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Management and Leadership
Management and Leadership
ARMSTRONGS HANDBOOK
Michael Armstrong
ARMSTRONGS HANDBOOK
OF MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
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ARMSTRONGS HANDBOOK
OF MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
2ND EDITION
Michael Armstrong
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Publishers note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author. First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2005 by Kogan Page Limited Second edition 2009 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 120 Pentonville Road London N1 9JN United Kingdom www.koganpage.com Michael Armstrong and Tina Stephens, 2005 Michael Armstrong, 2009 The right of Michael Armstrong to be identied as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 978 0 7494 5417 3 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Armstrong, Michael, 1928 Armstrongs handbook of management and leadership : a guide to managing for results / Michael Armstrong. p. cm. Rev. ed. of: A handbook of management and leadership : a guide to managing for results / Michael Armstrong, Tina Stephens. 2005. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-7494-5417-3 1. Management--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Leadership--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Armstrong, Michael, 1928- Handbook of management and leadership. II. Title. HD38.15.A76 2009 658.4092--dc22 2009008237 Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd 525 South 4th Street, #241 Philadelphia PA 19147 USA
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition Part I 1. The Practice of Management The Processes of Management and Leadership Management Leadership Management and leadership compared Inuences on management The Role of the Manager What is a manager? What do managers do? How do managers do it? What is an effective manager? What do line/middle managers contribute? The Role of the Leader What is a leader? Types of leaders What do leaders do? How do leaders do it? What makes a good leader? What is the signicance of followers?
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Contents
Part II 4.
Approaches to Management Managing for Results Planning Setting objectives and targets Organizing Making things happen Managing Strategically Strategy Strategic management Developing a shared vision Developing strategic plans Strategic capability Managing for Performance High-performance culture High-performance work systems Managing individual performance Managing team performance Managing the Business On being business like Preparing a business plan Making a business case Financial budgeting and control Costbenet analysis Management Skills Communicating Report writing Making presentations Motivating Coaching Decision-making Delegating Facilitating
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Giving feedback Networking Problem-solving 9. Managing Systems and Processes Managing systems Managing processes Examples of systems and process management The conict and challenges of managing systems and processes Managing Health and Safety The importance of health and safety in the workplace Health and safety policies Conducting risk assessments Health and safety audits Health and safety inspections The distinction between risk assessments, audits and inspections Accident prevention Occupational health programmes The responsibility for health and safety Self-development The process of self-development Other methods of management development Self-management strategies Organizations Understanding Organizations Organizations and organizing How organizations function Organization structure Types of organization Organizational culture Organizational processes Understanding organizational policies
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Designing Organizations The process of organizing Aim of organizational design Conducting organization reviews Organizational analysis Organizational diagnosis Job design Organization Development Organization development dened Organization development strategies Assumptions and values of organization development Organization development activities Delivering Change The Process of Change Types of change How change happens Organizational dynamics how organizations grow and change Change Management Change models The steps to effective change How people change Resistance to change Developing and embracing a change culture Identifying the need for change The benets of change Risks of change Planning the change programme Requirements for success in managing change Organizational transformation Holding the gains
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Part IV 15.
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Part V 17.
Enhancing Customer Relations The Essence of Customer Relations Developing a customer-centric culture Customer relationship management Customer service Customer service activities Elements of customer satisfaction Delivering High Levels of Customer Service Customer service strategy Assessing customer needs Identifying target customers Communicating to customers Measuring customer satisfaction Developing products and services to meet customer needs Providing the infrastructure for customer service Models of customer service Setting standards for customer service Monitoring the delivery of service standards Building satisfaction and keeping customers Internal customers Dening required attitudes, skills, knowledge, behaviours and competencies Developing attitudes, skills and behaviours World-class customer service examples Enabling Continuous Improvement Continuous Improvement The nature of continuous improvement The requirements for continuous improvement The conditions and behaviour that promote continuous improvement The framework for continuous improvement Approaches to continuous improvement Continuous improvement techniques Continuous improvement programmes
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Barriers to continuous improvement Holding the gains Examples of approaches to continuous improvement 20. Quality Management Quality dened Quality management dened Contribution of the quality gurus Quality management approaches Quality standards Quality management issues
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Appendix: Alignment of Text with Managing for Results: CIPD Professional Standards Further Reading Index
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This book is primarily about the practice of management the art and science of getting things done. But it is also about leadership how things get done through people. Management and leadership are different but complementary activities, as explained in Chapter 1. The activities of management and leadership take place in order to make things happen to get results. The book therefore also examines the process of managing for results, a phrase rst used by Peter Drucker (1963) in his book of that name. Drucker is quoted extensively in this book simply because, as stated in the Harvard Business Review (Drucker, 2006): He is the pre-eminent management thinker of our time. The book is divided into the following six parts: The practice of management Approaches to management Organizations Delivering change Enhancing customer relations Enabling continuous improvement
The content of this book has been extensively revised in this edition but, as set out in the Appendix, it is still aligned to the Managing for results professional standards of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which form part of the overall Leadership and management professional standards.
Drucker, P (1963) Managing for Results, Heinemann, London Drucker, P (2006) What executives should remember, Harvard Business Review, February, pp 14552
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Part I
The Practice of Management
1
The Processes of Management and Leadership
Lets stop the dysfunctional separation of leadership from management. We all know that managers who dont lead are boring, dispiriting. Well, leaders who dont manage are distant, disconnected. Henry Mintzberg (2004) Enough leadership, Harvard Business Review, November, p 22
The key purpose of management and leadership as described by the Management Standards Centre (2004) is to provide direction, facilitate change and achieve results through the efcient, creative and responsible use of resources. Effective management is the process of harmonizing individual endeavour to the common good. This introductory chapter sets the scene for the rest of the book by dening and distinguishing between the processes of management and leadership. It also deals with the inuences that affect management in the shape of codes of practice and organizational and legal requirements.
Management
To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct. Management is the process of deciding what to do and then getting it done through the effective use of resources. It is about what managers do to make things happen. They dene goals, determine the resources people, nance, work systems and technology required to achieve the goals, allocate those resources to opportunities and planned activities and ensure that those activities take place as planned in order to achieve predetermined objectives. All this adds up to managing for results.
Purpose of management
The primary function of management in prot-making rms is to satisfy a range of stakeholders. This means making a prot and creating value for shareholders, producing and delivering valued products and services at a reasonable cost for customers, and providing rewarding employment and development opportunities for employees. In the public sector, management is there to ensure that the services the community requires are delivered effectively. In the voluntary sector, management is there to ensure that the purposes of the charity are achieved and also to keep the faith of the community and donors.
Leadership
To lead is to inspire, inuence and guide. Leadership is the process of getting people to do their best to achieve a desired result. It involves developing and communicating a vision for the future, motivating people and gaining their engagement. Other denitions (there are many) include: Ivancevich et al (2008): Leadership is the process of inuencing people to enable the achievement of relevant goals. Goleman (2000): A leaders singular job is to get results. House et al (2004): Leadership is the ability to motivate, inuence and enable individuals to contribute to the objectives of organizations of which they are members.
Stogdill (1974): Leadership is an inuencing process aimed at goal achievement. Dixon (1994) Leadership is no more than exercising such an inuence on others that they tend to act in concert towards the achievement of a goal that they might not have achieved so readily had they been left to their own devices.
Leadership theories
There are many theoretical explanations and descriptions of the process of leadership. Three of the more important ones are summarized below.
Contingent leadership
The theory of contingent leadership developed by Fiedler (1967) states that the type of leadership exercised depends to a large extent on the situation and the ability of the leader to understand it and act accordingly. This is sometimes called situational leadership. Fiedler wrote: Leadership performance depends as much on the organization as on the leaders own attributes. Except perhaps for the unusual case, it is simply not meaningful to speak of an effective leader or an ineffective leader. We can only speak of a leader who tends to be effective in one situation and ineffective in another. The performance of a group, as Fiedler pointed out, is related both to the leadership style and to the degree to which the situation provides the leader with the opportunity to exert inuence. He referred to the concepts originated by Halpin and Winer (1957) on the basis of their research into how aircraft captains acted as leaders. Two dimensions of leadership were identied: (1) initiating structure, a task-orientated approach that focuses on dening the task and how it should be carried out, and (2) consideration, a people-orientated approach where the emphasis is on maintaining good relations through behaviour indicative of trust, respect and warmth. Fiedlers research revealed that an initiating structure approach worked best for leaders in conditions where the leader has power, formal backing and a relatively well-structured task.
