THE greasy pole up any management hierarchy today is invariably overcrowded with fellow aspirants but not totally without a value system. However, a survey published in Britain this week says that, beyond the year 2000, management is likely to enter "Mad Max" territory where unacceptable practices today will become commonplace.
The survey of attitudes in middle management, published in the current issue of Connect, the Royal Mail's house magazine, lists ruthlessness and risk taking among the necessary personal characteristics to survive in business post 2000 compared with enthusiasm and intelligence today.
Richard Branson, charismatic head of the Virgin business empire, was named as the boss most people would like to work for.
But, circa 2000, it is expected that there will be no room for "nice guys" and business leaders will require the qualities of a corporate Judge Dredd. Bet we all know individuals and companies already ahead of their time.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)