Management as a Liberal Art Research Institute

Michele Buck: Pioneering Management as a Liberal Art at Hershey

Robert Kirkland Ph.D.

PUBLISHED:

March 20, 2024

Michele Buck’s ascension to the role of CEO at The Hershey Company represents a significant milestone, not only as the first female to hold this position in the company’s storied history but also as an embodiment of the principles of management as a liberal art (MLA). Her leadership journey combines the practicality of business management with the broad, humanistic perspectives of the liberal arts, offering a blueprint for modern corporate leadership that is both effective and ethically grounded.


Early Life and Career Development

Buck's narrative begins in the humble settings of central Pennsylvania, where her early life shaped the principles she would later apply in her corporate journey. Her upbringing, characterized by modesty and hard work, laid the foundation for a leadership style that values integrity, humility, and the contribution of each individual. Buck’s educational and career journey also offers valuable insights into her grounding in principles aligning with management as a liberal art (MLA). Her academic path took her through Shippensburg University for her undergraduate degree, followed by an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill, a choice influenced by the institution's emphasis on teamwork. While her education may not be in the liberal arts directly, the values and skills emphasized in her MBA program—teamwork, ethical leadership, and holistic problem-solving—mirror the multidisciplinary, human-centered approach central to MLA. This background, rich in lessons of resilience and tenacity, directly influenced her approach to navigating the complexities of leading a global corporation like Hershey.


Leadership Innovations and Internal Change

Upon assuming the role of CEO, Buck introduced significant leadership innovations at Hershey. One notable strategy was her initiative to tap into internal change agents, a move that underscores the MLA principle of recognizing and harnessing the intrinsic value and potential within an organization. This approach not only facilitated transformative growth within Hershey but also fostered a culture of empowerment and creativity, aligning with the liberal arts tenet of encouraging diverse and critical thinking.


Steering Through the Pandemic: A Community-Focused Approach

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Buck's leadership at Hershey exemplified the MLA principle of considering broader societal impacts. One specific instance was the company’s decision to prioritize employee well-being while also ensuring product availability to consumers seeking comfort during uncertain times. Hershey quickly adapted its production lines to ensure safety and meet changing consumer demands, notably shifting focus to products like Twizzlers and S’mores kits that were more suited to home consumption. This not only kept the business resilient but also supported the community by providing familiar comforts during lockdowns, demonstrating a balance between business acumen and societal empathy.


Empowerment of Women in the Workforce

Buck’s advocacy for female progression in the workforce reflects her broader vision of an inclusive and diverse corporate culture. Under her leadership, Hershey has been recognized as a female-friendly employer, a testament to the company’s initiatives to promote gender diversity and equality. Buck's efforts in this area are indicative of the MLA philosophy, which promotes fairness, inclusivity, and the development of environments where diverse talents and perspectives can thrive.


Vision for the Future: The New World of Work

In her interview with Adi Ignatius in the Harvard Business Review, Buck articulated her vision for the future of work, characterized by adaptability, innovation, and a deep understanding of societal changes. Her strategies for Hershey’s growth and transformation are imbued with MLA principles, emphasizing the need for foresight, ethical decision-making, and a holistic approach to business challenges. Buck's leadership philosophy aligns with the notion that success in the new world of work requires a blend of traditional business strategies and the nuanced, ethical, and human-centered approach of the liberal arts.


Transformative Strategies and Corporate Growth

Under Buck's leadership, Hershey embarked on significant transformative strategies that catalyzed corporate growth. A prime example is the acquisition of healthier snack brands like SkinnyPop and Pirate’s Booty, reflecting Buck’s vision of Hershey as an innovative snacking powerhouse. This strategic expansion beyond traditional confectionery into the broader snacking market capitalized on consumer trends towards healthier options, showcasing Hershey’s adaptability and Buck’s forward-thinking leadership.


Cultural and Ethical Considerations

A distinctive aspect of Buck’s leadership is her focus on cultivating a corporate culture that aligns with ethical and societal values. This emphasis on culture and ethics resonates with the MLA framework, which advocates for organizations to operate in a manner that is not only economically viable but also socially responsible and ethically sound.


