Contents

• Hybrid Managers
• Information Technology – The One & Only Rider for Businesses Today
• The 20th Century Managers
• Advantage of such managers
• Disadvantages of such managers
• Conclusion
• References

Description

The term itself explains the portfolio. Pure vanilla flavor is no longer a demand in personal as well as professional front. What is required is lot of action and interaction, lot of spark and a know-all kind of personality. People do not look up to the leader if the leader cannot answer their entire query and lead them through an advanced life. That’s where the concept of Hybrid Managers started.
According to Colin Palmer in 1990, “The (hybrid manager) term was coined by Michael Earl, Director of OXIIM at Templeton College, Oxford, as a result of a number of pieces of research that he and his colleagues had been undertaking.” “They noticed that in all the significant cases of successful implementation of information technology for competitive advantage or for achieving major change in organizations, there seemed to be a person at the heart of the development who displayed certain experience and characteristics”. Palmer added that “These were: an understanding of the business and what was required within the business, combined with a technical competence that enabled them to understand what was required in technical terms, including the scope of what was being planned”. According to him, the hybrid managers “… displayed two types of organizational skills. They knew how to get about the business, and this implied that they knew the business and the people around it well, and they knew how to get things done, possessing a set of excellent social skills - to listen, understand, negotiate and persuade”. (Palmer, 1990)
Information Technology is a strong rider for any business’s success today and this has been the case since beginning 20th century. The competencies required are only to implement change management initiatives in old school of thought, moving forward to innovative way of working, increase efficiency, and reduce waste. However the key dilemma faced by a manager is the technology investment done by his company, as most of them are scared of change management principles. The skill here is to understand the use of technology, get self trained and impart that training in others as well, to increase the potential high output into the system, and inculcate innovative method of working. A technology at least removes human error and a hybrid manager would always look forward to avoid glitch (Allen and Morton, 1994).