My Mind Words Paper + writing contests

Deadline: 30 June 2012

(Note: The contest is open to students, junior managers, and entrepreneurs from around the world who want to share their views on the changing structure and mindset of the workforce and the impact it will have on institutions and management.)

The Drucker Challenge Essay contest, organized by Peter Drucker Society Europe and now in its 3rd year, is about to raise awareness among young people of the works and ideas of Peter Drucker and a management philosophy that puts the human being in its centre.

Essays must have between 1.500 to 3.000 words and attempt to deploy your perspectives and experience that will be significant for an interested but primarily non-research oriented audience. Researchers are invited to participate in our «Call for papers», co-organized by Peter Drucker Society Europe and Management Research Review (Emerald Group Publishing).

The title theme of this year's Drucker Challenge is «Reinventing Work, Reinventing Organization» - a hot topic that will also be discussed at the 4th Global Drucker Forum in the context of Capitalism 2.0.

THEME & CONTEXT

In 1947 General Motors asked its employees to take part in an essay contest with the title theme "Why I Like My Job" An astonishing 174,854 workers at GM answered the call and submitted their essays. Peter Drucker, who just a few years earlier had systematically studied the inner workings at General Motors and had thereby "invented" the discipline of management, was one of the five judges who evaluated the essays and eventually picked the 40 winners.

Our jobs, i.e. the way we conduct our work and our overall concept of work have changed significantly, even dramatically since 1947. Peter Drucker anticipated and observed these changes - like the rise of the knowledge worker, the emergence of the entrepreneurial society, and the increasing need to "manage oneself" - and described them in detail in books like "Landmarks of Tomorrow" (1959), "The Age of Discontinuity" (1969), "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" (1985), "Management Challenges for the 21st Century" (1999), and "Managing in the Next Society" (2002).

Once asked about his prescience, Peter Drucker famously replied: It is in this spirit that we ask you: What do YOU see?

• How will the nature of work and the workforce look like a few years or decades from now?
• Will we still have the traditional corporations with their hierarchies providing the workplace for millions?
• How will SME’s be configured?
• Will all workers ultimately become knowledge workers?
• In which environment will knowledge workers conduct business? Still at a desk at the office, or rather from home? Will they work for one or for several companies and organizations - in a mixture of jobs and parallel careers?
• What will drive and motivate knowledge workers of tomorrow? A good pay? Or perhaps passion and purpose?
• To what extent will the traditional "employee society" evolve into an "entrepreneurial society"?
• Which will be the impact of these structural changes on companies, corporations and organizations and how can they best adapt?
• What role will social entrepreneurs and the non-profit sector play in the future? What regulatory power will governments and trade unions ideally have? And how will the education sector and, last but not least, business schools change - and indeed have to change - to address the challenges of tomorrow?

GUIDELINES

IMPORTANT DATES

• June 30, 2012: Deadline for essay submission
• Sept. 10, 2012: Authors of the winning essays will be notified about the Jury decision
• Sept. 15, 2012: Winners List published
• Nov. 15-16, 2012: 4th Global Drucker Forum

• File Type: Word for Windows: pdf
• Words: 1.500 - 3.000
• Font: “Times New Roman” or “Arial”, size 12, single line spacing
• Language: English
• Submission System: Please use the Electronic Submission Page

• Students
• Managers & Entrepreneurs

Co-authorship is permitted.

Please note the Drucker Challenge essay contest is geared towards a primarily non-research oriented audience (for research-based papers may we refer you to our "Academic Call for Papers". We suggest you write from your own background, experience and perspective, weaving together facts and figures with anecdotal evidence, and personal with general observations - similar to the way Peter Drucker himself used to write.

If you want, you can also envision and describe a day-in-the-life in the not too distant future to highlight the changes in our perceptions and practice of work that are already at work and beginning to shape the world that's to come.

