For some time now, there have been various terms with the version number 5.0, such as Society 5.0, Industry 5.0, Education 5.0 and Strategy 5.0. We are concerned with the question of what contemporary training and executive education for the fifth development stage of connective strategic management could look like (Management Education for Strategy 5.0). An important basis for this is the improvement of dialog-based action.

In this blog post, I outline a new way of teaching relevant learning content for today’s working world.

Society 5.0, Industry 5.0 and Education 5.0

The concept of a networked Society 5.0, which originated in Japan, and the term Industry 5.0, coined by the European Union, describe a fifth stage in the development of society and industrial production. Industry 5.0 builds on the Industry 4.0 approach developed in Germany in 2011. The version number 5.0 emphasizes the increasing importance of human-machine interaction and a more resilient industry.

The focus of the still relatively new concept of Education 5.0 is the individual design of interdisciplinary learning processes. This fifth stage of development is characterized by the following features: ¹

• Personalized learning
• cooperation and solidarity
• development of skills relevant for the 21st century
• flexibility and accessibility
• data-based decision-making
• security and protection of privacy
• high-speed networks
• well-being
• adaptability and
• game-based learning (gamification).

In recent years, my research has focused on the fundamentals and characteristics of the fifth development stage of connective strategic management.²  Such a Strategy 5.0 requires new approaches to management education and training. In this respect, there is a connection between Management Education for Strategy 5.0 and the concepts of Society 5.0, Industry 5.0 and Education 5.0.

We distinguish between three levels when it comes to improved training and executive education for today’s working world.

Three-level model for improved training and executive educaton

Traditional training and executive education for the world of work is organized according to specific subject areas. These include natural sciences, engineering and health sciences, computer science,business administration, economics, law, political science and psychology. These subject areas have been joined by new cross-cutting topics such as digitalization, sustainability and resilience, which are becoming increasingly important.³

Unfortunately, secondary schools have failed to teach young people the basics of these subjects. The result is unused apprenticeship years, e.g. for acquiring programming skills, and a certain lack of orientation when choosing a career. The acquisition of knowledge and skills for the working environment then only takes place in specialized Bachelor’s degree courses. Surprisingly, little has changed in this basic pattern over the last fifty years. At the beginning of the 1970s, for example, I studied to become an „Engineer 1.0“, in which the words „person“ and „customer“ did not appear.

Early professional specialization favours the emergence of a silo mentality within and between organizations, which makes change processes more difficult. In practice, the mantra-like calls for transformation often fail due to this compartmentalization and a lack of dialogue skills.

Our three-level model of improved training and executive education for the woring environment addresses these deficits. The three levels are:

1. Supplementing traditional Bachelor’s degree programs with an understanding of common foundations such as entrepreneurship
2. an expansion of professional specialization to include relevant cross-cutting topics such as sustainability and
3. imparting knowledge and skills for dialog-based action that helps managers to master the major challenges of the present and future.

The aim of this three-level model is to create a new content framework for Management Education 5.0.

At the first level of the common foundations, the main aim is to train interdisciplinary cooperation. The topic of entrepreneurship, for example, is well suited to this. Learners take on different roles when founding a start-up and thus improve their professional orientation by applying previously tested personal strengths.

A connecting element at the second level of specialization are cross-cutting topics such as sustainability. For example, in a case study on the topic of Digital GreenTech, students apply their skills in the classic disciplines and at the same time improve their teamwork skills.

The third level is about developing a more dialog-based approach. Management Education 5.0 should possibly focus on this area. A current example of this is connecting strategies for generative artificial intelligence (AI). An opportunity for Europe lies in new forms of cooperation between the business, science, politics and society sectors in order to find the right balance between innovation and containment. This involves expanding the relevant capabilities for intersectoral programs.⁴

Connective strategic management

Over the past year, we have tested this three-level model in university teaching and executive education on the evolution of strategic management. In the courses, participants analyze the positive contributions and weaknesses of the five development stages of strategic management.⁵ The illustration shows our current version of the fundamentals and characteristics of a Strategy 5.0.

A new addition is the fundamental topic of dialog-based action, which I would like to discuss in more detail below.