Considerate leaders do better in unstructured or ambiguous situations or where their power as a leader is restricted.
being similar in many ways to the leader. These members work hard at building and sustaining trust and respect. They are often empathetic, patient, reasonable, sensitive, and good at seeing the viewpoint of other people, especially their leader. Aggression, sarcasm and a self-centred view are qualities seen in the out-group. The quality of the LMX relationship varies. It is better when the challenge of the job is extremely high or extremely low. The size of the group, nancial resource availability and the overall workload are also important. The theory can work upwards as well. Leaders can gain power by being members of their managers inner circle, which they can then share with their subordinates.
of leadership. They put it this way: Leadership occurs any time one attempts to inuence the behaviour of an individual or group, regardless of the reason. Management is a kind of leadership in which the achievement of organizational goals is paramount. Abraham Zaleznik (2004) saw leaders as inspiring visionaries, concerned about substance; while managers are planners who are concerned with process. Bennis and Nanus (1985) wrote that: there is a profound difference between management and leadership and both are important. They went on famously to explain that Managers do things right, leaders do the right things. This aphorism owes a lot to Peter Druckers distinction (1967) between efciency and effectiveness, which was taken up by Bill Reddin (1970), who wrote that concentrating on efciency rather than effectiveness meant that managers do things right rather than do right things. But Drucker and Reddin (not acknowledged by Bennis and Nanus) were focusing on managers, not making invidious comparisons between managers and leaders. And it seems to be perfectly possible that managers often do the right things, while leaders often get things right. In his role as a demonizer of managers, Bennis (1989) identied 12 invidious distinctions between managers and leaders: 1. Managers administer, leaders innovate. 2. Managers ask how and when, leaders ask what and why. 3. Managers focus on systems, leaders focus on people. 4. Managers do things right, leaders do the right things. 5. Managers maintain, leaders develop. 6. Managers rely on control, leaders inspire trust. 7. Managers have a short-term perspective, leaders have a longer-term perspective. 8. Managers accept the status quo, leaders challenge the status quo. 9. Managers have an eye on the bottom line, leaders have an eye on the horizon. 10. Managers imitate, leaders originate. 11. Managers emulate the classic good soldier, leaders are their own person. 12. Managers copy, leaders show originality. Paul Birch (1999) also saw a distinction between leadership and management and, without denigrating management, gave pre-eminence to leadership. He observed that, as a broad generalization, managers concerned themselves with tasks, while leaders concerned themselves with people. However, one of the main things that characterize great leaders is the fact that they achieve. The difference is that leaders realize that tasks are achieved through the goodwill and support of others (inuence), while managers may not. This goodwill and support
originates in the leader seeing people as people, not as another resource for use in getting results. The manager has the role of organizing resources to get something done. People form one of these resources, and poor managers treat people as just another interchangeable factor of production. More positive distinctions between management and leadership were made by Kotter (1991), as set out in Table 1.1. Table 1.1 Distinctions between management and leadership (Kotter, 1991) Management involves Focusing on managing complexity by planning and budgeting with the aim of producing orderly results, not change. Developing the capacity to achieve plans by creating an organization structure and stafng it developing human systems that can implement plans as precisely and efciently as possible. Ensuring plan accomplishment by controlling and problem-solving formally and informally comparing results to the plan, identifying deviations and then planning and organizing to solve the problems. Leadership involves Focusing on producing change by developing a vision for the future along with strategies for bringing about the changes needed to achieve that vision. Aligning people by communicating the new direction and creating coalitions that understand the vision and are committed to its achievement. Using motivation to energize people, not by pushing them in the right direction as control mechanisms do, but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, a feeling of control over ones life and the ability to live up to ones ideals.
Conclusions
The answer to the issues raised by these various comparisons is that management and leadership are indeed different. Management is concerned with the effective use of all resources, including people, while leadership concentrates on getting the best out of people. However, both are needed. As Mintzberg (2004) commented, instead of isolating leadership we need to diffuse it throughout the organization Its time to bring management and leadership down to earth. Perhaps the most familiar denition of management was made by Mary Parker Follett (1924), a pioneering writer on management. She dened it as the art of getting results through people, thus combining the concepts of management and leadership.
Rather than pursuing the Manichean view (leaders good, managers bad) it is better to accept that managers have to be leaders and leaders are often, but not always, managers. It is necessary to allow for a reciprocal relationship between leadership and management, implying that an effective manager should possess leadership skills, and an effective leader, at least in business, should demonstrate management skills.
Inuences on management
The process of management is inuenced by codes of practice (professional, industrial and ofcial). These codes provide guidance on behaviour and the procedures to be followed and, in the case of professional codes and some industry codes, are supported by disciplinary sanctions. They usefully dene expectations, but the extent to which they can be enforced may be limited, except that contravention of some ofcial codes is taken into account in Employment Tribunal cases. Management processes are also inuenced by procedures and legal and corporate governance (organizational) requirements.
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Exhaust all available internal remedies for dealing with matters perceived as improper before resorting to public disclosure. Encourage the development of quality and continuous improvement in all management activities.
The code of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) includes the statement that in all circumstances CIPD members must endeavour to enhance the standing of the profession; adherence to this professional code of conduct is an essential aspect of this.
The British Computer Society has a Code of Good Practice, the purpose of which is dened as being to describe standards of practice relating to the contemporary multifaceted demands found in Information Technology (IT). Its provisions include the requirement to maintain technical competence, adhere to regulations, act professionally as a specialist, use appropriate methods and tools, and respect the interests of customers. Specic guidance is given on the whole range of work carried out by IT specialists; for example, the guidelines on designing software include the requirement to achieve well-engineered products that demonstrate tness for purpose, reliability, efciency, security, maintainability and cost effectiveness. Industrial codes of practice in the United Kingdom are also developed by ofcial bodies such as OFTEL (the Ofce of Telecommunications). This has overseen the development of codes of practice for a considerable number of communication service providers. OFTEL has stated that these codes are primarily aimed at providing consumers with a clear statement of the range of policies, services and support activities offered by individual communication suppliers they should provide sufcient information for any consumer to understand the range of services available, how to contact the supplier in order to, for example, obtain a new service, clarify the providers terms and conditions, obtain support, or make a complaint.
Ofcial codes
A large number of codes of practice have been issued by the government, government agencies or bodies sponsored by the government. Examples include the code on job evaluation schemes free of sex bias issued by the Equal Opportunities Commission (now the Equality and Human Rights Commission), the code on disciplinary and grievance procedures issued by ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) and various practice codes issued by the Health and Safety Executive.
Procedures
Procedures are formal statements of how particular issues should be dealt with. They affect the way in which people handle certain matters in organizations. Typical procedures are concerned with people management on such matters as discipline, grievances, redundancy and equal opportunities, although procedures can be produced for any aspect of administration, such as handling customer complaints.
Legal requirements
Management takes place within a framework of employment, health and safety, company, commercial and other legislation. Necessarily, this places obligations and constraints on managements in general and on individual managers.
Corporate governance is one key element in improving economic efciency and growth as well as enhancing investor condence. Corporate governance involves a set of relationships between a companys management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders. Corporate governance also provides the structure through which the objectives of the company are set and the means of attaining these objectives and monitoring performance are determined. Good corporate governance should provide proper incentives for the board and management to pursue objectives that are in the interests of the company and its shareholders and should facilitate effective monitoring.
Corporate governance is regulated by The Companies Acts, 1985 and 1989. A Combined Code on Corporate Governance was produced by the Hampel Committee.
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The issues covered by the Hampel and other reports include: board structure and membership; board management; directors remuneration; nancial controls; accountability and audit; relations with shareholders.
References
Bennis, W (1989) On Becoming a Leader, Addison Wesley, New York Bennis, W and Nanus, B (1985) Leaders: The strategies for taking charge, Harper & Row, New York Birch, P (1999) Instant Leadership: Reach your potential now, Kogan Page, London Dixon, N F (1994) On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, Pimlico, London Drucker, P (1967) The Effective Executive, Heinemann, London Fayol, H (1916) Administration Industrielle et General, translated by C Storrs (1949) as General and Industrial Management, Pitman, London Fiedler, F E (1967) A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness, McGraw-Hill, New York Follett, M P (1924) Creative Experience, Longmans Green, New York Goleman, D (2000) Leadership that gets results, Harvard Business Review, MarchApril, pp 7890 Graen, G (1976) Role-making processes within complex organizations, in Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, ed M D Dunnette, pp 120145, Rand McNally, Chicago, IL Grint, K (2000) The Arts of Leadership, Oxford University Press, Oxford Halpin, A W and Winer, B J (1957) A Factorial Study of the Leader Behaviour Descriptions, Ohio State University Press, Ohio Hersey, P and Blanchard, K H (1998) Management of Organizational Behaviour, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ Higgs, M (2006) Change and its Leadership, Rowland, Fisher, Lennox Consulting [Online] www.rc. co.uk House, R J (1971) A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness, Administrative Science Quarterly, 16, pp 32138 House, R et al (2004) Culture, Leadership and Organization: The GLOBE study of 62 societies, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA Ivancevich, J M, Konopaske, R and Matteson, M T (2008) Organizational Behavior and Management, 8th edn, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York Kotter, J P (1991) Power, dependence and effective management, in Managing People and Organizations, ed J Gabarro, pp 3349, Harvard Business School Publications, Boston, MA Management Standards Centre (2004) Management Standards [Online] www.management-standards.org Meindl, J R, Ehrlich, S B and Dukerich, J M (1985) The romance of leadership, Administrative Science Quarterly, 30, 78102
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2
The Role of the Manager
The manager is the dynamic, life-giving element in every business. Drucker, P (1955) The Practice of Management, Heinemann, London
This chapter answers ve questions about managers: 1. What is a manager? 2. What do managers do? 3. How do they do it? 4. What is an effective manager? 5. What do line/middle managers contribute?
