January 2009 New Book Looks to Changing how Ireland does Business

Innovative management, personal creativity and a global mindset are key to Ireland's economic recovery, according to a new book launched at NUI Galway. Irish Management 2.0 combines articles, case studies and management reflections into a compelling commentary on the future of management practice and business education in Ireland. Speaking at the launch, Mr Pádraig Ó Céidigh, founder and chairman CEO of Aer Arann, and Executive in Residence for the Executive MBA programme at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business at NUI Galway, said: "The world is moving and here in Ireland we have to move faster to be competitive, in order to achieve this we need to continually re-invent ourselves like those highlighted in the case studies in this book, successful brands such as CRH plc., Bulmers, O2 and even U2. I have never read a book like this, and its timely publication makes it a must-read for the business sector including entrepreneurs, education institutions and their students, to face difficult challenges in the current economic climate". Dr James Cunningham, Director of the Centre of Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) at NUI Galway, and co-editor of the book with Dr Denis Harrington of Waterford Institute of Technology, comments: "The concept of the knowledge economy has changed the management paradigm for Irish managers. As our economy shifts from an over-reliance on construction over the coming years, the key challenge for all Irish businesses will lie in fundamentally changing the way Irish managers and business do business and through international competitiveness". How will Irish businesses compete on a global scale? The answer, according to Irish Management 2.0 is through: developing the breadth and depth of managerial excellence; increasing levels of organisational flexibility; unleashing the personal innovation capacity at a firm level; and building new collaborative organisational forms that span several industries. In order to hone managerial excellence in Ireland, Irish Management 2.0 argues that there must be greater investment in managerial development at firm level; an alignment of management styles and paradigms to the knowledge economy; changes in managerial mindset, conceptualisation of organisations and competitive contexts; and significant changes in collaborations between Irish managers and business school academics, both nationally and internationally. Cunningham and Harrington argue that Ireland is at the beginning of a new management revolution - Management 2.0 - that will impact Irish business and change the manner in which organisations are managed and run. They argue that Irish management and managers need to embrace new managerial practices and to develop a new management paradigm that is centred on unleashing the personal innovation capacity at a firm level and the enabling capabilities of managers. The role of manager extends beyond that of planning, leading, organising and controlling which are core to the management function, to becoming that of an enabler rather than a doer. Moving from doing to enabling requires Management 2.0 teams to build an organisational enabling platform on two capabilities - creativity and socialisation - designed to unleash the individual personal innovation capacity of all internal and external stakeholders of the firm. These are the central themes of Irish Management 2.0. A strong national pool of managerial talent is a key competitive requirement if Ireland is to become an exemplar knowledge based economy. With respect to future development of Irish managerial talent, Cunningham and Harrington argue we have still have a long way to go if we compete effectively in global markets. With an introduction by Harvard Business Review Editor Thomas A Stewart, Irish Management 2.0 is an essential resource for practitioners, students and for anyone interested in the future of Irish business and is available from Blackhall Publishers, Dublin www.blackhallpublishing.com. Irish Management 2.0 is supported by the MBA Association of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. The Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) is an interdisciplinary research centre at NUI Galway. The key objective of CISC is to build an internationally recognised programme of research and research training on the innovation processes and policies that are fundamental to the development of a knowledge-based economy. -Ends-