     Basic and supplementary dialog skills

The roots of the concept of dialog (dia-logos: flow of meaning) in the history of ideas go back to ancient times. Important impulses for modern dialog theory come from David Bohm, Ruth Cohn, Verena Kast, Brian Goodwin and William Isaacs. The view of the American physicist David Bohm is based on the idea that the participants in dialog processes generate a topic and that something new can emerge as a result.

He sees the exploration of new possibilities as the goal of dialog. This is the difference to debate or discussion, where the focus is on defending one’s own position. Dialogues are intended to counteract the fragmentation of reality through rational-analytical thinking and make deeper connections clear. Dialogue skills can be divided into the four basic skills (1-4) and six supplementary skills (A-F) shown in the diagram. Basic dialog skills are:⁶

1. Radical respect
2. suspending assumptions and assessments
3. speaking that comes from the heart and
4. generative listening.

I have assigned the supplementary dialog skills to these basic skills.⁷ 

Radical respect means recognizing the opinions of others as legitimate and of equal value. This is supported by a learning attitude, i.e. an inner attitude that is characterized by interest and curiosity in others. What is important here is openness towards the person in question and their possibly contrary positions.

The second fundamental skill of suspending assumptions and assesments means keeping one’s own mental models in abeyance. This leads to a slowing down of the dialog process, which makes it possible to bring the spirit of „thinking together“ to life.

The philosopher of religion Martin Buber understands „speaking from the heart“ to mean speaking when there is something to say and saying what needs to be said. The important thing here is to observe one’s own observations, i.e. a kind of self-perception on a meta-level. „Productive pleading“ means explaining one’s own thought process and not just presenting a thought result.

A fourth fundamental dialog competence is generative listening. This refers to recognizing your own contradictions and evasive manoeuvres. It helps to explore other positions by asking sincere, interested questions.

In my opinion, the stakeholder dialogues widely used in management and political practice have not really succeeded in translating these skills into concrete action in practice. The question therefore arises as to what improved dialog-based action could look like.

Dialogue-based action

In the fifth stage of development of connective strategic management, competition is increasingly taking place between innovative stakeholder ecosystems. Examples of the challenges to be overcome simultaneously include digital realignment in established companies, the fight against climate change and improved resilience in the event of polycrises. The winners in this new stage of development will be the stakeholder ecosystems that are best able to engage in dialog-based action.

Barriers between the expression of two behavioral dimensions must be overcome. These behavioral dimensions are:

1. Communication-oriented dialogs and
2. the translation into practical action.

In traditional stakeholder dialogs, there are often deficits in practical action.⁸

When communication-oriented dialog is not very pronounced, it is referred to as a discussion or debate. Management Education 5.0 should therefore train dialog skills.

The even greater difficulty often lies in translating this into practical action. In companies, the traditional behavioral pattern of power- and competition-oriented action, which is not very communication-oriented, usually dominates. This type of behavior should be replaced by dialog-based action.

Management Education 5.0 is therefore aimed at conveying the corresponding mindset. Innovative educational programs have the opportunity to test and further develop this basic concept in practice. The existing deficits in overcoming major challenges show that there is a need for dialog-based action in intersectoral programs, for example.

Testing new forms of learning

One example of the testing of new forms of learning is the development and expansion of the TUM campus in his home town of Heilbronn, initiated by Lidl owner Dieter Schwarz together with the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (Ipai), the largest AI ecosystem in Europe, is currently being created here.⁹ Alongside industrial companies such as Bosch and SAP and venture capital investors, the Schwarz Group is one of the partners of the AI start-up Aleph Alpha, founded by Jonas Andrulis. The aim is to realize a sovereign generative AI from Europe. The integration into the campus and the innovation park creates a bridge between science and business. Aleph Alpha makes its technology available to companies and administrations as a license, which then use it to implement specific applications.¹⁰ Future developments will show how successful this innovation ecosystem is in comparison to the major digital champions from the USA.

Such concepts are important steps on the way to Management Education 5.0 and it is to be hoped that other education providers will follow soon. The aim is to create a unifying learning experience that supports positive differentiation in the competition between stakeholder ecosystems.

Unfortunately, according to a survey of around 11,000 HR managers from 21 countries by the market research institute Trendence and the HR consultancy Emerging, none of the German universities are among those that best prepare their graduates for the job market.¹¹ The top places were taken by three universities from the USA: the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Seven universities from Germany made it into the top 100 in the world. The leaders in this national ranking are the Technical University of Munich, the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 13th, 46th and 53rd place respectively. On the way to internationally successful management education, our country should therefore start a catch-up process as quickly as possible.