What is a manager?
Managers are there to get results by ensuring that their function, unit or department operates effectively. They manage people and their other resources nance, facilities, knowledge, information, time and themselves. They are accountable for attaining goals, having been given authority over those working in their unit or department. Accountability means that they are responsible (held to account) for what they do and what they achieve. Authority means having the right or power to get people to do things. Authority is exercised through leadership and personal inuence arising from position, personality and knowledge.
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technology) and their working environment generally (the extent to which it is turbulent, predictable, settled, pressurized, steady). Individual managers will adapt to these circumstances in different ways and will operate more or less successfully in accordance with their perceptions of the behaviour expected of them, their experience of what has or has not worked in the past, and their own personal characteristics.
writer on management, Henri Fayol (1916), who based it on an analysis of his experience as a practising manager and dened the ve elements of managerial work as planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Apart from the substitution of commanding with motivating, Fayols analysis is still the common parlance of management, but its usefulness and universality have been challenged.
Strategic thinking
As strategic thinkers, managers develop a sense of purpose and frameworks for dening intentions and future directions. This aspect of the managers role is dealt with more comprehensively in Chapter 5.
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Visionary thinking
As visionary thinkers, managers set out an imaginative, inspirational and insightful picture of what can and should be attained a state of future being that is signicantly superior to the present state. They dene and describe goals. If this is carried out and presented convincingly, it can enhance, indeed drive, commitment to the achievement of what the organization or an individual manager believes to be important.
Management standards
What managers do can be dened in terms of the standards they are expected to achieve. The following management standards have been produced by the Management Standards Centre (2004).
Providing direction
Develop a vision for the future. Gain commitment and provide leadership. Provide governance comply with values, ethical and legal frameworks and manage risks in line with shared goals.
Facilitating change
Lead innovations. Manage change.
Achieving results
Lead the business to achieve goals and objectives. Lead operations to achieve specic results. Lead projects to achieve specied results.
Using resources
Manage nancial resources. Procure products and/or services. Manage physical resources and technology. Manage information and knowledge.
Sune Carlsson
Sune Carlsson (1951) studied the work of nine Swedish managing directors, and his ndings can be summarized under three headings: 1. Working time Executives were alone for not more than one hour a day but the typical alone intervals were only of 1015 minutes duration. They spent their days being constantly interrupted and they had remarkably little control over how they spent their time. 2. Communication patterns Chief executives initiate far fewer letters a day than they receive. The average time spent with visitors was three and a half hours a day.
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3. Work content One of the main activities of the chief executives was to keep themselves informed.
Rosemary Stewart
Rosemary Stewart (1967) studied 160 senior and middle managers for four weeks each. Her main ndings on how they spent their time were: The managers worked an average of 42 hours per week. Discussions took 60 per cent of their time 43 per cent informal, 7 per cent in committee, 6 per cent telephoning and 4 per cent social activity (if this research were repeated today, e-mailing would no doubt take up a lot of time). They spent 34 per cent of their time alone, 25 per cent with their immediate subordinates, 8 per cent with their superiors, 25 per cent with colleagues and 5 per cent with external contacts. Fragmentation in work was considerable. In the four-week period, managers averaged only nine periods of 30 minutes or more without interruption and averaged 20 contacts a day, 12 of them eeting ones (less than ve minutes duration).
Henry Mintzberg
Henry Mintzberg (1973) observed ve chief executives over a period of ve weeks. He found that the proportion of time they spent on different activities was as shown in Table 2.1. Table 2.1 Time spent on different activities by chief executives (Mintzberg, 1973) Activities Desk work Telephone calls Scheduled meetings Unscheduled meetings Tours Proportion of activities lasting less than 9 minutes Proportion of activities lasting longer than 60 minutes Average (%) 22 6 59 10 3 49 10 Range (%) 1638 49 3875 38 010 4056 513
The managers days were characterized by a large number of brief, informal two-person contacts (telephone calls and unscheduled meetings) and relatively few scheduled meetings, which nevertheless took most of their time. Subordinates consumed about half the managers contact time and were involved in two-thirds of the contacts. The managers initiated less than onethird of their contacts and only 5 per cent were scheduled regularly. The broad conclusions emerging from this study conrmed that management is: highly interactive; very much concerned with communication; about getting things done with or through other people; not much about ofce work.
Mintzberg also contrasted ndings such as these on the work of managers with the classical school, stating that the former paint an interesting picture, one as different from Fayols view as a cubist abstract is from a Renaissance painting.
Leonard Sayles
Leonard Sayles (1964) interviewed 75 lower and middle-level managers in a large US corporation. He identied three aspects of managerial work in his analysis. 1. Managers as participants in external work ows, which leads to the following basic relationships with people outside their immediate managerial responsibility: trading relationships: making arrangements with other members of the organization to get work done; work-ow relationships: making contacts concerning the work preceding or following that supervised by the manager; service relationships: contacts concerning the giving or receiving of services or support by specialist groups, for example market research or maintenance; advisory relationships: provision of counsel and advice to line managers by experts, for example industrial relations; auditing relationships: contacts with those who evaluate or appraise organizational work, for example management accounts or quality control; stabilization relationships: contacts with those who are empowered to limit or control the managers decisions in accordance with organizational policy, for example production planning and control; innovative relationships: contacts with groups specially isolated to perform a research function.
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2. Managers as leaders, which results in three basic types of leadership behaviour: leadership as direction: getting subordinates to respond to the requests of the manager; leadership as response: responding to initiatives from subordinates who are seeking aid or support; leadership as representation: representing subordinates in contact with other parts of the organization.
3. Managers as monitors, in which managers follow the progress of work through the system, detect variations and initiate action as required.
Choice
Stewart et al (1980) established that managers exercise choice about their work. They informally negotiate widely different interpretations of the boundaries and dimensions of ostensibly identical jobs, with particular emphasis upon the development of personal domain (ie establishing their own territory and the rules that apply within it). Stewart (1967) also identied the choices that operate within the demands and constraints of managerial work. She suggested that the choices common to all managerial jobs are concerned with content (aspects of a job a manager chooses to emphasize, selections between aspects, and choices about risk-
taking) and methods (how work is done). This is why the concept of discretionary behaviour is so important when describing how managers operate. This refers to the fact that most managers have quite a lot of discretion about how they carry out their roles, especially when dealing with people.
Communication
Much managerial activity consists of asking or persuading others to do things, which involves managers in face-to-face verbal communication of limited duration. Managers spend a great deal of time communicating orally, by e-mail or (to a lesser extent) in writing.
Identication of tasks
Silverman and Jones (1976) suggested that the typical work of a junior manager is the organizational work of drawing upon an evolving stock of knowledge about normal procedures and routines in order to identify and negotiate the accomplishment of problems and tasks.
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3. Managers are expected to be decisive and deal with situations as they arise. Their best laid plans are therefore often disrupted; their established priorities have to be abandoned. 4. Managers are subject to the beck and call of their superiors, who also have to respond instantly to new demands and crises. 5. Managers often work in conditions of turbulence and ambiguity. They are not clear about what is expected of them when new situations arise. They therefore tend to be reactive rather than proactive, dealing with immediate problems rather than trying to anticipate them. 6. For all the reasons given above, managers are subject to constant interruptions. They have little chance to settle down and think about their plans and priorities, or to spend enough time in studying control information to assist in maintaining a steady state as far as their own activities go.
Managerial skills
To meet these onerous demands managers require a wide range of skills. These include coaching, communicating, delegating, facilitating, leadership, measuring and managing performance, motivating, networking, problem-solving and decision-making, and providing feedback. Tamkin et al (2003) suggest that managers need the ability to: empower and develop people understand and practise the process of delivering through the capability of others; manage people and performance maintain morale while also maximizing performance; work across boundaries, engaging with others, working as a member of a team, thinking differently about problems and their solutions; develop relationships and a focus on the customer, building partnerships with both internal and external customers; balance technical and generic skills the technical aspects of management and the management of human relationships.
