IBM and Its Study of Management: Creative or Clever?
May 20, 2010
Those expensive service calls and pricey consulting jobs generate cash to do blue chip consulting studies. In the good old days, these expensive data collection efforts were multi client projects. Today, most firms are not too keen on funding research that must be shared. Take that, collaborative workspace lovers. IBM ponied up the dough to conduct a five month study. The sample was Porsche and Bimmer dealers dream team: 1,541 CEOs, general managers, and senior public sector leaders who represent different sizes of organizations in 60 countries and 33 industries.
You can get a darned good summary in the write up “IBM 2010 Global CEO Study: Creativity Selected as Most Crucial Factor for Future Success.” The summary has its fair share of buzz words. There are some interesting findings. Let me highlight three that I found interesting:
First, here’s a key passage:
CEOs are confronted with massive shifts – new government regulations, changes in global economic power centers, accelerated industry transformation, growing volumes of data, rapidly evolving customer preferences – that, according to the study, can be overcome by instilling “creativity” throughout an organization.
I think Bernie Madoff was creative—and clever. The clever part does leave donut of ambiguity in my opinion.
Second, this segment:
the biggest challenge facing enterprises from here on will be the accelerating complexity and the velocity of a world that is operating as a massively interconnected system.
Yep, sort of like the US financial crisis, the excitement in Greece, and the squeeze in the UK. Interconnected, complex, and, in my opinion, unmanageable. Someone has to work making things. Dealing derivatives is not “work” in my goose pond.
Third, this finding about technology:
Over the last four studies, the expected impact of technology on organizations has risen from 6th to 2nd place in importance, revealing that CEOs understand that technology and the interconnection of the world’s infrastructures is contributing to the complexity they face, and also reveals that they need more technology-based answers to succeed in a world that is massively interconnected.
Example? Capping an oil gusher 5,000 feet under water or maybe getting a customer support engineer to answer the phone. Hmmm. Which is more difficult in our complex world?
For more findings, presented with great seriousness, read the full article. Oh, don’t try to search for it on the IBM Web site. The write up is not there.
Stephen E Arnold, May 20, 2010
A freebie.
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