“It is [the book’s] thesis that management of worker and work has as its ultimate goal the realization of the managerial vision for all members of the enterprise, and as its major means the assumption of significant responsibility and decision-making power by every worker.”
A professional such as an electrical engineer, lawyer, or software developer is governed by two sets of requirements. That of the profession and that of the organization. These requirements must be integrated and ordered for business results.
Professionals ought to be allowed to fulfill the requirements of their profession, but they must have a vision of the organization’s mission and goals. Professional requirements are not an end in themselves. They are a means to an end. Their purpose is to further the mission of the organization and its goals for the public good.
To increase the ability of professionals to integrate and order their efforts, two things can be done. First, Drucker recommended giving professionals oversight opportunities in areas of the business that their work affects. He gave an example of a chemist who was put on a financial committee. The chemist’s professional requirements remained but he gained new knowledge of what the business required.
Second, professionals should have promotion tracks that encourage professional advancement, and they should be managed by people who have experience in the profession. This will increase the likelihood all requirements are fulfilled.
(The Practice of Management, chapter 26)