{"id":860,"date":"2012-02-14T12:23:59","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T02:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/knowledgetoday\/?p=860"},"modified":"2012-02-22T13:55:43","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T03:55:43","slug":"productivity-hinges-on-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/blog\/2012\/02\/productivity-hinges-on-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Productivity hinges on leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Chris Styles<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten\u2019s comments yesterday that managers need to do more to improve employee engagement shines the light on the current productivity debate on the quality of management and leadership in Australia. Is he right and what should be done about it?<\/p>\n

Firstly, there is no doubt that Australia\u2019s productivity is not at the level it should be, particularly when compared to other OECD countries.\u00a0 The 2009 report Management Matters \u2013 How productive are we, completed for Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research concluded that one of the causes of our lagging productivity was that while some of our organisations stack up well with the best internationally, there are too many that don\u2019t perform well at all, particularly when it comes to managing people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting people, processes and systems to work productively is a challenge and the responsibility of everyone in an organisation, but in particular those in managerial positions.\u00a0 Creating, encouraging and reinforcing the right environment within an organisation drives innovation and, in turn, its productivity.\u00a0 More productive organisations obviously result in a more competitive Australia.<\/p>\n

However getting people, processes and systems to work productively is a lot harder than it sounds and while there are some proven principles, there is much to be discovered.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This has profound implications for the way we develop managers.\u00a0\u00a0 We not only need to draw on what research tells us works, but also instil a mindset of constantly finding new and better ways.\u00a0\u00a0 In the same way we emphasise innovation with respect to products and services, we also need a focus on innovation in business models and management practices.<\/p>\n

As part of this, the debate in Australia would do well to go beyond \u201cemployers vs. employees\u201d. Indeed the distinction between the two is rather blurred. Is not someone in a managerial position also an \u201cemployee\u201d?\u00a0 Anna Booth from the ACTU has a point when she says the current IR system is entrenching a \u2018Unions vs. Management\u2019 mentality.<\/p>\n

We also need to think through what forms of organisation are needed now and may emerge in the future to meet customer demands.\u00a0 Then taking into consideration the changing needs and aspirations of the workforce, we need create and develop the most productive models of management.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t \u2013 and won\u2019t be \u2013 just one right answer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This leads on to the kinds of skills, attributes and knowledge needed by managers. Acquiring and developing these will be the result of experience, experimentation, coaching and structured learning experiences.\u00a0 Getting this right will require dialogue between organisations, business schools, unions and government as to how to equip current and future managers with the mindset and tools they need. If ever there was a time for collaboration, it is now.<\/p>\n

Chris Styles<\/a> is the Deputy Dean and Director of the Australian Graduate School of Management. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This article first appeared in the Australian Financial Review, 14 February 2012. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Professor Chris Styles Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten\u2019s comments yesterday that managers need to do more to improve employee engagement shines the light on the current productivity debate on the quality of management and leadership in Australia. Is he right and what should be done about it? Firstly, there is no doubt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12672,1],"tags":[12814,12754,12815],"class_list":["post-860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-uncategorized","tag-australian-graduate-school-of-management","tag-leadership-2","tag-productivity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":898,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860\/revisions\/898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}