Global Perspective and Community Engagement

Buck's approach extends beyond the confines of Hershey, demonstrating a global perspective and a commitment to community engagement. Her leadership in initiatives aimed at sustainable practices and social responsibility projects reflects an understanding of the interconnectedness of global business operations and their impact on communities and the environment.


Challenges and Opportunities in the Modern Business Landscape

In navigating the modern business landscape, Buck has confronted challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and the evolving expectations of employees and consumers. Her responses to these challenges, grounded in MLA principles, highlight the importance of adaptive leadership, strategic foresight, and a commitment to the well-being of all stakeholders.  Hershey faced supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, as did many global companies. The company navigated these challenges by leveraging its strong relationships with suppliers and by increasing inventory levels to buffer against disruptions. Hershey's proactive approach ensured a steady supply of raw materials, minimizing production delays and maintaining product availability. This strategy not only mitigated the immediate impact of supply chain issues but also reinforced Hershey's reputation for reliability and operational excellence.



The Role of Education and Continuous Learning

Buck’s emphasis on education and continuous learning, as evidenced by her own journey and her initiatives at Hershey, underscores the MLA principle that ongoing personal and professional development is crucial for effective leadership. Her support for programs that foster learning and skill development aligns with the liberal arts tradition of cultivating well-rounded, critical thinkers who are equipped to navigate complex challenges.


Conclusion

Michele Buck’s leadership at The Hershey Company epitomizes the application of management as a liberal art. Her journey from humble beginnings to the helm of a global corporation, her innovative leadership strategies, her commitment to ethical and inclusive practices, and her vision for the future of work collectively illustrate how the principles of MLA can be effectively integrated into corporate management. Under her stewardship, Hershey has not only achieved impressive business success but has also advanced a model of leadership that is ethical, humanistic, and forward-looking, setting a benchmark for others to follow in the evolving landscape of global business.


Sources:


5 CEOs who Champion Corporate Social Impact,” Everfi, accessed at:  https://everfi.com/blog/community-engagement/5-ceos-who-champion-social-impact/


“Cocoa for Good,” Hershey Company, accessed at:  https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/home/sustainability/sustainability-focus-areas/cocoa.html


“Hershey’s CEO Knows How to Get Americans to Indulge,” The New York Times, October 10, 2019, accessed at:  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/business/michele-buck-hershey-corner-office.html?searchResultPosition=1


“Hershey CEO Michele Buck on Empowering Internal Change Agents,” Harvard Business Review, April 29, 2022, accessed at:  https://hbr.org/2022/04/hershey-ceo-michele-buck-on-empowering-internal-change-agents

The Future of Knowledge Work: What Drucker can teach us

By Karen Linkletter Ph.D. • November 19, 2024
Interview with Karen Linkletter at the 16th Global Peter Drucker Forum 2024  Video Interview