Managerial competencies
Managerial competencies are the behaviours that will produce effective performance. They refer to characteristics of managers in such areas as leadership, team working and communication. They are dened in the competency frameworks and proles that many organizations use to inform decisions on selection, learning and development and, sometimes, increases in pay. They can be used as criteria for assessing performance. A competency framework or prole also provides guidance to managers on the sort of behaviour expected of them. The following is an example of a competency framework. Achievement orientation: The desire to get things done well and the ability to set and meet challenging goals, create own measures of excellence and constantly seek ways of improving performance. Business awareness: The capacity to continually identify and explore business opportunities, to understand the business priorities of the organization and constantly seek methods of ensuring that the organization becomes more businesslike. Communication: The ability to communicate clearly and persuasively, orally or in writing.
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Customer focus: The exercise of unceasing care in looking after the interests of external and internal customers to ensure that their wants, needs and expectations are met or exceeded. Developing others: The desire and capacity to foster the development of members of their team, providing feedback, support, encouragement and coaching. Flexibility: The ability to adapt to and work effectively in different situations and to carry out a variety of tasks. Leadership: The capacity to inspire individuals to give of their best to achieve a desired result and to maintain effective relationships with individuals and the team as a whole. Planning: The ability to decide on courses of action, ensuring that the resources required to implement the action will be available, and schedule the programme of work required to achieve a dened end result. Problem-solving: The capacity to analyse situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action, and produce a logical, practical and acceptable solution. Teamwork: The ability to work cooperatively and exibly with other members of the team, with a full understanding of the role to be played as a team member.
Some organizations illustrate their competency frameworks with examples of positive or negative indicators of behaviour under each heading. These provide a useful checklist for managers willing to measure their own performance in order to develop their career. Here is an extract (Table 2.2) from a framework used by a large housing association.
Table 2.2
Manage performance Do things well and achieve the objectives and standards agreed for the role positive indicators carries out work as required completes work on time meets quality/service standards works accurately sees things through asks for ground rules committed to achieving high-quality results shows commitment to make it happen seeks to raise quality standards puts measures in place actions match words takes ownership of things to be done evaluates and revises deadlines as necessary takes responsibility for outcomes always has a follow-up course of action makes contingency plans does everything within their means to ensure that things get done to the best of their ability confronts issues frequently forgets things has to be chased to meet deadlines not concerned with quality does not learn from mistakes does not follow instructions often late in delivering expected results work not up to standard makes too many mistakes does minimum they can get away with relies on others to complete actions no pride in the job blames others for personal failure conceals situations when things go wrong focuses on less important activities builds achievements to be greater than they are agrees unrealistic deadlines prioritizes badly
negative indicators
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quality to newer management activities, such as people management. In some cases it included cost control/budgeting. The role typically included a combination of the following activities: people management; managing operational costs; providing technical expertise; organizing, such as planning work allocation and rotas, monitoring work processes; checking quality; dealing with customers/clients; measuring operational performance.
In addition, mangers promote appropriate behaviours by serving as role models and exemplars, inuencing the activities of their team members by what they do and how they do it. They are there to provide guidance and support to their staff through leadership and performance management processes (agreeing roles and expectations, providing feedback and reviewing performance in order to formulate improvement and personal development plans). They promote development by acting as coaches and mentors advising, helping people to learn by doing, and complementing learning on the job by functioning as mentors (experienced and trusted advisors). The variety of these activities demonstrates the complexity of the role and why the work of line managers is often fragmented.
References
Carlsson, S (1951) Executive Behaviour: A study of the workload and the working methods of managing directors, Strombergs, Stockholm Fayol, H (1916) Administration Industrielle et General, translated by C Storrs (1949) as General and Industrial Management, Pitman, London Hales, C P (1986) What managers do: a critical review of the evidence, Journal of Management Studies, 23 (1), pp 88115 Hutchinson, S and Purcell, J (2003) Bringing Policies to Life: The vital role of front line managers in people management, CIPD, London Management Standards Centre (2004) Management Standards [Online] www.management-standards. org Mintzberg, H (1973) The Nature of Managerial Work, Harper & Row, New York Purcell, J et al (2003) Understanding the People and Performance Link: Unlocking the black box, CIPD, London Sayles, L (1964) Managerial Behaviour, McGraw-Hill, New York
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3
The Role of the Leader
A leader is best when people barely know that he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worst when they despise him. Fail to honour people, they fail to honour you. But a good leader who talks little, When his work is done, his aim fullled, They will all say, We did this ourselves. Lao-Tzu, 6th century BC
This chapter answers the following questions about leaders: What is a leader? What are the main types of leaders? What do leaders do? How do they do it (leadership styles)? What makes a good leader? What is the signicance of followers?
What is a leader?
Leaders get things done through people. They set the direction and get other people to follow them. As Ted Johns (2008) says: A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they dont necessarily want to be, but ought to be.
There are a number of types of leaders who adopt different styles. Approaches to leadership will vary according to the situation, the personality of the leader and the characteristics of the leaders followers.
Types of leaders
Leaders have been classied into a number of different types as described below.
Transactional leaders
Transactional leaders, as originally described by Burns (1978), identify the expectations of their followers and respond to them by establishing a close link between effort and reward. Power is given to the leader to evaluate, correct and train subordinates when performance needs to be improved and to reward effectiveness when the required outcomes are achieved.
Transformational leaders
Transformational leaders, as dened by Bass (1985), empower their followers and encourage them to do more than they originally expected to do. Transformational leaders motivate followers to perform at higher levels, to exert greater effort, and to show more commitment. Bass identied three principal leadership processes for achieving such outcomes: (1) heightening followers awareness about the importance and value of designated goals and the means to achieve them; (2) inducing followers to transcend their self-interests for the good of the group and its goals; and (3) meeting followers higher-order needs. Transformational leaders provide encouragement and support to followers, assist their development by promoting growth opportunities, and show trust and respect for them as individuals. They build self-condence and heighten personal development.
Charismatic leaders
Charismatic leaders have compelling personalities and the ability to rouse people to follow them through the sheer force of the impression they make. As originally described by Weber (1947), charismatic leaders are achievement orientated, calculated risk-takers and good communicators. They achieve motivational outcomes through four mechanisms: (1) changing follower perceptions of the nature of work itself; (2) offering an appealing future vision; (3) developing a deep collective identity among followers; and (4) heightening both individual and collective self-efcacy (peoples belief in themselves and what they can do). There is a strong afnity between the charismatic and the transformational leader.
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Situational leaders
As originally described by Hersey and Blanchard (1969), a situational leader is one who can adopt different leadership styles depending on the situation. The behaviour of leaders towards their followers can take the following forms: Directing leaders dene the roles and tasks of their followers, and supervise them closely. Decisions are made and announced by the leader, so communication is largely one-way. Delegating leaders are still involved in decisions and problem-solving, but control is with the follower. The follower decides when and how the leader will be involved. Coaching leaders still dene roles and tasks, but seek ideas and suggestions from the followers. Decisions remain the leaders prerogative, but communication is much more two-way. Supporting leaders pass day-to-day decisions, such as task allocation and processes, to followers. Leaders facilitate and take part in decisions, but control is with the follower.
Effective leaders are versatile in being able to move between the styles according to the situation, so there is no one right style. However, people tend to have a preferred style and should understand what that is.
task needs
individual needs
Figure 3.1 The John Adair three circle leadership model This model suggests that the task, individual and group needs are interdependent. Satisfying task needs will also satisfy group and individual needs. Task needs, however, cannot be satised unless attention is paid to individual and group needs, and looking after individual needs will also contribute to satisfying group needs and vice versa. There is a danger in becoming so task orientated that individual and group or team needs are ignored, and it is just as dangerous to be too people orientated, focusing on meeting individual or group needs at the expense of the task. The best leaders are those who keep these three needs satised and in balance according to the demands of the situation.
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Transactional/transformational: Transactional leaders trade money, jobs and security for compliance. Transformational leaders motivate people to strive for higher-level goals.
Other classications of leadership styles have been produced by House (1971) the path-goal model and by Hay McBer, as reported by Goleman (2000).
Hay McBer
Research conducted by the consulting rm Hay McBer (as reported by Goleman, 2000) identied six leadership styles: 1. Coercive: Demands immediate compliance do what I tell you. 2. Authoritative: Mobilizes people towards a vision come with me. 3. Afliative: Creates harmony and builds emotional bonds people come rst. 4. Democratic: Forges consensus through participation what do you think? 5. Pacesetting: Sets high standards for performance do as I do. 6. Coaching: Develops people for the future try this.
