajib syukuri
Nikmat dunia dan seisinya
Taat ibadah jalankan perintah-Nya
Tanda syukur atas nikmat-Nya

Dinyanyikan oleh kelompok vokal Uswatun Hasanah (TBZ PHP Bekasi)
Personil:
Rita Fatimah
Putri Yolanda K
Fildzah RS
Annisa Nurul HAB
Erika Nurhaliza
Azzila Nurul HAB

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Managing in the Next Society 7

Part IV The Next Society
Chapter 15 The Next Society
- The Next Society
- The New Demographics
- The New Workforce
- ...

The new economy may or may not materialize. The new society, however, will shortly and it is more important. The rise of the new society already shows its signs in developed and emerging countries. One is the shrinkage of younger population and growing number of older population. Consequently, pension fund systems in many countries will be insufficient to support such aging societies. This requires older people continue to work after 55, as temporaries, individual consultants, part-timers, outsourcing contractors, etc. Managing this kind of labor market must change significantly compared to the last century's traditional practice. Economically, the aging societies also create a very different market.

The market will not be dominated by younger people anymore but by older or middle-age people. Companies successful because of the growth of young people, like Coca Cola and Unilever, will face a difficult challenge, requiring them to change course. Another hot issue will be immigration policy that in developed countries has inevitably been changing in order to maintain younger workforce availability. Politically, in America, ones run for president or legislators must choose appropriate campaign themes whether to attract immigrants' votes or white population's votes. On the one hand, some white workforce oppose the policy of welcoming immigrants, since it makes their welfare could be jeopardized. On the other hand, the aging population needs fresh young people for support.

The next society will be a knowledge society (the prevailing buzzwords are knowledge-based organization and knowledge-based economy, yet here Drucker introduces knowledge-based society that he claims more important - Y Pan). The characteristics of knowledge society are (1) borderlessness, (2) upward mobility, and (3) the potential of failure as well as success. Knowledge society needs both formal and advanced schooling, because knowledge workers never stop learning even after graduating from formal educations. Therefore, education in the next society will probably be the most lucrative business. Nonetheless, the format of the next society's educations, especially advanced schooling, will be different from traditional current education programs. Online seminars and weekend courses will be available for satisfying the knowledge workers' inherent need. Formal educations for younger people will still be good service businesses since formal educations are the only gate for workers to enter the competitive knowledge society.

Specifically, Drucker claims that the participation of women in the knowledge society will be the leading sign of dramatic changes. Unlike manual workers, knowledge workers could be indifferently male or female, because of the nature of knowledge works. Women leaving their jobs to take care of their children can resume their job after about fifteen years. This is possible also because of their increasing longevity. Similarly, retiring workers are able to have their second career, since the nature of knowledge works does not require teen-physical strength. According to Drucker, the most dominant knowledge workers will be what he calls knowledge technologists, such as computer technicians, software developers, nurses, office technologists, etc.

Interestingly, Drucker claims that among demography, knowledge society, and information revolution, demography is the most important and least predictable. He concludes it based on historical data when times of increasing and decreasing number of birth rate changed unexpectedly. This is because immigrants, especially in America, tend to maintain the custom of having many children. Spanish immigrants generally have four children, and it is the norm. While integration of immigrants and welcoming population could be a hard issue in many countries, Drucker says that America has the advantage of long successful integration experience. Together with a high birth rate of immigrants, America is the least aging population among developed countries.

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Bermain sambil Belajar

Sudah tiga hari kakaknya Ahmad agak demam. Di tubuhnya ada sedikit bintik merah. Apakah ini akibat penularan dari Ahmad? Entahlah. Yang menarik adalah kemauannya untuk tetap mengikuti kegiatan sekolah. Kebetulan TKIT MMA, tempatnya sekolah, mengadakan wisata ke Taman Safari. Kemarin, pagi-pagi begitu bangun, dia sendiri yang minta minum obat. Lah, mungkin dia ingin sekali pergi ke Taman Safari bersama teman-teman dan gurunya.

