Management in Digital Era – A Literature Review

Prof. M Ranganathan, Thakur Institute of Management

Studies and Research

ABSTRACT:
Management is the process of organizing and coordinating of
the activities of a business in order to achieve defined objectives.
The functions involved in Management are creating corporate
policy and organizing, planning and controlling, and directing an
organisation’s resources in order to achieve the objectives of that
policy. (businessdictionary.com)

Digital Era, also called as Digital Age or the Information Age is

defined as the time period starting in the 1970s with the
introduction of the personal computer with subsequent technology
introduced providing the ability to transfer information freely and
quickly. The time period in which we live now (where internet and
email are available) is an example of the Digital Age or the Digital
Era. (yourdictionary.com)

The Digital Age is charecterised by the shift from traditional

industry that the Industrial Revolution brought through
Industrialisation, to an economy based on Information
Technology. (wikepedia.org)
In this article, the Researcher has endeavoured to review
information about previous related research papers and articles;
which highlight about the area of study chosen.

Key Words: Digital Marketing, Digital Era, Mnagement,

Management in Digital Era, Management in Technology driven
environment

INTRODUCTION:
Management requires, (apart from other things,) organizing,
planning and controlling, and directing an organisation’s
resources. Management, in order to be effective, requires transfer
of information and knowledge amongst all the stakeholders, both
within and outside the organization. Management in Digital Era, is
therefore charecterised by transfer of information and knowledge
through Digital Means, thus achieving a quick and free transfer of
information, amongst the stakeholders, so that the Management
can carry out its activities effectively.

The Digital Era is characterized by intense socio-economic

transformation on a scale similar to that of the Industrial
Revolution (Drucker, 2002). This means that the society is
transforming itself to cope up with the unprecedented wave easy
access and flow of information. FIRMS should therefore have
to change the way their Managements function to cope up with
this intense flow of information and knowledge. It is not only about
how you manage your Management functions which involves the
external stakeholders (such as Customers and Suppliers), but it is
also about the Management fucntions which take care of internal
stakeholders (such as employees and partners). There is a
Paradigm Shift in how Managements function in this era of easy
and quick flow of information, and knowledge (and thus the
technology). Digital disruptions are the norms of the day and they
are happening at a much faster speed than one would expect
(Example: it took five years for Apple to transform the music
industry while Uber and Airbnb profoundly reshaped the
transportation and hospitality sectors in less than two years –
(Deloitte).

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a critical assessment of literature in

relation to the research problem being explored.

METHODOLOGY:
The reviews of literature were classified into different groups of
respondents and various elements of Management related to
Digital Age. Literatures relevant to Talent Management, People
Management, Information Management, Risk Management,
Marketing Management and Finance Management are
discussed in this study.

LITERATURE REVIEW:
“Predictions about the future of business sound very much like
what we might expect to see in a science fiction movie from
Hollywood” (Petty, 2016). The author further goes on to state that
Digitalisation will lead to work being monitored and controlled by
intelligent machines; strategies being selected by machines
based on intelligence algorithm; Factories being run by remote
control; Deliveries being done by driverless cars and drones;
and problems being resolved before they happen based on
complicated predictive analytics engines. The article suggests
that the four key areas the Managers must strengthen to remain
relevant are: Technical agility, Data agility, Project agility and
Networking agility. (Petty, 2016)

We try to bring here the new landscape the different Management

functions such as Talent Management, People Management,
Information Management, Risk Management, Marketing
Management and Finance Management are expected to take. All
the organisations are realigning their Business Strategy to cope
up with the Socio Economic Transformation that is taking place
due to Digitalisation in all spheres of life. Therefore, as a
corollary, it has become imperative for the organisations to realign
their functional Strategies such as Marketing Strategy, HR
Strategy, Operations Strategy, Finance Strategy etc. in line with
the modified Business Strategy.