Choice of style
There is no such thing as an ideal leadership style. The situation in which leaders and their teams function will inuence the approaches that leaders adopt. It all depends. The factors affecting the degree to which a style is appropriate will be the type of organization, the nature of the task, the characteristics of the group and, importantly, the personality of the leader. An achievement-orientated approach may be appropriate when expectations of the results the team has to produce are high and team members can be encouraged to rise to the occasion. A task-orientated approach (autocratic, controlling and directive) may be best in emergency or crisis situations or when the leader has power, formal backing and a relatively well-structured task. In these circumstances the group is more ready to be directed and told what to do. In less well-structured or ambiguous situations, where results depend on the group working well together with a common sense of purpose, leaders who are concerned with maintaining good relationships (democratic, participative or supportive) are more likely to obtain good results. Good leaders are capable of exing their style to meet the demands of the situation. Normally democratic or participative leaders may have to shift into more of a directive mode when faced with a crisis, but they make clear what they are doing and why. Poor leaders change their style arbitrarily so that their team members are confused and do not know what to expect next. Effective leaders may also ex their style when dealing with individual team members according to their characteristics. Some people need more positive direction than others. Other people respond best if they are involved in decision-making with their boss. But there is a limit to the degree of exibility that should be used. It is unwise to differentiate too much between the ways in which individuals are treated. The kind of leadership exercised will indeed be related to the nature of the task and the people being led. But it also depends on the context and, of course, on leaders themselves. People who have a natural leadership style that works have to be careful about changing it arbitrarily or substantially. However, Charles Handy (1994) believes that intelligent organizations have to be run by persuasion and consent. He suggests that the heroic leader of the past knew all, could do all and could solve every problem. Now, the post-heroic leader has come to the fore, who asks how every problem can be solved in a way that develops other peoples capacity to handle it.
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effective at inuencing people and earn the respect of their team. They are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and are skilled at understanding the needs, attitudes and perspective of team members. They appreciate the advantages of consulting and involving people in decision-making. They can switch exibly from one leadership style to another to meet the demands of different situations and people. Many lists and explanations of the qualities required by leaders have been produced, which complement or enhance the denition of a good leader given above. Here are a few of the better known ones.
John Adair
John Adair (1973) listed the following qualities that good leaders possess: enthusiasm to get things done, which they can communicate to other people; condence belief in themselves, which again people can sense (but this must not be over-condence, which leads to arrogance); toughness resilient, tenacious and demanding high standards, seeking respect but not necessarily popularity; integrity being true to oneself personal wholeness, soundness and honesty, which inspires trust; warmth in personal relationships, caring for people and being considerate; humility willingness to listen and take the blame, not being arrogant and overbearing.
Leadership competencies
It was argued by Bennis and Thomas (2002) that the competencies of leaders (ie their skills, attributes and behaviours) are outcomes of their formative experiences. The key competencies are adaptive capacity, an ability to engage others in shared meanings, a compelling voice and integrity. They claimed that one of the most reliable indicators and predictors of true leadership is an individuals ability to nd meaning in negative situations and to learn from trying circumstances.
1. Shows enthusiasm. 2. Supports other people. 3. Recognizes individual effort. 4. Listens to individuals ideas and problems. 5. Provides direction. 6. Demonstrates personal integrity. 7. Practises what they preach. 8. Encourages teamwork. 9. Actively encourages feedback. 10. Develops other people.
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common ground and build rapport. The ve competencies associated with this component are leadership, effectiveness in leading change, conict management, inuence/communication, and expertise in building and leading teams.
References
Adair, J (1973) The Action-Centred Leader, McGraw-Hill, London Bass, B M (1985) Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, Free Press, New York
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Part II
Approaches to Management
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43
4
Managing for Results
Work, to achieve results, has to be thought through and done with direction, method and purpose. Peter Drucker (1963) Managing for Results, Heinemann, London
Management was dened in Chapter 1 as the process of deciding what to do and then getting it done through the effective use of resources. It is about what managers do to make things happen. They dene goals, determine the resources people, nance, work systems and technology required to achieve the goals, allocate those resources to opportunities and planned activities and ensure that those activities take place as planned in order to achieve predetermined objectives. All this adds up to managing for results. Peter Drucker (1963) wrote that managers must be committed to the systematic, purposeful and organized discharge of the tasks in their jobs. He emphasized the need for a unied, organization-wide programme for performance and for a unied, organization-wide plan for the work to be done. The foundations for these activities are decisions on the idea of the business and its objectives, on the areas of excellence and on priorities and strategies. This leads to an assessment of the efforts required and to the selection of the resources to be committed. Performance becomes a job for which someone is responsible: If it is to be real assignment, there has to be a deadline; work without deadlines is not work assigned but work toyed with. Managing for results involves planning, setting objectives, organizing, and generally making things happen. These are covered in turn in this chapter.
44 Approaches to Management
Planning
Planning is a key aspect of managing for results. Planning involves deciding on a course of action, ensuring that the resources required to implement the action will be available, and scheduling and prioritizing the work required to achieve a dened end result. The aim of planning is to enable managers to complete tasks on time by making the best use of the resources available to them. They need to avoid crises and the high costs that they cause; to have fewer drop everything and rush this problems. Contingency or fall-back plans are prepared if there is any reason to believe that the initial plan may fail for reasons beyond the managers control. When managers plan, they may choose certain courses of action and rule out others; that is to say, they lose exibility. This will be a disadvantage if the future turns out differently from what was expected which is only too likely. Managers should try to make plans that can be changed without undue difculty. It is a bad plan that admits no change.
Planning ingredients
Most of the planning managers carry out is simply a matter of thinking systematically and using common sense. Every plan contains four key ingredients: 1. The objective what is to be achieved. 2. The action programme the specic steps required to achieve the objective. 3. Resource requirements what resources, in the shape of money, people, facilities and time, will be required. 4. Impact assessment determining the impact made on the organization by achieving the plan (assessed in terms of costs and benets).
Planning activities
There are 10 planning activities: 1. Dening goals what has to be achieved through the plan. 2. Organizing deciding how the work and the people who carry it out should be organized. 3. Forecasting what sort of work has to be done, how much and by when, and how the workload might change. 4. Prioritizing deciding the sequence and timescale of operations. 5. Programming the activities and events required to produce results on time.
6. Workforce planning deciding how many and what type of people are needed and considering the feasibility of absorbing peak loads by means of overtime, temporary staff, subcontracting or outsourcing. 7. Establishing detailed performance requirements for output, sales, times, quality, costs or for any other aspect of the work where performance should be planned, measured and controlled. 8. Procedure planning deciding how the work should be done and planning the actual operations by dening the systems and processes required. 9. Materials planning deciding what materials, bought-in parts or subcontracted work are required and ensuring that they are made available in the right quantity at the right time. 10. Facilities planning deciding on the plant, equipment, tools and space required.
Work objectives
Work or operational objectives refer to the results to be achieved or the contribution to be made to the accomplishment of team, departmental and corporate objectives. At corporate level they are related to the organizations mission, core values and strategic plans. At departmental or functional level they are related to corporate objectives, spelling out the specic mission, targets and purposes to be achieved by a function or department. At team level they will again be related specically to the purpose of the team and the contribution it is expected to make to achieving departmental and corporate goals. At individual level they are rolerelated, referring to the principal accountabilities, main activity areas or key tasks that constitute the individuals role. They focus on the results individuals are expected to achieve and how they contribute to the attainment of team, departmental and corporate goals and to upholding the organizations core values.
46 Approaches to Management
Personal objectives
Personal or learning objectives are concerned with what individuals should do and learn to improve their performance (performance improvement plans) and/or their knowledge, skills and overall level of competency (learning and personal development plans).
Targets
Individual objectives can be expressed as quantied output or improvement targets (open 24 new accounts by 30 November, reduce cost per unit of output by 2.5 per cent by 30 June), or in terms of projects to be completed (open distribution depot in Northampton by 31 October). Targets may be reset regularly, say once a year or every six months, or be subject to frequent amendments to meet new requirements or changed circumstances.
Standing objectives
Objectives for some aspects of a role (or for all aspects of some roles) can be what might be described as standing objectives. These are concerned with the permanent or continuing features of a role and may be incorporated in a role prole, which species what has to be achieved in terms of key result areas. They can lead to dened standards of performance. Qualitative standing objectives may also be dened for behaviour that will contribute to upholding the core values of the organization. For example, if one of the core values relates to the development of the skills and competencies of employees, a performance standard for employee development could be one of the objectives agreed for all managers and team leaders.
Project objectives
Project objectives dene what has to be achieved by an individual who is managing or contributing to a project. They will dene the purpose of the project and the success criteria how the conduct and impact of the project will be measured.
