Decline of Management

Scott Adams, founder of the Dilbert cartoon, is one of my favorite columnists to read. He’s often insightful, counter-intuitive, and funny.

This week he posted a startup-related article talking about the general decline of management in organizations. His point is that technology provides a greater fluidity of communication than ever before, which eliminates the need for many managerial functions previously thought necessary.

He talks about how Valve, a video game company of 400 people, has no management structure. (BTW, I really enjoy the Valve Portal 2 game).

His main point is that “management exists to minimize the problems created by its own hiring mistakes.” If everyone were functioning properly in their roles, you wouldn’t need managers.

I think the article is a little over the top. Organization, coordination, and tough decisions often need leaders not committees. But his main thrust about technology eliminating a lot of management is accurate in my experience.

Have you noticed that technology brings a decline in the amount of needed management?

Related articles

• Half-Life, Portal Films Announced by J.J. Abrams and Valve
• The Management-free Organization
• Managing the “Peter Principle” – Developing Key Leadership & Management Skills
• Let’s Celebrate Dilbert-Style Management? Huh?
• Dilbert and the Grandpa Box
• Startups: how to avoid death by enthusiasm
• Dilbert’s Hierarchy of Needs.