Pakistani businesses urged to develop learning capacity — Dawn
In Pakistan, organizations should focus not only on implementing technologies and management approaches, but also on developing their internal capacity to learn, make decisions and adapt to change. Asif Saad, who advises boards of directors and CEOs on strategy, leadership and organizational transformation, expressed this view in an opinion piece for Dawn.
The author refers to a recent McKinsey report that identifies three factors transforming organizations worldwide: technology and artificial intelligence, economic and geopolitical disruptions, and changes in the workforce composition. At the same time, Pakistani businesses already operate amid unstable costs, uncertain demand, supply-chain disruptions and regulatory uncertainty.
Dependence on the leader
According to Saad, the personal competence of a founder or leader is not the same as a company’s institutional capacity. He notes that in some organizations, the owner or the most experienced manager makes all important decisions, from matters involving difficult clients to investments, hiring and operational issues.
This model may deliver results in the short term, but it creates dependence on one person. Managers become accustomed to passing problems up to leadership instead of independently seeking solutions, while experience remains concentrated in a few people rather than being embedded in systems, processes and shared management approaches.
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The author links this to succession difficulties. In his view, it is not limited to finding a new CEO or a family member for a family business. It requires employees capable of making decisions, systems that function without the leader’s constant personal intervention, and access to accumulated knowledge.
Artificial intelligence and management
Saad believes that the discussion of artificial intelligence should not be reduced to identifying tasks for automation. In his view, the more important question is what new skills and capabilities an organization will need after routine work changes.
A company may purchase new systems, appoint a chief digital officer or launch artificial intelligence pilot projects, but this alone will not change its management behavior, the author writes. If employees are afraid to report problems to management and managers are rewarded only for individual results, technology will not remove these barriers.
According to Saad, organizations learn when experience changes their behavior. To achieve this, leaders must ensure that difficult information reaches them and combine the experience of senior managers with knowledge of new technologies, customers and expectations that younger employees often possess.