Consistent with the values of the organization and departmental and organizational objectives. Precise: clear and well dened, using positive words. Challenging: to stimulate high standards of performance and to encourage progress. Measurable: they can be related to quantied or qualitative performance measures. Achievable within the capabilities of the individual. Account should be taken of any constraints that might affect the individuals capacity to achieve the objectives; these could include lack of resources (money, time, equipment, support from other people), lack of experience or training, external factors beyond the individuals control, etc. Agreed by the manager and the individual concerned. The aim is to provide for the ownership, not the imposition, of objectives, although there may be situations where individuals have to be persuaded to accept a higher standard than they believe themselves capable of attaining. Time-related achievable within a dened timescale (this would not be applicable to a standing objective). Teamwork orientated emphasize teamwork as well as individual achievement. The acronym SMART is often used to dene a good objective: S = stretching; M = measurable; A = agreed; R = realistic; T = time-related.
Dening targets
Targets are quantied and time based they always dene specic and measurable outputs and when they have to be reached. The target may be to achieve a specied level of output or
48 Approaches to Management
to improve performance in some way. Targets may be expressed in nancial terms such as prots to be made, income to be generated, costs to be reduced or budgets to be worked within. Or they may be expressed in numerical terms as a specied number of units to be processed, sales volume to be achieved, responses to be obtained or clients or customers to be contacted over a period of time. Output targets are expressed in nancial or unitary terms, for example: Achieve sales of 1.6 million by 30 June. Maintain inventory levels at no more than 12 million. Maintain throughput at the rate of 800 units a day.
Performance improvement targets may be expressed in terms such as: Increase sales turnover for the year by 8 per cent in real terms. Reduce the overhead to sales ratio from 22.6 to 20 per cent over the next 12 months. Increase the ratio of successful conversions (enquiry to sales) from 40 to 50 per cent within six months. Reduce the number of customer complaints to 0.5 per cent of deliveries made.
Organizing
To achieve their goals, managers have to ensure that they have the resources required and that the human element of those resources is properly organized in the sense of deciding what needs to be done, grouping activities together, establishing lines of communication and control and dening responsibilities and accountabilities. Managers or team leaders may have been promoted, transferred or recruited into a post and presented with an established organization structure. Very occasionally, they may have to set up their own organization. More frequently, they may feel that there are improvements that can usefully be made to the structure or to the ways in which responsibilities and tasks are allocated to members of their team. The aim of organizing can be dened as being to optimize the arrangements for conducting the affairs of the business or business unit. To do this it is necessary, as far as circumstances allow, to: clarify the overall purposes of the organization or organizational unit; dene the key activities required to achieve that purpose; group these activities logically together to avoid unnecessary overlap or duplication; provide for the integration of activities and the achievement of cooperative effort and teamwork in pursuit of the common purpose; build exibility into the system so that organizational arrangements can adapt quickly to new situations and challenges; clarify individual roles, accountabilities and authorities; design jobs to make the best use of the skills and capacities of the job holders and to provide them with high levels of intrinsic motivation.
The process of organization and of designing and developing organizations is dealt with in more detail in Part 3 of this book.
50 Approaches to Management
The whole of business is taking an acceptable risk. The process of deciding where you take the business is an opportunity to involve others, which actually forms the motive power that will make it happen.
This section of the chapter rst poses and answers three basic questions on how to make it happen. An analysis is then conducted of what makes achievers tick and what achievers do. The section continues by considering a key quality required to make things happen, namely decisiveness, and concludes with a discussion of how managers can analyse and improve their capacity to get things done.
Using techniques
Techniques for achieving results such as setting objectives, planning, organizing, delegating, motivating and monitoring performance can be learnt. But these techniques are only as
effective as the person who uses them. They must be applied in the right way and in the right circumstances. And you still have to use your experience to select the right technique and your personality to make it work.
52 Approaches to Management
They demand high performance from themselves and equally expect high performance from everyone else. They work hard and well under pressure; in fact, it brings out the best in them. They tend to be dissatised with the status quo. They are never completely satised with their own performance and continually question themselves. They take calculated risks. They snap out of setbacks and quickly regroup their forces and ideas. They are enthusiastic about the task and convey their enthusiasm to others. They are decisive in that they are able to quickly sum up situations, dene alternative courses of action, determine the preferred course, and convey to the members of their team what needs to be done. They continually monitor their own performance and that of their team so that any deviation can be corrected in good time.
On being decisive
To make things happen people have to be decisive. This means being prepared to make decisions and live with the consequences. A consultant in a New York hospital promoted a registrar because he was a good decision-maker. When asked why she had promoted someone whose decisions were not always right, the consultant replied I said he was a good decision-maker, not that he made good decisions. Being decisive means that people sometimes have to take risks. They may be calculated but they do not always work. But indecisiveness is even worse. As long as people learn from their mistakes and avoid repeating them, the occasional and inevitable poor decision need not matter unduly. There is more about being decisive in Chapter 8.
The aim is to make the best use of your experience in getting things done. Use the list of what high achievers do to check your own behaviour and actions. If your performance has not been up to scratch under any of these headings, ask yourself what went wrong and decide how you are going to overcome this difculty next time. This is not always easy. It is hard to admit to yourself, for example, that you have not been sufciently enthusiastic. It may be even harder to decide what to do about it. You dont want to enthuse all over the place, indiscriminately. But you can consider whether there are better ways of displaying and conveying your enthusiasm to others in order to carry them with you.
References
Drucker, P (1963) Managing for Results, Heinemann, London Harvey-Jones, J (1984) Making it Happen, Collins, Glasgow McClelland, D C (1961) The Achieving Society, Van Norstrand, New York
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5
Managing Strategically
The purpose of strategic management is to elicit the present actions for the future integrating and institutionalising mechanisms for change. Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1984) The Change Masters, Allen & Unwin, London
Managing strategically involves adopting a broader and longer-term view of what needs to be done and ensuring that the activities you carry out contribute to achieving the organizations strategic goals. In this chapter: (1) the underpinning concept of strategy is dened; (2) the concept of strategic management is examined; (3) consideration is given to the development of a shared vision; (4) the process of developing strategy is explained; and (5) the meaning and importance of strategic capability as a necessary requirement of managing strategically is explored.
Strategy
Strategy consists of a statement or an understanding of what the organization or a part of it wants to become, where it wants to go and, broadly, how it means to get there. Business strategy in a commercial enterprise answers the questions: What business are we in? and How are we going to make money out of it? Strategy determines the direction in which the enterprise is going in relation to its environment in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The emphasis is on focused actions that differentiate the rm from its competitors. It is a declaration of intent that denes means to achieve ends, and is concerned with the long-term allocation of signicant resources and with matching those resources and capabilities to the external environment. Strategy is a perspective on the way in which critical issues or
Managing Strategically
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success factors can be addressed, and strategic decisions aim to make a major and long-term impact on the behaviour and success of the organization. Individual managers develop strategies for the accomplishment of their longer-term objectives. Again, these are directions of intent and denitions of how it is proposed those intentions should be put into effect. Strategies are developed to provide for the realization of visions views on what the future should be.
Strategic management
Strategic management is what managers do when they look ahead at what they need to achieve in the middle or relatively distant future. Although, as Fombrun et al (1984) put it, the managers are aware of the fact that businesses, like managers, must perform well in the present to succeed in the future, they are concerned with the broader issues they are facing and the general directions in which they must go to deal with these issues and achieve longer-term objectives. They do not take a narrow or restricted view. Strategic management has been described by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1984) as follows: Strong leaders articulate direction and save the organization from change by drift They see a vision of the future that allows them to see more clearly what steps to take, building on present capacities and strengths. Strategic management deals with both ends and means. As an end it describes a vision of what something will look like in a few years time. As a means, it shows how it is expected that the vision will be realized. Strategic management is therefore visionary management, concerned with creating and conceptualizing ideas of where the organization should be going. But it is also empirical management, which decides how in practice it is going to get there. The focus is on identifying the organizations mission and strategies, but attention is also given to the resource base required to make it succeed. It is always necessary to remember that strategy is the means to create value. Managers who think strategically will have a broad and longterm view of where they are going. But they will also be aware that they are responsible rst for planning how to allocate resources to opportunities that contribute to the implementation of strategy, and secondly for managing those opportunities in ways that will signicantly add value to the results achieved by the rm. The process of strategic management is modelled in Figure 5.1. It involves dening the organizations mission, analysing the internal and external environment, exercising strategic choice (there is always choice), formulating corporate and functional strategies and goals, implementing strategies, and monitoring and evaluating progress in achieving goals. But in practice, it is not as simple and linear as that. Boxall and Purcell (2003) believe that strategic
56 Approaches to Management
management is a mixed, impure, interactive process, fraught with difculties, both intellectually and politically.
mission
strategic analysis
strategic choice
corporate strategy
functional strategies
strategic plans
implementation
Managing Strategically
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their commitment and engagement. To gain support for the vision it is necessary to present it in language that people can understand and to discuss with those concerned its implications in terms of the part they will play and the benets that will ensue for themselves as well as the organization. They need to be given a voice in deciding what needs to be done so that they become parties to the vision rather than simply being at the receiving end. They should be regarded as stakeholders who have a legitimate interest in what the vision means and their role in making it real.
was inclined to take a denitive view of the future, and to extrapolate trend lines for the key business variables in order to arrive at this view. Economic turbulence was insufciently considered, and the reality that much strategy is formulated and implemented in the act of managing the enterprise was ignored. Precise forecasts ending with derived nancials were constructed, the only weakness of which was that the future almost invariably turned out differently.
