Technological advancements significantly influence how people interact, both in their personal and professional lives. However, when it comes to leadership, there are certain management principles that should be preserved. After all, as technology evolves, human nature stays the same.
This is not to say bosses today should do the same things as their predecessors a century ago, according to Zachary First, executive director of the Drucker Institute, a social enterprise based at Claremont (Calif.) GraduateUniversity. "When the purposes, processes and technologies of work change, we need to make some change in how we manage," Mr. First wrote in the Harvard Business Review. "But these changes should be to management's tactics, not its basic function."
Managerial effectiveness is defined today by the same three elements that management guru Peter Drucker identified decades ago — long before our current state of technological advancement.
1. Drive the organization on its specific purpose and mission. According to Mr. First's interpretation, leaders should direct all of the organization's efforts toward making its strengths productive and its weaknesses irrelevant. This means holding every effort and initiative accountable for the results it is intended to produce. It also means placing employees where their energy can be maximized on their strengths and contributions and minimized on their weaknesses.
2. Ensure the work is productive and suitable for human beings. Leaders must govern employees with "policies and procedures that embrace humanity's unending peculiarities, including the ways that we look and feel, our ability and motivations and our values and identities," wrote Mr. First.
3. Take responsibility for the organization's social impact. Mr. First said leaders should ask of every policy, program and service: Does this serve our purpose and mission? Every company's mission is social in nature; whether it is to create customers, or save lives, an organization's mission has a direct social impact. Therefore, it is important to ensure organizational problems don't turn into social problems. Mr. First also suggests looking for ways to turn social problems into organizational opportunities to do good.