The Specifics of Management of the Knowledge Worker

By Ryan Lee • November 7, 2024
Nowhere is management theory demanded more than in managing the knowledge worker, and yet nowhere is management theory more inadequate in addressing a field’s issues than in knowledge work. This is the point Peter Drucker posited in his work Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1991), and to resolve it he came up with six factors that determine the productivity of the management worker. Among these, his final point that management workers “must be treated as an ‘asset’ rather than a ‘cost’” by any given organization is an important concept1. While it only gradually emerged within management theory over the century, it is crucial for any employer and any government to understand and apply if they are to retain a competitive advantage going into the future. Historically, management theory has been about improving the output of the worker through banal efficiency: how to increase the production of steel per head, how to increase the production of cars per hour, how to minimize deficient products, etc. In all these considerations, the worker is a disposable resource. When he is hired, he is set to a particular task that is typically repetitive and thus easily taught, and when he is not needed because of shortcomings in his work, company difficulties, or automation, he is laid off. Referred to as “dumb oxen”, workers were seen in management theory as machines to have productivity squeezed out of. The shift from a majority manufacturing to service-based economy during the first half of the twentieth century changed this dynamic to some extent. The American postwar economic boom introduced the office worker as a common source of employment. This trend continued throughout the conglomerate era of the 1960s and was helped by the decline of the American manufacturing industry in the 1970s. Now in a stage dominated by service and knowledge work, the American economy must approach management differently. The aforementioned cost-asset shift is a demonstration of why this is so, as Drucker’s emphasis on the knowledge worker’s autonomy means that they wield control, not only within their job but over who they should work for as well. This in addition to the high-capital nature of knowledge workers means that the old management theory approach to labor as disposable will backfire catastrophically for any company that tries it with their knowledge workers. It is also important to remember the demographic trends of the United States, and more so the world, in considering why the cost-asset shift is vital. For all of human history until some fifty years ago, population was considered to be in tandem with economic power, given larger populations yielded larger labor forces and consumer markets. Economic growth was thus also correlated with population growth, demonstrated by the historic development of Europe and the United States and the more recent examples of the developing world. Consequently, the worldwide decline in fertility rates, and the decline in population numbers in some developed countries, signals economic decline for the future. In the labor market, smaller populations mean fewer jobs that produce for and service fewer people. Although the knowledge worker has grown in proportion to the total labor market, these demographic declines will affect knowledge workers as well, meaning employers will have a vested interest in retaining their high-capital labor. To enforce this, the cost-asset shift will have to come into play. The wants and needs of the knowledge worker pose a unique challenge in the field of management. Autonomy, for the first time, can be regarded as a significant factor affecting all other aspects of this labor base. What good does a large salary provide a knowledge worker if they don’t feel that they are welcome at an institution? How would they perceive that their work is not being directed towards productive pursuits at their corporation, especially given the brain work and dedication given to it? Of course, the fruits of one’s labor has been a contentious issue in management ever since compensation and workers’ rights became a universal constant with the Industrial Revolution, but this is augmented by the knowledge worker’s particular method of generating value. Given that Drucker poses their largest asset and source of value as their own mind, they will intrinsically have a special attachment to their work almost as their brainchild. Incentivizing the knowledge worker is also only one part of this picture. Per Drucker, the knowledge worker’s labor does not follow the linear relationship between quantity invested and returned. The elaborate nature of knowledge work makes it heavily dependent upon synergy: the right combination of talent can grow an organization by leaps and bounds, while virtually incompatible teams or partnerships can render all potential talent useless. And the human capital cost of the knowledge worker, both in their parents and the state educating them and in cost to their employers, is astronomical compared to all previous kinds of labor. In conclusion, the needs and wants of the knowledge worker must be met adequately, especially in the field of management. Management must almost undergo a revolution to adapt to this novel challenge, for the knowledge worker is the future of economic productivity in the developed world. Those employers that successfully accommodate the demands of this class of talent will eventually reign over those that do not accept that this is the direction economic productivity is headed.  References Drucker, P. F. (1991) Management Challenges for the 21st Century. Harper Business.

