Work is sick. Here's the cure

Listening to executives over the last 10 to 20 years, you cannot help but notice that managerialism – the art of getting things done by other people – is the main source of frustration, disengagement and underperformance in most organisations. As a 19th-century social technology for controlling and coordinating large numbers of relatively unskilled people, managerialism is delivering ever-declining value. We are trying to create wealth in a knowledge economy by relying on structures and processes designed for the industrial age.

The language is of planning and control, targets and KPIs, metrics and benchmarks, efficiency and excellence, specialisation and standardisation: all these things betray a way of thinking wholly unsuited to the challenges confronting firms today.

The agenda has moved on according to Jules Goddard. More management is not the answer. Tweaking the managerial model by opting for outsourcing, deleveraging, re-engineering, disintermediating, offshoring and other administrative processes beloved of consultants is a classic case of ‘doorknob polishing’ when the stately home has long since fallen into disrepair.