The Introduction and Appreciation of THE MANAGEMENT OF TIME was co-authored by Richard E. Ward and appears when the book was republished by Prentice-Hall, New Jersey in 1995.
The Management of Time, if written in the 90’s, would be seen to be an insightful synthesis of the philosophies of Tom Peters, Steven Covey, Alvin Toffler, Stephen Hawking, Edwards Deming, Deepak Chopra and James Redfield.
It is amazing then to realize that this book was first published in 1959. That year the Russians took the first pictures of the far side of the moon; computers used punch cards; Cadillacs had tail fins and Have Gun Will Travel was on prime time TV – Jim McCay was 38 years old.
In The Management of Time McCay delivers usable techniques for development in today’s hot topics: leadership, individual empowerment, value, holistic systems, information management, coping with rapid change, stimulating creativity, among others. What’s more, this incredibly rich work is presented in an easy-to-follow, readable style.
We introduce you to this book by following the author’s own advice on how to select a book.
5 Key Questions
Here are McCay’s 5 key questions and our answers to them:
- What is the book about?
- Do I want to explore this subject now?
- What are the author’s qualifications?
- Is this the sort of person who can help me grow?
- How well does the author organize his material?
1. What is the book about?
The Management Of Time provides insights and exercises to help you see yourself and others in an exchange of energy. You are shown how to recognize the direction and intensity of your own and others’ energy. This insight teaches you to amplify positive outcomes, eliminate waste and store or redirect energy – more for less.
The more for less idea extends into communications practices. McCay suggests methods of diagramming and using analogy to quickly convey your ideas. Integrating the processes of energy flow, the mind and imagination, and human biology enables the maximum engagement and stimulation of the audience.
Motivation is explained in relationship to value. Value is a corollary to participation; therefore, individual participation relates directly to the commitment and motivation a worker gives to an idea. McCay’s approach calls for an organizational systems and personnel management style that places an absolute respect on the knowledge of the individual. Methods are suggested to bring out the best with less supervision by optimizing everyone’s involvement.
Growth and continuous learning, according to McCay, are a must, but here the key is not mass consumption. Selectivity, mixed with broad exploration, are recommended for increased creativity and innovation. A regular workout to stretch your mind helps you to achieve more with less effort.
2. Do I want to explore this subject now?
The answer is an absolute yes if any of the following activities or concerns are part of your life:
- you are in a company or organization that is re-organizing or re-engineering;
- you are engaged in a field where massive amounts of information and/or highly specialized
- knowledge are required for decision making;
- you are directly and frequently affected by change;
- you are managing for the first time;
- you are expected to be creative and innovative
In The Management of Time, McCay, clearly foresaw the radical changes in style and management theory that would be required to succeed in the Information Age.
McCay’s integration of relational, communicational and personal growth processes for self and organizational improvement is unique.
You have probably read a subject at a time, addressed by different authors, but with McCay you are shown how all the pieces fit together – like discovering the picture within a jigsaw puzzle or connecting the dots. A basic framework is established that adds strength to what you know and expands what you learn.
At the time this book was written McCay had been in management consulting for 10 years. His background came from his degree in chemical engineering and practical experience. He traveled the world with an extended stay in Japan where he studied Zen.
In order to write this book he observed and interviewed many of the most successful and influential people of the time. Several of these people credit McCay with guiding them to insights that provided a foundation for their growth and profoundly influenced their careers and lives.
Here are three examples of McCayisms which have been popularized by today’s management gurus. We share them with you to establish his credentials and also to provide a personal image of McCay – a maverick of his era.
The Four Personality Types Seen In Organizations
For years McCay consulted to Alcan, while David Culver was CEO. Mr. Culver remarked that even though he admired all of McCay’s ideas he did not always subscribe to his methods. (For example, McCay prescribed executive meetings in swimming pools – so everyone was the same height and weight.) However, to this day Mr. Culver applies McCay’s analysis of the four personality types in assembling an organization:
- Hunters – frequently seen as the salespeople, the people who go out of the cave to bring back the food; the innovators who create competitive products within;
- Spiritualists – those individuals who maintain the organizations values – what is right and wrong; the need to be a responsible world contributor;
- Jesters – the ones who release the tension at just the right time before the project self destructs;
- Leaders – the people who appreciate that you need all of the above three types to succeed.
Positive Energy Inspires Performance
Bill Dawson, Chairman of Descon corporation, was McCay’s business associate and personal friend. Often the first audience for his friend’s concepts, Bill routinely found himself involved in McCay’s experiments. One such experiment involved having a whole project team laying on the floor of a dark room with loud music playing. Starting with, arms and legs together, they then attempted to move right and left appendages away from their bodies equal distances. The object was to find your center. The Zen influence on McCay’s work is immediately apparent from this experiment.
Another hypothesis that Bill tested with McCay was that the direction of positive thoughts and feelings towards a person increases their level of positive response. This was routinely tested in numerous individual and group settings with favorable results. You can test this yourself the next time that you are listening to a poor presentation. Instead of mentally criticizing the speaker, focus on something positive to generate good feelings towards him. A This is a particularly useful exercise when one of your own team members is in difficulty.
Messy Organizations Are More Creative And Responsive
Both Culver and Dawson recalled McCay’s philosophies of organizational culture.
Culver has referred to the evolution of matrix management and quality teams and their relationship to McCay’s early work.
At Descon Bill and McCay worked to develop teams that could shorten development and production cycles using McCay’s principles; for example, McCay believed that work groups should be designed so that the leader of any one group reports to an individual in another group, creating infinite networks of responsibilities.
4. Is this the sort of person who can help me grow?
McCay challenged and stretched. He was given audience by those who dared, who were intensely curious and inwardly secure.
Bob Bandeen, President and CEO of Cluny Corp., formerly CEO of Crown Life, and Canadian National Railways, found his time with McCay stimulating and challenging.
Jim McCay made you see things differently. He helped you to grow because his ideas were uncompromisingly new.
For the others, frightened by his eccentricities, he was an outcast. Here he was – chemical engineer practicing Zen, masquerading as a management consultant.
How many times have we been told in the past 10 years that we need to change our paradigms, challenge our old thinking. But what happens when we do?
We often meet head on with organizations that are too slow to change.
Some of us have been labelled overly visionary – focused on the unpredictable future and the impact our actions today will have on the future, instead of the current problems – or know people who have been treated as pariahs for carrying the message.
Listen, don’t be discouraged – these were Jim’s messages too.
He had the right questions.
The book is deceivingly simple to read. You can select any section which interests you and it will stand alone. But this is also a workbook. The regular practices that McCay suggests are easier to read than to do, because they require dedication to your goal and discipline.
We have wondered what would McCay’s focus be if he were alive today. In the closing remarks of this book we begin to see McCay’s awareness of changing global responsibilities. He was expanding from single business to economy, from teams to cultures.
How would McCay have responded to the challenges placed upon the nation-state when mass media, global telecommunications and cheap international air travel have removed the distance between peoples of like values in different countries and cultures?
In the years after The Management of Time< was published, McCay was quoted:
“The 20th century requires a new dimension – the dimension of consciousness, of self-knowledge”.The search for meaning in life and our heightened awareness of mysticism has paved the way for the popularity of Depak Chopra, Shirley MacLaine and James Redfield as accepted parts of popular culture.
Had McCay’s plans for the Integron Centre – a place to blend management, mysticism and futurism with participating leaders from business, government and academia – materialized these are the bold thinkers that he would have attracted.
In the pages that follow, be prepared to be challenged and stretched.
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