Opportunities for Technology

These findings raise an interesting question: "Is 'technology' simply yesterday's news in organizations?" The simple answer is, "No." However, it does seem that managers no longer necessarily view technology as the "end" nor as the best means to a desired end. These results beg for a new and creative ways to leverage technology in the 21st century with the goal of more directly serving a "people focus" in organizations.

Indeed, we propose that organizations are on the cusp of a significant shift in technology expectations. It's now assumed that technology professionals must have the technical know-how to help organizations reduce costs and be more efficient. The emerging opportunity is to shift priorities toward technology projects that can be true catalysts toward excellence in human performance and connection.

Certainly, this is no easy task.

Re-visioning technology's role calls for elbow grease from executives, managers and technology professionals to engage people and gain commitment. It means a concerted step back, reflection and decisions about which technologies fit in such a new era. This is especially true in multinationals that must foster good decisions across vast expanses, cultures and ever-shifting structures.

Women Can Take a Leading Role

It follows that there are new conversations to be had on the subject of enlightened uses of technology. And we suggest that women managers, in particular, can play a leadership role by sparking and then fueling the discussions.

Why?

Consistent with other research and the experience of many organizations, "The World at Work" interviews with multinational managers confirmed that women managers are actively interested in organizations being more collaborative, communicative and consensus-building. While both men and women managers saw the ideal future organization as more "people-focused", there was still a gap between genders.

In the language used and examples of successful change given, women focused more often on the need for actions and tools that establish rapport and support connections between individuals, teams, companies, nationalities and cultures. Men were more likely to focus on physical changes to an organization - levers such as restructuring, realignment, and technology rollouts to achieve greater efficiency and customer responsiveness. Said another way, women placed more importance on the "transformational" (relationship) aspects of organizations and men emphasized the "transactional" (tasks).

So, what is there to do?

For organizations, the challenge is to make room for dialogues on more meaningful uses of technology in an era when people development and people connections must be tantamount. Conversation is the grease in the organizational wheels of change. And, as indicated by their mindsets in "The World at Work" research, women managers' mindsets make them natural leaders to take up the charge.

 

About the Author:

This article was written by Patricia Shafer, president of Compel Organizational Excellence Alliance, Ltd.^SM, and a WITI member. It is based on global research conducted by Shafer and colleague Dr. Barbara Trautlein, titled: "The World at Work: Men and Women Managers Tell Us What's Changed and Still Needs to Change in Organizations." Complete findings will be released in late 2005. For more information, contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.