Book Review: Managing in the Next Society

Peter F Drucker is a man of experience. This book is a collection of essays from Drucker on the trends of change in society and the way people work in the next century. This was published in 2002, so certain conditions and trends might not be covered in this book.

But, overall his analysis based on the 250 years of Industrial revolution and how the Knowledge revolution will impact societies and economies is amazing. His description of how the railroad changed the concept of distances and how the internet has zeroed the distances now is excellent.

To summarize the book, the take away are as follows:

• In the Knowledge society, the specialist  will be in demand and so instead of generalists that we have in the IT industry cannot differentiate for too long.
• The developed countries of the world, especially in Europe, will start facing a demographic crisis in the sense that the average age of the population will steadily increase and so also their competitiveness.
• As the average age of man increases, people will see the beginning and end of corporations within their lifetimes.
• Temp workers will also start be dominant component of workforces as companies will increasingly find it difficult to employ everybody that works for them.
• The world is definitely gravitating toward the east - China and India to be specific.
• His view on China - there is a huge discrepancy between the public sector communist West to the highly Capitalistic Eastern Shanghai region. There is very low quality in the produce of the Chinese public sector.
• Manufacturing will face the same future as Agriculture faced after the second world war. It's no more going to be capitalism, it's going to be a Knowledge Society.
• Two areas that desperately need management are : Non-profits and Governments. As I speak to my counterparts in Europe and US, I realize that nowhere in the world, politicians are respected! These areas need focus because the Goals are not easily identifiable.

Weakness of the Book : It is very repetitive in the messages it tries to convey. Also, I was specifically looking for any views and opinions on India - but could not find too much reference to India. His later articles though have to lot to say about India.

It is definitely a very good read for all who plan any venture into the Business world.