Managerial Practices

Managerial practices

Since the beginning of the crisis, the main priority for politics has always been to try and find a way out of it, which of course is the right thing to do in the short term. But in the long term, will it be enough to avoid another crisis? In a world dominated by financial markets, renewing managerial practices by encouraging leaders to take into account social, environmental, or ethical aspects, instead of focusing on always making more profits regardless of the consequences, could be helpful and provide a better and more lasting solution.

First of all, the ultimate goal of today’s managers is to do whatever it takes to make more money, and this can be done by either reducing costs or increasing turnover. Most of the time, as it is often considered as being the easiest way to lower the costs, this means reducing staff but such a policy has terrible consequences on our society, such as unemployment or deterioration of working conditions and in extreme cases, working in stressful conditions can lead to disasters. For instance, the succession of suicides in the French firm France Télécom revealed a real anxiety among the staff. To avoid such tragedies, one solution could be to add more humanity and to focus on the well being of the workforce, instead of focusing on profits.

Moreover, we now have proof that our financial system is not sustainable, as the people ruling in this world have accepted the idea that the end justifies the means, and this has led us to our ruin. Of course, bringing in some humanity would also mean making fewer profits, but if it can avoid future crises, wouldn’t it be worth trying it this way?

Finally, a few avant-gardist firms have already decided to manage their staff in such an unconventional way, and not only are they not going bankrupt but actually, they are even doing much better than the other companies they are competing against. Indeed, this new management style reintroduces core values, which help the workforce work in good conditions, and it enables a win-win situation, where confidence has been restored and with confidence also comes efficiency.