Question

The shift to the information economy has changed the role of the manager in today’s organization.   Research has demonstrated that a majority of workers in this new knowledge economy are knowledge workers or workers whose work output is the result of thinking versus a physical process. Discuss what skills today’s managers need in the knowledge economy that weren’t required a decade ago?

Answer 1

1 Perspective and flexibility

In today's world, employees can work remotely. According to research by Intuit, two-thirds of managers are allowing their staff to telecommute periodically. This trend is expected to continue and today's managers need to develop the skill set they'll need to manage remote teams. Today's managers need to be receptive to requests by staff to develop their own schedule by managing the requests and understanding how they might help. Today's managers should show genuine openness towards helping their team members balance their work and their lives. This would show that the managers have their staffs' best interests in mind.

2 Intellectual curiosity

Today's managers should always be learning. By maintaining intellectual curiosity, today's managers can prevent stagnation at the workplace, and the desire to continue learning also benefits their teams when it comes to retention. Due to the changing business and advanced technology, today's effective managers need to improve their skill set to better understand their employees, projects and business processes.

3 The ability to serve others

Today's managers need to be willing to serve their employees and support their teams. They should think of their roles as that of a public servant. They need to listen to their staff and understand their needs and expectations while helping them in their day-to-day activities so that they can thrive well at their workplaces.

In conclusion, today's managers can't manage their staff the same way they did a decade ago and still expect the same results. If today's managers don't make their effort to stay ahead of the curve, they'll risk getting left behind.