Thirty of the world’s most influential business thinkers came together in 2008 in California to discuss The Future of Management. They gathered to address corporate concerns over fissures in the traditional models of management deployed in most organizations today.   Three recent challenges – the global economic downturn, rising levels of employee disengagement and the growth crisis in corporations – have underlined management’s difficulties in creating sufficiently adaptable and engaging organizations to deal with the challenges of modern economies.

The speakers as a whole echoed a common theme in questioning the pertinence of scientific management in building a fundamentally different  working environment to that foreseen when Frederic Taylor first laid down his principles of industrial engineering almost a century ago.  Despite pockets of excellence, the conclusion of a number of recent studies including those by Towers Perrin, Watson Wyatt and Gallup, have added weight to such concerns:

• The demonstrable value lost in shareholder returns.
• The deceasing levels of employee engagement.
• The persistent concern that management practices have in fact reinforced, rather than resolved, these organisational challenges.

In contrast to the shortcomings of the social technology of management, we are now witnessing the phenomenal growth, mainly outside the corporate environment, in the use of the information technology of social media.  Until now, very few academic researchers or research based organizations have explored the interdependence, impact and relationship between levels of employee engagement, the prevailing model of management, the nature of social media and why it is so attractive to millions and millions of users.

This Position Paper is an attempt to open the debate, understand the dynamics between these three variables, and work with forward thinking organizations to exploit the opportunities available.   It has ramifications for both the role of IT within an organization, as well all business leaders who have a vested interest in improving organizational performance through greater levels of, adaptability, innovation, creativity and engagement.