The future managerial environment and the need for professional managers

Meaning of the statement

The statement makes two linked claims. The conditions in which managers work are becoming harder to handle, and managers can meet them only if they bring to their work the knowledge, training and ethical standards of a profession, rather than relying on ownership, family ties or habit.

Why the managerial environment is becoming more challenging

1. The environment is dynamic and uncertain. Technology improves, consumer preferences shift and new competitors enter; future events are hard to predict, especially where change is frequent, as in information technology or fashion. Technological improvement can make existing products obsolete and competition can squeeze margins.
2. Business is going digital. Digitisation, outsourcing, and internationalisation and globalisation are among the strongest trends reshaping the way business is done.
3. Organisations are becoming global. As boundaries between cultures and nations blur and new communication technology links the world, the modern organisation has to be managed from a global perspective.
4. Specialists must be coordinated. Modern organisations employ many specialists who judge by their own professional criteria, so conflicts among them need someone to reconcile them.
5. People resist change. Employees tend to resist moves from a familiar, secure environment into a more challenging one, and management must help them adapt.

What professionalisation means

A profession rests on a well-defined body of knowledge acquired through instruction, restricted entry through an examination or degree, a professional association, an ethical code of conduct and a service motive. Management meets some of these tests: its knowledge is taught in colleges and institutes such as the IIMs, and a management association has laid down a code of conduct. It does not meet others: anyone can be appointed a manager, and membership of the association is not compulsory and has no statutory backing.

Why the future calls for professional managers

• Knowledge to read the environment. Managers who understand the environment can spot opportunities early and receive warning of threats in time to respond.
• Growth of the corporate form. The rise of companies and of professionally managed concerns means organisations look for people with specific qualifications and experience to manage them; degrees and diplomas from reputed institutions are in greater demand.
• Ethics and service. A manager who follows a code of conduct and serves society by giving good products at reasonable prices earns the trust that a closely watched business needs.
• An example. A family-run spice exporter in Kochi that begins selling online to buyers abroad needs managers who understand digital marketing, foreign markets and quality norms; the founder's experience alone will not be enough.

Conclusion

The statement is sound. A dynamic, digital and global environment cannot be managed by rule of thumb; it needs managers with professional knowledge and ethics, even though management is not yet a profession in the strict sense of medicine or law.