Emerging management theories

Yet another new trend, this time from the United States, in the field of organizational management. A new trend, yet one based on principles known for millennia and on a single question: How can we reconcile intuition and rationality?
How to make forward-looking decisions by prioritizing meditation rather than action?

It is surprising that it has taken so long for intuition to be recognized as a management tool, and that until recently rationality told us to be wary of it. Yet this is what the U theory written by Otto Scharmer does.

This book speaks to us about the emergence of the future, of visions emerging from organizational leaders listening to their inner voice, of a liberation of creativity through the simple fact of being present to oneself.

What are the broad outlines of the theory?

Two decision-making schemes coexist:
One, which is usually taught to us in our universities as the keys to success, the vade mecum of good eating, a management based on observation and modeling of past experiences, which can be summarized as follows: I act, I observe, I reflect, I plan, I act.
The other, which relies on listening to the future as it emerges; to put it more simply, I listen, I act. And listening anticipates action, which represents a real managerial revolution!
All of this is based on a definition of management, which would translate as change management.

And, for Otto Scharmer, there are four levels of response to change: The first consists of responding to a new situation with rapid and immediate action. The second consists of reformulating the rules, reanalyzing processes and structures. The third level becomes more sophisticated and more intangible: values and beliefs are challenged or reevaluated in light of the evolution of the organization and its environment. But there is a fourth level which consists of finding the sources of primordial energy and "reconnecting" to them before the breath dies out in order to find or maintain what made the organization successful at a time.
Because, the development of any structure, or product of structure, like everything that is alive follows a Gaussian curve, that is to say, it is born, grows, lives and dies unless we find in time the new idea that will allow us to bounce back, this idea, this source of inspiration which is not in the head of a leader however brilliant he may be but... in the spirit of the times and therefore of a collective nature like an egregore of which we must be aware.
And responding to change at this level is about rediscovering those sources of energy, motivation and inspiration that made the organization successful.
How? By going within ourselves, by listening to our inner voice, which we call either intuition or inspiration, what Otto Scharmer calls the "black hole of leadership," because, like in the galaxy, we don't really know how it happens because we can't observe it, and yet it represents a considerable source of energy because we reach the very source of creative information. And this information is inscribed within us.

And it is in this sense that this theory fits into the quantum approaches to science as described by Erwin Laszlo, philosopher of science, whose observations on the latest scientific discoveries re-enchant a universe disenchanted by science: "at the roots of reality, there are not only matter and energy, but also a more subtle and equally fundamental factor that could be described as active and powerful information, or in-formation."

The letter U symbolizes this new management system.
First, the first branch of the U, descending, asks us to observe again and again; the base of the U advises us to go within ourselves, then we go back up along the third branch, acting quickly.

Otto Scharmer provides details of this process, which would take too long to go into here. However, he provides numerous testimonies on the success of this approach in various public and private organizations.
An approach based on listening to others and oneself, on opening one's intelligence, heart, and desire, and on the uninhibited expression of one's feelings. This book reflects a profound societal shift from management based on "manly" values to more "feminine" values, from animus to anima, from action to intuition.

The contribution of this theory is to allow us access to other fields of consciousness in a sector, that of management where until then, intuitions had to be justified by market studies, that of power with all the known excesses. This theory was developed from "success stories" and therefore works. It challenges hierarchical systems to move towards collaborative systems; but this of course presupposes acceptance and freedom, for oneself and for others.