Neil Gaiman’s book is based on the TV series by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and compared with a novel known as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland written by Lewis Caroll in 1865. The two novels have similarities and differences, but Neil Gaiman seems to borrow a lot from Lewis’ story.
However, Gaiman changes the scenes in order to fit the current world and remain relevant to the present society. While Lewis features a woman and imaginative places, Neil makes use of a man and set an action in the well-known places, namely London (Caroll 10).
In Neverwhere, the author draws comparisons between different styles to depict existing differences in the current world.
The different themes and characters issued and depicted in the book can be applied in management to provide a basic guideline in terms of the principles of management and the current growth being experienced around the globe.
This paper seeks to investigate how these themes can be applied in management to improve expertise and the level of performance. In summary, the life revolving around Richard’s experience of London above and London below indicates a certain system of management.
A management system is a procedural plan of continuously improving the methods of leadership and processes in an organization (**). The best business entities are marked by distinguished management systems that carry the vision of the organization.
In the novel Neverwhere, the plot revolves around management processes of a group of people. Richard goes out to get his life back, and Door on the other hand, flees from her assassins. The two have to manage several people and projects including, the Marquis and Hunter.
Further, the Angelus asks Door and her company to get him the unique key from the Black Friars. They move from one project to the other ensuring that they achieve their goals at each level.
Door and Richard achieve their objectives individually, which proves that their management systems were effective. In London below, nothing can be achieved without thorough management systems just like in a real organization.
The scene marks the beginning of the entire story and also the most interesting application in terms of management principles and practices. Richard is caught up in a situation when he continues doing his daily duties. He goes to work, and his fiancée implies that he wants to start a family.
His fiancée is suggestive to this as she “saw in Richard an enormous amount of potential, which, properly harnessed by the right woman, would have made him the perfect matrimonial accessory” (Gaiman 12).
He is caught up in London above where everyone is busy running their own errands without any regard to other people’s businesses. Such scenarios are common in management where the managers continue running errands regardless of changes and advancement that are taking place around them.
Moreover, they continue to apply leadership methods that have been in existence for a long period without encouraging thoughts of invention or change. There is a tendency of doing something to make sure that everything is fine instead of looking ahead and speculating of the changes and advancements in their respective fields.
The result is normally being overtaken by events and technological changes where their firms and products are rendered meaningless and uncompetitive. Competition can cause a lot of harm to a company and even lead to dire consequences like liquidation.
Richard is depicted as a kind-hearted man who is not selfish at all. Although his life is busy, and he is in the company of his bossy fiancée, he can look at Door who is bleeding and reach out to help her. This character is depicted when “The old woman took the umbrella, gratefully, and smiled at her thanks.
”You’ve a good heart,” she told him. “Sometimes that’s enough to see you safe wherever you go.” Then she shook her head. ‘But mostly, it’s not.’” He reaches out to nurse her although his fiancée is bitterly opposed to the idea.
She wants them to go ahead with the planned dinner and the meeting with her boss. She does not seem to understand how a respectable man like Richard can associate himself with people who are not of his circle, but require some help.
Richard’s fiancée is a representation of a typical manager who is totally unaware of the social problems that his or her employees and customers or even the whole world around have to face. Jessica does not have a kind heart like Richard and therefore, is not moved by Door’s suffering.
Managers have a duty to remain sensitive to the needs of those who surround them, and if it is possible, reach out for them even despite of the advancement of technology and operation under tight schedules. Richard Mayhew is depicted to be such a kind of person.
That is one who is alert and ready to reach out and help the others. Richard represents those managers that are not only aware, but also ready to offer a helping hand to those around them who are in need including the sick, the poor, children and women who present the minority groups.
After the disappearance of Door, Richard is faced with the consequences of his good actions unlike what he is expected. Gaiman puts this across when he says that “Richard had noticed that events were cowards: they didn’t occur singly, but instead they would run in packs and leap out at him all at once” (15).
Furthermore, the experience ushers him into a whole new world that he could previously only imagine to exist. The scene is an indication of the experiences that are capable of changing someone’s life or career despite of the normalcy of the daily activities.
There is that one point in someone’s life that leads to either a better life or a worse one, and it will go a long way to determine the future. For example, those people who made discoveries or inventions in the world face a situation that made them think beyond the limitations of routines (Biro and Messanarz 5).
Managers must be ready to think ‘out of the box’ in order to find solutions to emerging challenges in leading organizations in the world today. They need to be ready to get out of their comfort zones and face the challenges the way Richard did in the story.
The novel and the series Neverwhere can be applied in many situations and circumstances. It is written in a paradoxical way as a representation of the world we are living in today and its application are not only limited to management but also to other spheres of life.
The scene discussed above is not exhaustive in terms of the applications that can be derived from the novel, and Gaiman is to be credited with a good work that he does not use the magic world to speak to common people.
Works Cited
Biro, Miklos, and Richard Messnarz. “Key success factors for business based improvement.” Software Quality Professional Magazine 2.2 (2000): 15-19. Print.
Caroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland. New York; Dover Publications, 1993. Print.
Chris, Anderson. ‘How to Build Effective Management Systems’, Bizmanuals, 2005. Web.
Gaiman, Neil. Neverwhere. New York: Harper: Torch, 1998. Print.