The Hindu Business Line : Knowledge management

Change is the war cry of the 21st century manager. The cry on all sides is that the Internet is going to change every aspect of life. Change is not a new phenomenon. The past has always been different from the present, as will be the future.

From the dominance of agriculture in medieval times to the Industrial Era and then information technology towards the last quarter of the last century, we have travelled a long way. Now, the computer has formalised information management in business. As computers now run machines, the nature of work has changed. Machine operators worked with data and information, which require intellectual skills.

The 1980s saw the birth of the knowledge economy. The primary generator of wealth is the intellectual acumen of people — their ideas, concepts, and commitment constitute the resources and capital. The constraint on production is the ability to get people involved and participate in the creation, sharing, and application of what they know. The birth of a new era does not spell the death of an earlier era. It is a shift in the relative importance of one over the other. They are supplemental, and not substitutive. However, the latest shift into the knowledge economy warrants a radical rethink of management philosophy as such.

The involvement of people and their abilities take the centre stage. People management is more important than all other skills. The crucial issue in this context is that successful economies will demand outstanding leadership skills. . Getting people to work together depends to a large extent on the calibre and the capability of the leader. The leader must clarify the corporate purpose and goals. He must build confidence and a sense of commitment among his people. He must strengthen and reinforce their skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Most important, the leader himself must get down to work, hands-on. Example is always better than precept.

R. Devarajan

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