Management Challenges for the 21St Century

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Summary: Words of wisdom
Review: If there is a different way of looking at Management, it is this book.True to his introduction, Drucker makes the reader think about the challenges that lie ahead. His concepts on the role of Information Technology with the ever increasing role of the "I" in IT are likely to have startegic impact on the entire idustry. This book is the Guru's gift to the next generation.

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Summary: Mostly dead right in recommendations but how to apply them?
Review: I loved the first chapter of this book -explaining every organisational thing that's gone wrong with both marketing and performance measurement the last few decades, and with stockmarkets increasing lydiscounting perfectly organised companies , the increasing gap between image and reality is getting urgent if we don't want the business at the "speed of thought" bubble to burst into a huge depression. Indeed Drucker admonishes us that as the 20th century management science began with time and motion methods applied to manual workers we now desperately need a "Promise and e-motion" toolbag for knowledge-worker organisation. But then this first chapter appeared in Forbes last year.

Some of the other chapters , I found less good or indeed rehashes of other Drucker books. BUT overwhelmingly when I finish a Drucker book I feel a slight depression. A lot of wisdom, but how will I apply it - and get others to participate in applying it. Would love to discuss with anyone who reads this book and then feels more confident that I on how to action the whole Chris Macrae e-mail [e-mail] plus some reader dialogue to date [online].

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Summary: It really addressed the challenges of the mid-1990s
Review: The book was disappointing since what Mr. Drucker views as the management challenges of the 21st century are really the management challenges that have been with us for most of this decade. For example, his "new paradigms" include the aging population and the increase in shareholder influence. His "new challenges" include the increased availability of information, managing knowledge workers and the constantly changing organisation. This is hardly insightful to anyone who has managed, or simply worked, in a corporation in the last decade. One bright light - the final chapter on "Managing Oneself" is like a nice pep talk from a favourite grandfather.

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Summary: Not Predictable...
Review: This book is more than I excpected. Being as old as Mr. Drucker it's unbelieveable how he looks into the future and tells you what kind of changes there might be. Must read if in managment.

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Summary: I love the view of Mr. Drucker
Review: I have read almost all of Peter F. Drucker's books and articles.From this, I know what management is and what we should do at 21st century.Thank you! Mr. Drucker.:)

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Summary: Get ready to manage in a new world
Review: This is Drucker's first really new book in several years, though he tested some of its themes in journal articles before writing Challenges. As the title implies, the book looks forward to the most important management issues Drucker believes will emerge from developing trends. He points to the certainties that will rise to the forefront of managers' strategic thinking. He discusses how we must manage the knowledge workers who will predominate our future work force. Drucker ends by wrestling with how knowledge workers must manage themselves and their lengthening careers.

Too many sociologists believe that they must answer every question they pose. To bring this closure, they ask and answer questions that are too trivial. The best sociologists raise the important questions, answer the ones they can, and leave the remaining work for others. That is how Drucker continues to excel at age 90. Challenges is a must read for management professionals, students, and scholars.

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Summary: A call for action for the knowledge workers
Review: Drucker last book is another one in the line of The New Pioneers of Petzinger. The main role spins around the individual, the person, the knowledge worker...the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of each individual...but to be productive knowledge workers must be considered a capital asset...rather than a cost...and...in most knowledge work, quality is not a minimum and restrain. Quality is the essence of the output...and is defined as "a positive customer satisfaction"...so important too is the chapter about information as only individual knowledge workers can convert data into information. This book must be read too, by those interested in our future.Drucker normally teaches by way of example, and this book is certainly one of his major books, easy to read, and not too long but full of essence.

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Summary: Not his most relevant work for electronic marketers
Review: I read Peter Drucker for what he says that is relevant to electronic marketing strategy. His earlier collections, like "Managing in a Time of Great Change," have been foresightful and though-provoking. His latest book mostly revisits previous themes, and otherwise spends too much time on things like the birth rate. If you haven't read Drucker, then this book, like all his work, is well worth it. But if you follow his work, this book won't "change the world" for you.

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Summary: A thinker and writer at the top of his form
Review: I have long admired Peter Drucker's work and thoughts. His latest book is his best yet. I read his recent Havard Business Review article on Managing Oneself, was highly impressed and couldn't wait to see the rest of the book. I was not disappointed in any way. Drucker writes with such clarity and wisdom.

Here's an example of where it clarified something for me. I have been wondering about knowledge management for a while, couldn't quite get my head around what it was all about. Some sort of super library thing? I work with advanced technologies and have never reached much clarity about knowledge management, except that it is some sort of wonderful tool and supposedly the solution to a number of ills. And that's the rub. It's a better tool, following an industrial engineering concept - give them better tools and they'll do a better job. Efficiency. Certainly having tools helps, but in a minor way. Drucker has latched onto something much more profound with his perspective of knowledge workers and what they really need to become more productive. It's not knowledge management tools, its a fundamental change in attitude towards the workers themselves, and the work they do. Throwing a knowledge management tool at some knowledge workers is highly unlikely to make them more productive unless its done in a larger context. The answer lies in Drucker's latest work, though you will have to think to get it. Drucker doesn't give cookbook answers.

The book is filled throughout with many such gems.

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Summary: THE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS
Review: Peter Drucker has become very much unlike Peter Drucker in this book, and for the better. He tells us what to work on, how to do it, and gives us the key questions to stay focused on the right aspects of the issues. He has gone from guru to guidance, and I appreciate the change. Any business will be greatly improved by paying attention to his ideas, beginning with being a better manager of oneself. The CEOs I work with often undermine their own success by not systematically improving how they function. This book gives them a way to do that. I plan to share it with everyone I know. For even more help in how to address these challenges, you should read and apply the lessons of THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION, which is an outstanding book on how to improve organizations through helping create better habits that lead to systematic, effective innovation with less effort, less strain, and in fewer hours. That latter book is also very good at asking questions like those found in MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. You should also read THE PURSUIT OF PRIME, to diagnose your organization's development.