The Wisdom and Continuing Relevance of Peter Drucker

By Michael Cortrite Ph.D. • November 7, 2024
What is wisdom? The dictionary says it is knowledge of what is true and right coupled with just judgment as to action. Jennifer Rowley reports that it is the “ability to act critically or practically in a given situation. It is based on ethical judgment related to an individual's belief system.” (Rowley 2006 p. 255). So, wisdom seems to be about deciding on or doing an action based on moral or ethical belief in helping other people. This clearly describes Peter Drucker and his often prescient ideas For the 100 th anniversary of Peter Drucker’s birth, Harvard Business Review dedicated its November 2009 magazine to Drucker. In one of the articles about Drucker by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (2009 p. 1), What Would Peter Say? Kanter posits that, Heeding Peter Drucker's wisdom might have helped us avoid—and will help us solve numerous challenges, from restoring trust in business to tackling climate change. He issued early warnings about excessive executive pay, the auto industry’s failure to adapt and innovate, competitive threats from emerging markets, and the perils of neglecting nonprofit organizations and other agents of societal reform. Meynhardt (2010) calls Drucker a towering figure in Twentieth Century management. He says no other writer has had such an impact. He is well-known to practitioners and scholars for his practical wisdom and common sense approach to management as a liberal art. Drucker believed that there is no how-to solution for management practice and education. Doing more of “this” and less of “that” and vice versa is not how Drucker suggests managers do their work. Rather, Drucker relies more on morality and the virtue of practical wisdom to solve problems related to organizations. The virtue that Drucker talks about cannot be taught. It must be experienced and self-developed over time. A good example of this is Drucker’s Management by Objectives (MBO). Drucker does not give technical advice on how to initiate MBO. Rather he wisdomizes his moral convictions that integrating personal needs for autonomy with the quest of submitting one’s efforts to a higher principle (helping people) ensures performance by converting objective needs into personal goals. (Meynhardt, 2010). Peter Drucker published thirty-eight articles in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and seven times won the McKinsey Award presented annually to the author of the best article published during the previous year in HBR. No other person has won as many McKinsey awards as Drucker The former editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review, Thomas A. Stewart, quotes Peter Drucker; “The few of us who talked of management forty years ago were considered more or less deranged.” Stewart says that this was essentially correct. Harvard Business Review's very mission is to improve management practice. Stewart says this mission is inconceivable without Drucker’s work. Drucker’s work in management planted ideas that are as fruitful today as they ever were. Stewart posits that each year, managers discover extraordinary and immediate relevance in articles and books that were written before they were born or even before their parents were born. Stewart (2016) tries to answer the questions: Why does Drucker’s work endure? and Why is Drucker still relevant? First, was Drucker’s talent for asking the right questions. He had an instinct for being able to not let the urgent drive out the important, for seeing the trees, not just the forest. This allowed him to calmly ask pertinent questions that encouraged clients to find the proper course to take. Secondly, Drucker was able to see whole organizations. Instead of focusing on small particular problems. Ducker had the ability to find the overarching problem as well. Stewart uses Drucker’s 1994 HBR article, The Theory of the Business to make this point. Many people were trying to analyze the problems of IBM and General Motors by looking for root causes and trying to fix the blame. Drucker, on the other hand, argued correctly that the theories and assumptions on which they had managed successfully for many years were outdated. This article is as relevant today as it was in 1994 because Drucker took the “big picture view.” And no one else has ever been so skillful at describing it. Thirdly, starting in 1934, Drucker spent two years at General Motors with the legendary Alfred P. Sloan, immersed in the workings of the automaker and learning the business from within. This allowed him to talk with authority, but he has always stayed “street smart and wise.” This mentoring helped give Drucker the gift of being able to reason inductively and deductively. He could infer a new principle or a theory from a set of data or being confronted with a particular problem; he could find the right principle to apply to solve it. Drucker’s first article published in HBR, Management Must Manage, challenged managers to learn their profession not in terms of prerogatives but in terms of their responsibilities, to assume the burden of leadership rather than the mantle of privilege. Many in the management/leadership field probably found Drucker to be “deranged,” but in 2024, this is important advice for leader (Stewart 2006). Just a few more of Drucker’s ideas that seemed well outside the mainstream when he proposed them but are standard practice today include: Managing Oneself, Privatization, Decentralization, Knowledge Workers, Management by Objectives, Charismatic Leadership Being Overrated, CEO Outsize Pay Packages, and Enthusiasm of the Work of the Salvation Army (Rees, 2014). Clearly, Drucker remains relevant! References: Kanter, R. 2009. What would Peter say? Harvard Business Review. November, 2009. Meynhardt, T. 2010. The practical wisdom of Peter Drucker: Roots in the Christian tradition. Journal of Management Development Vol. 29. No. 7/8. Rees, M. 2014 The wisdom of Peter Drucker. Wall Street Journal. Dec. 12, 2014. Rowley, J. 2006. Where is the knowledge that we have lost in knowledge? Journal of Documentation. Vol. 62, Iss. 2. 251-270. Stewart, T. 2006. Classic Drucker. Editor Thomas A. Stewart. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.
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