Two totally different takes on the value of managers

The four-day workweek isn't happening anytime soon at Samsung Electronics. After 2023 performance fell short of expectations, the company mandated a six-day workweek for executives.

"We are introducing the six-day workweek for executives to inject a sense of crisis..."

- Samsung Executive

But is "injecting a sense of crisis" the way to spark innovation and productivity? Especially when studies are showing that four-day weeks are actually delivering performance boosts? Microsoft Japan saw productivity jump almost 40% after piloting a four-day week.

​And it's interesting that Samsung chose to only subject executives to this punitive schedule. The message seems to be: executives have fallen short but they are the ones who have the potential to turn this around.

​Let's contrast that with Bayer's interesting move: firing managers and asking workers to figure it out themselves.

That's middle managers, mind you. Not the highest paid senior execs. According to the article, not only is Bayer bullish on allowing 100,000 employees to self-manage but they're literally throwing away the company corporate handbook that apparently was longer than War and Peace.

​They're calling the new model "dynamic shared ownership." I guess it could work, but let's not pretend that cutting out middle management is completely new. And are senior execs really going to be more efficient? I have my doubts. Throwing away the handbook is an interesting move, though.