New York Business Consultants LLC

Manage Work not People!

A radical call for the liberation of the workplace

By Malko Ebers, CEO New York Business Consultants LLC

January 21st 2014

Context matters - the environment in which we work and which we perform matters, of course. Therefore extensive research has been undertaken to optimize just about everything at the workplace, to make it more efficient, to reduce movement, to measure every second and detail. But how far did this get us? 

To give an example Frederic Winslow Taylor about a hundred years ago was very successful at the Bethlehem steel company identifying the ideal size shovel for each worker, to optimize the workplace and to eliminate any waste. Following this paradigm Harvard under Prof. Elton Mayo (1880-1949) studied textile factories how they could increase output changing the context factors, in this case the light bulbs. So they measured performance/output as the dependent variable and changed the light (input). How much can I save, turning the light (heat, anything) down while not compromising on quantity?

The surprising result even in almost complete darkness the output was higher than before, it didn't correlate well with the light intensity. That was a really strange surprise that required further investigation. It turned out the workers were more productive not because of the light intensity or other context factors (the established paradigm at that time). This later called 'Hawthorne effect' meant that it was the social relationship, the attention the researchers have to the workers that increased productivity. 

A whole new paradigm of 'social relationships' and socially responsible management developed. Equipment, workplace conditions, access to technology, measuring and rewarding performance and output still matters but it is an illusion to think that it only matters if you can measure and therefore manage it! People matter and they probably matter more than ever before. In our modern service economies, in a flat world and information economy, organized in networks (network society, Manuel Catsells) creativity, innovation and empowered employees are the key asset that makes a difference in a competitive marketplace.

The idea that all employees have to come to one physical location 'the office' or factory and putting them in cubicles where specific tasks have to be performed under strict supervision (following Adam Smith and the insight of productivity gains through division of labor and specialization) it seems to be outdated. We need to manage the work and not the people, we need to measure output and encourage creativity and taking chances and a truly entrepreneurial spirit. 

Let employees work when and where and how they want and encourage results, initiative, creativity and collaborative teamwork. There are just numerous examples out there where individuals or small companies or even bigger ones put an idea out, something to design, to invent, to develop and if the idea is attractive in no time it might have thousands of followers people who research, investigate, think, share, collaborate worldwide. Thousands of people write code, design, edit wikipedia articles, collaborate for free - no money, no boss to tell them what to do and they work with all their heart? That's hard to explain to an orthodox economist, why would people do that? 

Because of intrinsic motivation, the urge to be creative, to bring something new to the world, belonging, doing something that has meaning with others. These are intrinsic, deeply embedded emotional drivers of behavior and positive emotion that no hierarchy, or money can buy or replace.

If we want to be at our best, as individuals, teams, networks and organizations of any kind then we need to embrace these motivators, then we need to radically change and reinvent the way we work, invent and collaborate. We see examples of this new form of network based real time collaboration, IT brings us closer together and allows us to collaborate, think, act and work together with people from all over the world. It has never been more exciting to be an entrepreneur, to make a difference and have an impact.

The liberalization of the workspace is taking place with or without consent of the established hierarchy and old school of thought but the organizations embracing the new way of collaboration, communication and production will be the ones thriving.