When managers fail the tech test

The latest research shows that a majority of Australian employees do not believe their highly-paid managers are up to the task of successfully shepherding the organisation through the technology changes ahead.

Take this one step further and we see that a serious disconnect is opening up between executives of many organisations and their employees. We are all very familiar with disputes over pay and conditions but these differences have a much deeper dimension and go to employee doubts about the calibre of the managers they have leading them.

The benefits of technology productivity – to the extent that Australian companies have benefitted – have been shared between the managers, shareholders and customers. For the most part, employees have missed out. This has created unhappiness in many enterprises which may be contributing to a lack of employee confidence in the technological abilities of their managers.

Research commissioned by Canon Australia shows that both employees and executives agree that, in the next decade, technological advancement will be the biggest change that the organisation will face.

But whereas executives and management believe they can manage the pace of technology change, most employees believe that their leaders do not embrace change. The survey, released this week, covered some 300 enterprises, ranging from small to large, and 700 employees. Canon commissioned the research given that technology change is now moving much faster and those enterprises that fall behind will be endangered.

So what's causing the disconnect?

Professor James Sorros, of Monash University's department of management, says that one cause could be a communication problem. The acceleration of the pace of change means that the days of yearly strategy meetings have passed. Strategy meetings need to be every six weeks or three months, creating decisions that people can relate to, implement and evaluate at the next meeting. Yearly meetings can set mission statements, but when it comes to strategies, everyone has forgotten what was decided a year ago because the changes often make it irrelevant.

Sorros fears many enterprises have not adjusted their strategies to cope with the faster pace and the variety of communication mediums that have now opened up.

I am sure that Sorros is right and that communication is part of the problem. But in many cases it's a deeper problem. I know in my industry (media) executives are struggling to come to grips with the enormity of the change. The same applies to retailing, manufacturing and telecommunications – just to name a few. I would guess that employees in many of the companies in these industries would question whether their highly-paid executives have strategies to cope with the changes.

The truth is that executives in 2011 need to have very different qualities from those that operated, say, two years ago.