Dialogue-based action as the basis for the design of innovative stakeholder ecosystems

The Association of German Engineers (VDI) is an important driving force for dialog between the business, science, politics and society sectors. As a member of the VDI’s Technology in Dialogue Advisory Board, I am involved in dialog-based action as the basis for innovative stakeholder ecosystems. The VDI round table on the circular economy for plastics emerged from the work of the advisory board. One of the recommendations made by this group of experts is the establishment of a stakeholder platform for cross-circular cooperation and organizational processes.¹² This platform should not only formulate goals, but also implement coordinated measures and forms of cooperation between relevant stakeholders. As part of the Advisory Board’s further work, we aim to test platforms for intersectoral programs and analyse their success factors.

This model could serve as a blueprint for tackling other major challenges, such as the emergence of a hydrogen economy or the development of trustworthy generative AI. A representative survey by the VDI has shown that only 54 percent of the more than 1000 participants still consider our country to be competitive.¹³ VDI President Lutz Eckstein therefore invites us to formulate a positive target image for the future of our location in dialog with society.¹⁴  An important means of achieving this goal is competence in dialog-based action within the framework of joint, intersectoral programs of the relevant stakeholders. Surprisingly, there is still a considerable need for research with regard to successful cooperation between the economic, scientific, political and social sectors.

The quadruple helix approach, which describes the co-evolution of different sectors, provides a theoretical basis.¹⁵ The question of how Europe intends to implement this co-evolution in organizational terms remains largely unanswered.

Conclusion

• A fifth stage of development is also emerging in management education, in which interdisciplinarity and connecting skills are becoming increasingly important
• A model for improved training and executive education in the world of work emphasizes knowledge and skills for dialog-based action
• A current example is generative AI with its opportunities and risks
• A dialog-based approach combines dialog skills with a less power- and competition-oriented approach
• The winners of the fifth development stage of connective strategic management will include stakeholder ecosystems that are better at dialog-based action than their competitors

Literature

[1] Ahmad, S. et al: Education 5.0 – Requirements, Enabling Technologies, and Future Directions, July 29, 2023

[2] Servatius, H.G.: Strategy 5.0 for mastering the new challenges.
In: Competivation Blog, 28.06.2022

[3] Servatius, H.G.: Generative AI and mass customized action learning.
In: Competivation Blog, 28.08.2023

[4] Suleyman, M.: The Coming Wave – AI, Power and the 21^st Century’s Greatest Dilemma, London 2023

[5] Servatius, H.G.: Leading strategically with contextual and relationship-oriented intelligence. In: Competivation Blog, 14.03.2023

[6] Isaacs, W.: Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together – A Pioneering Approach to Communication in Business and in Life, New York 1999

[7] Hartkemeyer, M., J.F. and T.: Dialogische Intelligenz – Aus dem Käfig des Gedachten in den Kosmos gemeinsamer Denkens, 4th ed., Frankfurt 2022

[8] Künkel, P., Gerlach, S., Frieg, V.: Stakeholder-Dialoge erfolgreich gestalten – Kernkompetenzen für erfolgreiche Verhaltens- und Kooperationsprozesse, Wiesbaden 2016

[9] Hopp, D.: Dieter Schwarz – An exceptional phenomenon. In: Handelsblatt, December 15/16/17, 2023, p. 54-55

[10] Wohlfahrt, M.: Jonas Andrulis – Intelligent mission. In: Handelsblatt, December 15/16/17, 2023, pp. 56-57

[11] Telser, F.: These universities prepare students best for the job market. In: Handelsblatt, December 15/16/17, 2023, p. 79

[12] VDI (ed.): Rethinking the circular economy for plastics, November 2022

[13] VDI / VDE Technik+Innovation (ed.): How does Germany think about innovation and value creation? Düsseldorf / Berlin, May 2023

[14] Eckstein, L.: Where does Germany want to be in 2050? In: VDI News, December 15, 2023, p. 8-9

[15] Carayannis, E.G., Campbell, D.F.J.: Mode 3 Knowledge Production in Quadruple Helix Innovation Systems, New York 2012