Chen Chunhua: Mapping Management Values

Jun 23-2019   

Besides achieving business targets, management has one new task to fulfill: confronting and harnessing uncertainties, which are driven by technological evolution and pluralism in values, writes Prof. Chen Chunhua, Dean of BiMBA Business School, in her article for Corporate Management magazine.

According to her observations, we are in an age that engenders both anxiety and excitement, for it has three characteristics: One, a neo-mixture of individualism, freedom and sense of responsibility; Two, re-construction of values that requires upgrading in learning habits, lifestyle and way of thinking; Three, the unimaginable has become reality, powered by technology, fostering our symbiotic growth with the world.

Building on Peter Drucker’s summary of three management revolutions over the last century or so - Industrial Revolution, Productivity Revolution, and Management Revolution - Prof. Chen believes a new period has dawned and aptly names it Knowledge Revolution.

To waltz with uncertainties, Prof. Chen advocates the following value path for management: One, move from command and control to empowerment for everyone; Two, seek creativity in people in lieu of competence; Three, integrate individual values with collective wisdom; And four, adopt organization-driven learning and power people with knowledge so that they are not to be replaced by robots.