The Fusion Manager: Strategies, Tactics and New Thinking for Breakthrough Management

Citation

(2004), "The Fusion Manager: Strategies, Tactics and New Thinking for Breakthrough Management", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 53 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2004.07953aae.004

The Fusion Manager: Strategies, Tactics and New Thinking for Breakthrough Management

Robert HellerProfileISBN 1 86197 646 1£14.99

Many managers are still looking for the one great panacea – that new technique or piece of management thinking that will address all of, or at least their main, problems. It seems that many managers can only hold one concept, line of business or main underlying knowledge area in their mind at once. Thus, such managers grasp at BRP, TQM, CRM or the latest three-letter acronym. Heller argues that such a focus on single issues is doomed to failure. In fact, what managers need is exactly the opposite – they need "fusion management". This recognises that each business situation or problem demands a tailored solution. There is not, and never will be, a consolidating, overarching theory of management.

This is probably just as well. The success of the modern company depends on continual innovation – daring to be different. If all were using the same universal theory, what then for diversity and difference, for originality?

The basic concept of fusion management is simple; its practice rather more difficult. Managers must become thinkers, sceptics even. They must make connections, recognise overlaps, learn how to transfer knowledge and experience from one situation to another, adapt techniques – all the time also avoiding the common myths and misunderstandings that trip up the unwary. They must understand and deconstruct their "reality" – to identify what is truly real. We must fuse our own experience with that of others, and fuse knowledge and methodology from different areas and situations. This is creativity on a personal, but on a grand scale.

Heller makes this book easier to read by heading most chapters with a list of key points that provide a checklist against which to test your current approach. But to get the maximum benefit, you are going to work hard. It is good to see a management text that places so much responsibility on the manager!