JURY

• Lynda Gratton will serve as Head of Jury in this year's Drucker Challenge. She is Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, founder of the Hot Spots Movement, and was ranked 12th on the Thinkers50 2011 list of the world’s top 50 business thinkers. Her new book "THE SHIFT. The future of work is already here" " is for those who are keen to take charge of the future of their work. Watch the video with Lynda in the Financial Times;
• Deepa Prahalad Business strategist and consultant; author of “PREDICTABLE MAGIC: Unleash the Power of Design Strategy to Transform Your Business”
• John Peters CEO, GSE Research Ltd; former Chief Executive at Emerald Group Publishing
• Richard Brem Peter Drucker Society Europe, Project Manager Peter Drucker Challenge, coordinates the overall award program and facilitates the jury process.

There will be 3 rounds of judging. The jury process will be facilitated by Richard Brem, Drucker Challenge Project Manager.

First Round

During the First Round, a panel of curators will evaluate and attribute a score to each entrant’s Essay made up of scores based upon the below-listed criteria during the period beginning on July 1, 2012 and ending on August 2, 2012

Judging criteria:

A. Style, originality, passion for the theme
B. Formal structure of the essay
C. Logical coherence
D. To what extent does the essay deal with Druckerian themes?
E. How well does it address the theme of the 2012 contest?

The thirty (30) Essay submissions that receive the highest overall scores will qualify for the Second Round.

Second round

The thirty Essay submissions will be evaluated and attributed a score in early September by a panel of curators based upon the above-listed criteria, each of equal weight. The ten (10) Essay submissions that receive the highest overall scores will qualify for the Final round.

Final round

The ten (10) entries that receive the highest overall scores will be selected as the “Finalists.” Further, the Finalist that receives the highest overall score in each category will be selected as the First Prize Winner. In early September, the ten Finalists will be selected and notified by email. If a Finalist does not respond to the notification attempt within 4 days, then an alternate Finalist will be selected from among all eligible entries received based on the judging criteria described herein. Further, First Prize Winners and runners-up warrant that they are able to attend the public announcement on November 15, 2012. If one of them is unable to attend an alternate Finalist may be selected from among all eligible entries received based on the judging criteria described herein.

You can see a list of winners by mid-September, 2012, visiting www.druckerchallenge.org

PRIZES

Prizes are awarded to the two overall winners and the two runners-up in the two categories as well as up to 26 more winning papers. Depending on the quality and number of submissions, additional awards may be bestowed.

The overall winners in the students and managers/entrepreneurs category will be awarded:

• Money prize of € 1.000;
• Publications of essays on druckerchallenge.org and partner media;
• Free participation in the 4th Global Peter Drucker Forum on Nov. 15 - 16, 2012, including: participation in the Speakers reception on Nov. 14; all sessions and workshops on Nov 15 – 16; Gala Dinner on Nov 15 with awards ceremony; conference materials; lunch and coffee at the conference venue; up to three nights accommodation at the conference hotel; travel costs; an active role in a panel/workshop; Free membership to PDSA/PDSE in 2013

• Publications of essays on druckerchallenge.org and partner media;
• Free participation in the 4th Global Peter Drucker Forum on Nov. 15 - 16, 2012, including: participation in the Speakers reception on Nov. 14; all sessions and workshops on Nov 15 – 16; Gala Dinner on Nov 15 with awards ceremony; conference materials; lunch and coffee at the conference venue; 50% travel cost reimbursement; an active role in a panel/workshop; Free membership to PDSA/PDSE in 2013

• Publications of essays on druckerchallenge.org
• Free participation in the 4th Global Peter Drucker Forum on Nov. 15- 16, 2012, including: participation in the Speakers reception on Nov. 14; all sessions and workshops on Nov 15 – 16; Gala Dinner on Nov 15 with awards ceremony; conference materials; lunch and coffee at the conference venue; Free membership to PDSA/PDSE in 2013

• Free participation in the 4th Global Peter Drucker Forum on Nov.15 - 16, 2012, including: all sessions and workshops on Nov 15 – 16; Gala Dinner on Nov 15 with awards ceremony; conference materials; lunch and coffee at the conference venue

For inquiries: contact@druckersociety.eu

For submissions: enter the contest via the electronic submissions page

Website: http://www.druckerchallenge.org