The End of Management as We Know It
Traditional management is at a breaking point, with managers overloaded and nonmanagers unwilling to step up. Agile ways of working offer the first credible replacement by recasting leaders into 'what' and 'how' roles.
Summary
A BCG and Ipsos survey of 5,000 employees in five countries finds Western managers stressed and unsupported: 81% say the job is harder, only 41% think the advantages outweigh the drawbacks, and just 9% of nonmanagers aspire to manage. The root cause is rising complicatedness, with structural fixes growing 35-fold in 55 years. Agile, with autonomous cross-functional teams and leaders split into 'what' and 'how' roles, removes what managers dislike, though scaling it takes years and coaching.
Editor's opinion
The traditional management model is breaking down, and agile ways of working offer a credible organizational replacement that better matches what employees want.
Key concepts
Middle-management crisis · Agile organization · Complicatedness · 'What' and 'how' leadership roles · Servant-leader