TALENT MANAGEMENT IN DIGITAL ERA

In this Digital Era, HR executives have to incorporate Digital ways

of Talent Management. (Insights); Some of the initiatives could be
  creating a multi-channel sourcing strategy that taps a
variety of channels (from LinkedIn to employee referral
portal);

 empowering new hires with their self-service capabilities
(corporate intranet sites and social collaboration portals);

 Create social networks that facilitate real-time

communication among new hires, peers and mentoring
groups;

 and Support a flexible workforce with a cloud platform

capable of providing 24/7 access to HR information,
integrating

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT IN DIGITAL ERA

While companies focus on Technology Adoption in all digital

things, that alone, may not be sufficient. There must be
fundamental fundamental changes in leadership and talent
attributes which are far more critical to successfully embark in the
digital journey” - (Deloitte). The real challenge and real
complexity lies in planning the capabilities of a workforce in the
digital economy; Also critical are the the ability to integrate the
right people into a dynamic organizational context and help
existing employees and leaders gain new digital competencies to
be able to drive transformation (Deloitte)

The main role of HR in digital environment would be to create an

environment to lead the change and translate strategic objectives
into competencies that are relevant in today’s context.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN DIGITAL ERA

The digital transformation of enterprises across the globe means

new opportunities as well as challenges for these enterprises in
the way they use their IT capabilities to leverage this
transformation to their benefit. Digital is all about re-imagining
certain aspects if not entire business processes, services and
interactions with customers, partners and vendors by leveraging
consumer oriented digital technologies to deliver a superior
experience. Therefore, it is imperative that we create next
generation architectural capabilities that are required for
enterprises to succeed and not get trapped in technology led
conversations. In the long run, technology will keep evolving but
architectural capabilities will stay as the foundation on which data
is managed. (Wipro, 2018)

RISK MANAGEMENT IN DIGITAL ERA:

Computing power has doubled annually since the 1970s, and

costs have fallen at about the same rate. With every human
activity now digitally recorded (even sleep, in Apple’s new health
app), more data have been generated over the past two years
than in all of previous recorded history. (Mckinsey, 2017). A s per
Risk Managers, considerable value is already at stake for banks
in achieving this digital state in the near term (two to three
years).This means FIRMS have to develop responsible Digital
Capabilities in terms of data collection, analysis and data usage.
Some of the measures suggested by Mckinsey are, setting an
agile pace, helping people make the change, building a Test and
Learn Culture, Promoting a greater external orientation and
promoting a less hierarchial organization for effective Risk
Management. Needless to mention, that Corporate Governance
also has attained much more important role in the Digital Era.

MARKETING MANAGEMENT IN DIGITAL ERA

In his article titled, “Four keys to Marketing in Digital Era”,

Professor. Dominique Turpin, says, that Consumers have a
completely different journey than they used to, and the traditional
marketing funnel has become obsolete. The new model is called
Consumer Decision Journey (coined by Mc kinsey & Co.) A
consumer can spot a friend with a new product on facebook or on
other social media platforms and decide to buy it based on
customer reviews. (Turpin, 2016). It is also important to note that
Peer Reviews are taking up an important role in Decision Making
in addition to the Consumer Reviews. Turpin goes on to suggest
that the four keys to marketing in Digital Era are, (i) Privatize
Customer Centricity (Give more to the customers rather than
cheapening the offer.; (ii) Meet customers wherever they go; (iii)
Let somebody else do the talking (eg. Word of mouth and (iv)
Master the experience stage.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN DIGITAL ERA

While we have already discussed the perspectives of Risk

Management in an earlier section in this paper, this paper would
be incomplete, if we do not highlight the changing role of CFOs in
this digital era. The new wave of digital technologies is
fundamentally changing the way the Finance Function operates in
any organization (Durkerley). CFOs are looking to hire talents
from other industreis to complement their approach to
Digitalisation. “We are focusing on getting the right people in the
right place with the right skills to transform the organization”
(Doug Alexander). Durkerly highlights the broadening role of
CFOs as Strategic Advisors to the business.

CONCLUSION

Digitalisation offers enormous opportunities for today’s FIRMS

and tap them for their benefit. But at the same, it is a Challenege
to leverage this opportunity keeping the risks of easy availability
of information and Data. The Researcher is of the view that in a
SWOT analysis of an organization, while Digitalisation appears
as an OPPORTUNITY, it has to be implemented with enough
caution from Risk Management point of view.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Deloitte. (n.d.). The Changing Role of People Management in the Digital Age.

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Drucker. (2002). Managing in the Next Society. Oxford.

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