Ashridge Management Index

The Ashridge Management Index (AMI) was published in 2008. The purpose of the AMI was to examine the business environment and to better understand the key challenges that existed for managers in the first decade of the 21st century. The research was conducted in the Autumn of 2007. Over 800 managers responded to a survey which covered the following broad topics:

• Management and organisational challenges
• Personal Challenges
• Motivation
• Training and Development Challenges.

The results revealed a number of trends, issues and challenges for organisations and their managers.

The key positive messages emerging from the survey included:

• 72% believed top leadership in their organisation to be effective
• 79% believed their immediate manager to be effective
• 68% believed they were more involved in decision making than three years previous
• 72% believed there was generally more information sharing
• 80% believed Information Technology and Communications had improved communications in their organisations
• 75% believed their organisation was effectively managing its social and environmental impact.

However, respondents also indicated a number of areas for improvement, including:

• Development of talent - more needed to be done to bring through the next generation of managers
  
• Globalisation - this was an issue for over three quarters of the respondents, in particular in attracting and retaining talented staff
• Influencing without authority - managers cited this as more of a challenge than ever before
  
• More than 50% felt top managers did not spend sufficient time communicating with staff
  
• 82% of managers found that they were increasingly having to manage people in cross-functional and virtual-teams
  50% of managers indicated that their organisation's approach to motivation was not right for them
  
• 74% believed that they were snowed under, receiving too many e-mails and voicemails
• 74% felt they would sacrifice career opportunities to ensure a better work/life balance
• Only 50% felt that sufficient time was allocated to individual learning and development.

In the three areas of globalisation, leadership and motivation there were some particularly interesting messages.

Globalisation

Globalisation may be at the heart of how many organisations operate in the 21st century, and the survey highlighted the level of challenge this represents for many businesses. The majority, more than three-quarters, of managers in our survey said that globalisation was a challenge for their organisation.

Leadership

Most managers described a positive leadership environment within their organisations. For example, over 70% believed top leadership within their organisation was effective. However, there were some short-comings such as succession planning. Only around half of the managers who responded believed their organisations were doing enough to develop the next generation of leaders. This finding was worrying as it indicated that in spite of awareness about the importance of talent management, succession planning and leadership development, these topics were being neglected by a number of organisations.

Low levels of motivation

It was startling to find that around half of the managers surveyed said that the motivation approach taken by their organisations did not motivate them. The survey identified clear discrepancies between what managers wanted and what organisations relied on. If high levels of motivation are an essential ingredient for success then perhaps organisations need to talk to their people to find out what motivates and demotivates them.

This brief summary highlights some of the key messages emerging from the AMI. For further information you can download a PDF of the Executive Summary here. Alternatively, a copy of the full report is available (cost £45) from the Ashridge Learning Resource Centre. To order a copy, please contact the bookshop manager at: bookshop@ashridge.org.uk or by calling: +44 (0)1442 841159.