Quantum People Management

This paper aims to use principles of quantum mechanics to provide insight into the principles of people management.

It combines key messages given by leaders in today’s world of people management. The discussion is stimulated by the findings from Stuart-Kotze and Dunn (2008) that “the ‘war for talent’ is a phoney war” in that “it’s not talent that’s in short supply; the shortage is in people that know how to manage it.”

The supporting case studies have been deliberately chosen from the voluntary and community sector. This is because there is something of a people management secret that lies at the point where the management of volunteers and the management of paid staff overlap. It is around the notion of encouraging paid staff to volunteer their discretionary effort and talents in a way that furthers the aims of an organisation that itself embraces the principles and ethos of volunteering.