INTRODUCING SECOND GENERATION MANAGEMENT

A new management ‘system’ has been developed which is so comprehensive and integrated that it provides a new direction in management thinking. On the basis of real‐life experiences at the ‘sharp end’ of management rather than theoretical research, it argues that business failures are not so much the fault of managers but a result of the entire system of management. The new approach that it recommends is so fundamentally different that I have named it ‘Second Generation Management’. Rather than ‘force‐fitting’ functional management systems into business plans with little synergy or linkage between them, Second Generation Management first identifies the comprehensive needs of the business. Using ‘shared models of management’, it develops a cadre of skilled managers to provide direction, co‐ordination and support so that the business operates as ‘one brain’. This system of Second Generation Management has already been quietly and successfully implemented by a variety of companies on both sides of the Atlantic.