Strategy formulation is not necessarily a rational and continuous process, as was pointed out by Mintzberg (1987). He believes that, rather than being consciously and systematically developed, strategy reorientation happens in what he calls brief quantum loops. A strategy, according to Mintzberg, can be deliberate it can realize the intentions of management, for example to attack and conquer a new market. But this is not always the case. In theory, he says, strategy
58 Approaches to Management
is a systematic process: rst we think, then we act; we formulate, then we implement. But we also act in order to think. In practice, a realized strategy can emerge in response to an evolving situation and the strategic planner is often a pattern organizer, a learner if you like, who manages a process in which strategies and visions can emerge as well as be deliberately conceived Strategy is a pattern in a stream of activities. Mintzberg (1994) also contended that the failure of systematic planning is the failure of systems to do better than, or nearly as well as, human beings. He went on to say that real strategists get their hands dirty digging for ideas, and real strategies are built from the nuggets they discover, and sometimes strategies must be left as broad visions, not precisely articulated, to adapt to a changing environment. Again, it is important to involve people in the process of strategic planning so they understand what is to be accomplished, why it needs to be accomplished and the part they will play in accomplishing it. A stakeholder approach is required. Everyone involved should be treated as stakeholders because they have a personal interest in the outcome, as it affects not only the organization but also themselves. As stakeholders they have the right to comment on proposals and put forward their own ideas. In this way the original concept can be rened so that it becomes more achievable with the participation of the stakeholders.
Strategic capability
To manage strategically requires strategic capability the capacity to create an achievable vision for the future, to foresee longer-term developments, to envisage options (and their probable consequences), to select sound courses of action, to rise above the day-to-day detail, to see the big picture, and to challenge the status quo. Managers with high levels of strategic capability will: understand the strategic goals of the organization or unit and appreciate the business imperatives and performance drivers relative to these goals; comprehend how sustainable competitive advantage can be obtained through their efforts; contribute to the development of a clear vision and a set of integrated values for the business; ensure that senior management understands the business implications of the function or activity they control; be aware of the broader context (the competitive environment and the business, economic, social and legal factors that affect it) in which the organization operates; think in terms of the bigger and longer-term picture of where their unit, function or department should go and how it should get there;
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be capable of making a powerful business case for any proposals on the development of business strategies in their area; be able to introduce and manage change within their area.
References
Boxall, P F and Purcell, J (2003) Strategy and Human Resource Management, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke Digman, L A (1990) Strategic Management: Concepts, decisions, cases, Irwin, Georgetown, Ontario Faulkner, D and Johnson, G (1992) The Challenge of Strategic Management, Kogan Page, London Fombrun, C J, Tichy, N M, and Devanna, M A (1984) Strategic Human Resource Management, New York, Wiley Heller, R (1972) The Naked Manager, Barrie & Jenkins, London Kanter, R M (1984) The Change Masters, Allen & Unwin, London Mintzberg, H (1987) Crafting strategy, Harvard Business Review, JulyAugust, pp 6674 Mintzberg, H (1994) The rise and fall of strategic planning, Harvard Business Review, JanuaryFebruary, pp 10714
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6
Managing for Performance
All proposals for new ventures, capital investment, or new products and services should be directed towards the companys programme for performance. Peter Drucker (1963) Managing for Results, Heinemann, London
Managing for results means managing for performance. This involves developing a high-performance culture and high-performance work systems for the organization as a whole, and managing the performance of individuals and teams.
High-performance culture
A high-performance culture is one in which striving for improved performance is a recognized way of life. The characteristics of an organization in which such a culture exists can be as follows: people know whats expected of them they are clear about their goals and accountabilities; people have the skills and competencies to achieve their goals; high-performance is recognized and rewarded accordingly; people feel that their job is worth doing, and that theres a strong t between the job and their capabilities; managers act as supportive leaders and coaches, providing regular feedback, performance reviews and development; a pool of talent ensures a continuous supply of high performers in key roles;
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theres a climate of trust and teamwork, aimed at delivering a distinctive service to the customer.
Examples of high-performance working in a number of companies are given in Table 6.1. Table 6.1 Examples of high-performance working ingredients High-performance working ingredients A strategy that maintains competitiveness by increasing added value through the efforts and enhanced capability of all staff. The integration of technical advance with people development. Continuing reliance on team working and effective leadership, with innovation and self- and team management skills. Organizational changes to streamline processes, raise skill levels and release talents. Managers who could see that the problems were as much cultural as organizational. Recruitment of people whose attitudes and aptitudes match the needs of high-performance work practices.
Land Registry
Meritor Heavy Vehicle Skill enhancement, particularly of management and self-manageBraking Systems ment skills, using competence frameworks. Team working skills and experience used in improvement projects. Linking learning, involvement and performance management. Orangebox A strategy that relies on constant reinvention of operational capability. Engagement and development of existing talent and initiative in productivity improvement. Increasing use of cross-departmental projects to tackle wider opportunities. A vision and values worked through by managers and supervisors. Engagement of everyone in the organization and establishment of a continuous improvement culture. Learning as a basis for change.
PerkinElmer
United Welsh Housing Linking of better employment relations with better performance. Association Using staff experience to improve customer service. Focusing management development on the cascading of a partnership culture.
Source: Stevens (2005)
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Components of a HPWS
Descriptions of high-performance systems usually include lists of desirable practices and therefore embody the notion of best practice. However, such lists vary considerably and doubt
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can be expressed over any concept of best practice that implies that there are ways of doing things that are universally applicable. The practices adopted by an organization must t their circumstances. Best t is more important than best practice. However, there are a number of typical features of a HPWS, such as those listed by Thompson and Heron (2005): information sharing; sophisticated recruitment; formal induction programme; ve or more days of off-the-job training in the last year; semi- or totally autonomous work teams, continuous improvement teams, problemsolving groups; interpersonal skill development; performance feedback; involvement works council, suggestion scheme, opinion survey; team-based rewards, employee share ownership scheme, prot-sharing scheme.
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1. Analyse the business strategy: where is the business going? what are the strengths and weaknesses of the business? what threats and opportunities face the business? what are the implications of the above on the type of people required by the business, now and in the future? to what extent do we can we obtain competitive advantage through people?
2. Dene the desired performance culture of the business and the objectives of developing a HPWS use the list of characteristics above as a starting point and produce a list that is aligned to the culture and context of the business and a statement of the objectives of developing a HPWS. 3. Analyse the existing arrangements start from the headings dened at stage 2 and analyse against each heading: what is happening now in the form of practices, attitudes and behaviours (what should people do differently)? what should be happening? what do people feel about it (the more involvement in this analysis from all stakeholders the better)?
4. Identify the gaps between what is and what should be clarify specic practices where there is considerable room for improvement. 5. Draw up a list of practices that need to be introduced or improved at this stage only a broad denition should be produced of what ideally needs to be done. 6. Establish links identify the practices that can be related together in bundles in order to complement and support one another. 7. Assess practicality the ideal list of practices, or preferably bundles of practices, should be subjected to a reality check: is it worth doing? Whats the business case in terms of added value? What contribution will it make to supporting the achievement of the organizations strategic goals? can it be done? who will do it? have we the resources to do it? how do we manage the change?
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8. Prioritize in the light of the assessment of practicalities, decide on the priorities that should be given to introducing new or improved practices. A realistic approach is essential. There will be a limit on how much can be done at once or at any future time. Priorities should be established by assessing: the added value the practice will create; the availability of the resources required; anticipated problems in introducing the practice, including resistance to change by stakeholders (too much should not be made of this as change can be managed, but there is much to be said for achieving some quick wins); the extent to which they can form bundles of mutually supporting practices.
9. Dene project objectives develop the broad statement of objectives produced at stage 2 and dene what is to be achieved, why and how. 10. Get buy-in this should start at the top with the chief executive and members of the senior management team, but as far as possible it should also extend to all the other stakeholders (easier if they have been involved at earlier stages and if the intentions have been fully communicated). 11. Plan the implementation this is where things become difcult. Deciding what needs to be done is fairly easy; getting it done is the hard part. The implementation plan needs to cover: who takes the lead this must come from the top of the organization; nothing will work without it; who manages the project and who else is involved; the timetable for development and introduction; the resources (people and money required); how the change programme will be managed, including communication and further consultation; the success criteria for the project.
