Join getAbstract to access the summary!

Vlatka Hlupic

The Management Shift

How to Harness the Power of People and Transform Your Organization for Sustainable Success

Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

15 min read

10 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Transform your organization by ditching top-down management.

1×

Editorial Rating

Qualities

Innovative
Applicable

Recommendation

Vlatka Hlupic is hardly the first management thinker to argue for ditching boss-centered leadership and spreading autonomy through an organization. She would be just one voice in a popular choir, except that her presentation stands out for its rigorous research and data-driven method of helping companies assess their culture. Hlupic sketches the characteristics of a traditional “orderly” culture built for the industrial age and contrasts it with the “collaborative” mind-set needed in today’s innovation-driven economy. The knowledge workers who are so critical to an innovative workplace distrust hierarchy and thrive when given autonomy. Hlupic shows how the “6 Box Leadership Model,” which she developed over nearly 20 years, can pinpoint the areas where a company can transform its culture. Some may find her methodology descriptions a bit dense, but she argues persuasively that companies must change in order to remain competitive. If you’re looking to make a case for transforming your organization’s leadership culture and want to assess its progress, getAbstract recommends Hlupic’s timely exposition to entrepreneurs, executives, managers, and HR and talent departments.

Summary

Outmoded Management

Companies today face waves of unprecedented change. Markets shift unpredictably and new competitors show up without warning. The global marketplace grows increasingly complex and uncertain. Even the pace of change constantly changes.

To stay ahead, organizations must adapt and innovate. This requires a labor force of knowledge workers, whose creativity drives innovation. These employees need autonomy, permission to fail and try again, and a culture defined by trust, not hierarchy. Yet many organizations still cling to traditional “command and control” structures that are ill suited to innovation-driven business.

Rigid hierarchy and command-centered management spring from an earlier era – an economy focused on making things. Efficiency and “repeatability” were paramount. Those systems weren’t built to respond rapidly to change. Employee satisfaction and engagement suffer in such systems, creating a performance crisis for companies. Only 45% of US workers consider their jobs satisfying, and fewer than 15% report being “strongly energized” by their work. This lack of engagement hurts corporate performance. As of 2014, US firms’ return on assets...

About the Author

University of Westminster professor and consultant Vlatka Hlupic, is the founder and CEO of London’s Drucker Society. She speaks at major conferences and wrote more than 160 academic articles, including Harvard Business Review’s “To be a Better Leader, Give up Authority.”

Comment on this summary

Sign in to share your opinion
L. E. 3 years ago

All companies should work at level four and above
M. B. 4 years ago

45% is a very good number
M. B. 4 years ago

Very Good

More on this topic

By the same author

Book

Humane Capital

In our Journal

3 years ago

Journal Article

First Global L&D Knowledge Forum Wrap-Up

How can L&D best support companies emerging from the pandemic?

3 years ago

Journal Article

Job Crafting: A Skill for the Future

The concept has been around for 20 years. Yet the skills involved in job crafting are more pertinent to career success today than they have ever been before. Employees engaged in job crafting shape their work tasks, develop their work relationships and give meaning to their jobs to enhance their personal well-being and job […]

3 years ago

Journal Article

A Year in Interviews: Part II

getAbstract was honored to speak to a number of renowned authors and thought leaders this year. Here are some of the insights we gleaned from a year in author interviews. From economists to leadership experts, and computer scientists to China specialists, getAbstract was privileged to take deep dives into many authors’ areas of expertise and […]

4 years ago

Journal Article

The World Post-Pandemic? It’s Not Going To Be What You Expect.

The “New Normal” has turned into the buzzword du jour. But is the world really going to settle into a new routine following the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic? Author and executive coach Paolo Gallo doesn't think so.

4 years ago

Journal Article

“That Normal Does Not Exist Anymore.”

As the world strategizes on what the “New Normal” should look like, Vlatka Hlupic argues that humane, social-minded companies will survive in the post-pandemic world. How can we become part of a company that is a force for good? getAbstract: How do we get back to normal? Do we want to? Vlatka Hlupic: This time […]