Dulu waktu kuliah di Bandung, teman kos saya, Amal namanya, punya buku Toto Chan. Karena tertarik melihatnya, saya juga ikutan baca. Saya pernah dapat buku itu, kayaknya bekas, tapi lumayan. Sekarang masih awet di rak buku kami. Dalam ceritanya, digambarkan keistimewaan tempat sekolah gadis kecil Toto Chan. Menarik sekali gaya bertutur buku asal Jepang ini, namun poinnya adalah siswa jangan dibuat takut sekolah. Satu contoh saja, ketika Toto menguras septic tank sekolah karena mencari sesuatu, sang kepala sekolah yang hebat itu bertanya apa yang dilakukannya. Kurang lebih: eh sedang main apa, Toto? Tidak ada kemarahan dan hukuman. Gaya mendidik yang penuh inspirasi seperti juga dilakukan Bu Muslimah dalam Laskar Pelangi mungkin sudah luas diterapkan ya di sini?

Contoh pribadi, anak kami Hanif yang sangat ingin ke Taman Safari akhirnya kami izinkan dengan pertimbangan sakitnya nggak parah. Walaupun tidak bisa seaktif biasanya, tadi malam dia masih antusias menceritakan pengalaman itu. Saya sering mendengar juga bahwa dia sering pulang lebih lambat dari teman-temannya, karena ketika seharusnya dia belajar membaca Qiroati atau belajar berdo'a, dia malah main terus. Sebagai 'hukuman' belajarnya dilakukan di akhir waktu ketika temannya sudah pulang. Alhamdulillah, guru Hanif sangat sabar. Begitu pun di rumah, saya sering mendengar dialog lucu antara Hanif dan Ahmad dengan ustadz yang kami undang rutin ke rumah untuk mengajari mereka Al Qur'an. Ketika sang ustadz bercerita kisah penuh hikmah, yang sering terjadi adalah obrolan orisinal anak kecil yang mengundang geli. Waktu mendengar agenda belajar dari ustadz, Hanif malah mengkoreksi apa yang harusnya dilakukan dan bagaimana urutannya, sesuai keinginannya sendiri.

Anak kita memang berbeda dengan kita. Mereka akan menghadapi tantangan zaman yang berbeda juga. Apalagi pada knowledge society pembelajaran terus menerus akan menjadi kunci survival dalam kompetisi yang makin tinggi. Sebenarnya apa yang kita ingin terapkan kepada anak-anak kita untuk antisipasi masa depan dapat kita berlakukan buat diri sendiri. Memang mungkin belajar di masa dewasa diibaratkan seperti menulis di permukaan pasir atau air. Mudah hilang, namun kan nggak ada salahnya mencoba. Menurut Drucker, knowledge society akan memaksa orang untuk terus belajar sepanjang usia. Menurut Nabi Muhammad SAW, belajar wajib dilakukan mulai dari buaian hingga liang lahad dan meskipun harus ke Cina. Jadi, walaupun sulit, kalau kita patuh mencontoh Rasul, belajar nggak boleh kita tinggalkan. Pada artikel Pembelajaran: Pengolahan Informasi Paling Strategis, berdasarkan sumber teruji sepanjang sejarah, kita dapat menerapkan prinsip mengajar dan belajar. Mengajar didahulukan untuk menstimulasi proses belajar yang lebih aktif dan memberi makna belajar dilakukan bukan semata untuk diri sendiri.

Beberapa teman mengeluh betapa susahnya meningkatkan skor TOEFL. Mungkin prinsip mengajar dulu untuk belajar bisa digunakan oleh teman itu. Itu saja? Nggak. Itu yang pertama, bukan itu saja. Yang lainnya ada lagi. Membentuk komunitas belajar misalnya. Komunitas resmi belajar Bahasa Inggris cukup banyak, mungkin perlu juga komunitas yang lebih santai dan fun. Sekolah jangan dibikin susah. Bersama teman bertualang keluar negeri boleh jadi ide yang bagus. Kalau nggak bisa gimana? Mungkin bisa sambil main, meniru cara anak kecil. Bersama teman, adakan lomba menerjemah artikel. Atau iseng aja tiap ada waktu luang, baca artikel menarik sambil menerjemah. Nonton film bagus juga OK. Terus catat setiap kata dalam percakapan. Lain waktu bandingkan dengan subtitle-nya. Bagaimanapun, jangan bikin terlalu serius, ntar jadi beban. Kalau seperti itu bukan bermain sambil belajar lagi, tapi kayak belajar di sekolah kuno yang Toto Chan dan Hanif nggak antusias datang tiap hari, apalagi ngebelain datang walau sedikit nggak enak badan.

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