12. Implement too often, 80 per cent of the time spent on introducing a HPWS is spent on planning and only 20 per cent on implementation. It should be the other way round. Whoever is responsible for implementation must have considerable project and change management skills.
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planning performance
reviewing performance
monitoring performance
Figure 6.1 The performance management cycle This model illustrates that performance management is a continuous process it proceeds from planning (dening expectations) to monitoring (managing performance throughout the year) to reviewing performance against expectations and reformulating the plan on the basis of that review.
Planning performance
Performance planning involves managers and individuals reporting to them reaching an agreement (often called a performance and development agreement) on what needs to be done by both parties to improve performance. The starting point for the plan is a role prole, which denes the results, knowledge, skills and behaviours required. This should be agreed as the basis for deciding on objectives and performance measures or key performance indicators. Performance development plans are derived from an analysis of role requirements and an assessment of the performance displayed in meeting them.
Monitoring performance
Performance management is what managers do. It is an integral part of the continuing process of management. Managers should therefore be ready, willing and able to deal with performance issues as they arise. It should not be left to the annual performance review. The process of continuing assessment should be carried out by reference to agreed objectives and to work, development and improvement plans. Progress reviews can take place informally or through an existing system of team meetings. But there should be more formal interim reviews at predetermined points in the year, eg quarterly. For some teams or individual jobs these points could be related to milestones contained in project and work plans. Deciding when such
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meetings should take place would be up to individual managers in consultation with their staff and would not be a laid-down part of a system. Managers should be encouraged to consider how to accommodate the need for regular dialogue within the established pattern of briengs, team or group meetings, or project review meetings. In addition to the collective meetings, managers may have regular one-to-one meetings with their staff. If performance management is to be effective, there needs to be a continuing agenda through these regular meetings to ensure that good progress is being made towards achieving the objectives agreed for each key result area.
Reviewing performance
Although performance management is a continuous process, it is still necessary to have a formal review once or twice yearly. This acts as a focal point for the consideration of key performance and development issues, provides an opportunity to take stock, and forms the basis for performance and development planning. Many managers are extraordinarily reluctant to conduct such meetings at all, or at best their reviews are perfunctory. All sorts of reasons are given for this: I havent got enough time, Its not necessary I am already reviewing performance on a day-to-day basis, I dont like sitting down and making formal criticisms of someone. The answers to these objections are simple: Surely you can spare an hour or so to spend quality time with your staff, if only to show that you are interested in their progress and prepared to give them your support. That may well be so, but isnt it a good idea to carry out a systematic review of progress so that both parties are in a better position to plan for the future? Performance reviews are not just about criticizing people. They are opportunities to recognize achievements as well as agreeing any areas where improvement is required and planning how this should take place.
The performance review meeting is the means through which the ve primary performance management elements of agreement, measurement, feedback, positive reinforcement and dialogue can be put to good use. The review should be rooted in the reality of the employees performance. It is concrete, not abstract, and it allows managers and individuals to take a positive look together at how performance can become better in the future and how any problems in meeting performance standards and achieving objectives can be resolved. Individuals should be encouraged to assess their own performance and become active agents for change in improving their results. Managers are there to carry out their proper enabling role: coaching and providing support and guidance. There should be no surprises in a formal review if performance issues have been dealt with as they should have been as they arise during the year. Traditional appraisals are often no more
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than an analysis of where those involved are now, and where they have come from. This static and historical approach is not what performance management is about. The true role of performance management is to look forward to what needs to be done by people to achieve the purpose of the job, to meet new challenges, to make even better use of their knowledge, skills and abilities, to develop their capabilities by establishing a self-managed learning agenda, and to reach agreement on any areas where performance needs to be improved and how that improvement should take place. This process also helps managers to improve their ability to lead, guide and develop the individuals and teams for whom they are responsible.
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2. Work reviews: how well the team has functioned; review of the individual contribution made by each team member ie peer review;
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3. Group problem-solving: analysis of reasons for any shortfalls or other problems; agreement of what needs to be done to solve them and prevent their reoccurrence.
4. Update objectives: review of new requirements, opportunities or threats; amendment and updating of objectives and project plans.
References
Appelbaum, E et al (2000) Manufacturing Advantage: Why high-performance work systems pay off, ILR Press, Ithaca, New York Armitage, A and Keble-Allen, D (2007) Why people management basics form the foundation of highperformance working, People Management, 18 October, p 48 King, J (1995) High performance work systems and rm performance, Monthly Labour Review, May, pp 2936 Purcell, J et al (2003) People and Performance: How people management impacts on organisational performance, CIPD, London Stevens, J (2005) High Performance Wales: Real experiences, real success, Wales Management Council, Cardiff Sung, J and Ashton, D (2005) High Performance Work Practices: Linking strategy and skills to performance outcomes, DTI in association with CIPD [Online] http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/ Thompson, M and Heron, P (2005) Management capability and high-performance work organization, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16 (6), pp 102948 Varma, A et al (1999) High performance work systems: exciting discovery or passing fad? Human Resource Planning, 22 (1), pp 2637
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7
Managing the Business
The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield. Jean-Baptiste Say (1803) A Treatise on Political Economy, or the production, distribution and consumption of wealth
The chief executive of a large charity once said to the author of this book: We are not a business but we have to be businesslike. So does every manager, whether they are line managers directly controlling operational functions or managers in associated functions such as HR (human resources), nance or IT (information technology). In HR circles much has been made recently of the Dave Ulrich (1998) concept of the HR professional as a business partner, and there are now lots of HR business partners. But there is a lack of clarity about what they do except work alongside their line manager colleagues, and there is nothing new in that. It is preferable to consider them as part of management and not merely partners. The suggestion of Professor Shaun Tyson (1985) that they should act as business managers is nearer the mark. He stated that personnel specialists carrying out this role integrate their activities closely with management and ensure that they serve a long-term strategic purpose. They have the capacity to identify business opportunities, to see the broad picture and to understand how their role can help to achieve the companys business objectives. They anticipate needs, act exibly and are proactive. In other words, they are businesslike. This chapter starts by examining what being businesslike means and then deals with four of the key business management activities: preparing the business plan; making a business case; nancial budgeting and control; and costbenet analysis.
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On being businesslike
A businesslike approach to management is one that focuses on allocating resources to business opportunities and making the best use of them to achieve the required results. Managers who are businesslike understand and act upon: the business imperatives of the organization: its mission and its strategic goals; its business model the basis upon which its business is done (how its mission and strategic goals will be achieved); its business drivers the characteristics of the business that move it forward; its core competences what the business is good at doing; the factors that will ensure the effectiveness of its activities, including specic issues concerning protability, productivity, nancial budgeting and control, costs and benets and operational performance; the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the business, which can be used to measure progress towards attaining goals; the factors that will ensure that the rms resources, especially its human resources, create sustained competitive advantage because they are valuable, imperfectly imitable and non-substitutable (the resource-based view); the fact that they are there to create added value through the effective use of resources (cf the quotation from J-B Say at the head of this chapter); the need to provide excellent customer service; how continuous improvement can be obtained; the need to maintain high levels of quality.
We have called Rupert Baxter efcient and efcient he was. The word, as we interpret it, implies not only a capacity for performing the ordinary tasks of life with a smooth rmness of touch, but in addition a certain alertness of mind, a genius for seeing clearly, thinking swiftly and Doing it Now.
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This sort of efciency is important in a business but it is even more important to be effective. Peter Drucker (1963), a pioneer thinker in this aspect of management, as in many others, summed it up when he wrote:
Management, we are usually told, should concern itself with efciency, that is with doing better what is already being done. It should therefore focus on costs. But the entrepreneurial approach focuses on effectiveness, that is, on the decision what to do. It focuses on opportunities to produce revenue, to create markets and to change the economic characteristics of existing products and markets. It asks not: how do we do this or that? It asks: which of the products really produce economic results or are capable of producing them? which of the markets and/or uses are capable of producing extraordinary results? It then asks: to what results should therefore the resources and efforts of the business be allocated so as to produce extraordinary results rather than the ordinary results which is all efciency can possibly produce.
Drucker was concentrating on prot-making rms but the same principle applies in the public and not-for-prot sectors. They have to focus on the delivery of public services or the provision of effective services that meet crucial needs in the community. They have to do this efciently but it is the results of their activities that matter. The difference between efciency and effectiveness was summed up by Reddin (1970) as follows: Efciency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. The danger of placing too much emphasis on efciency is that the object of the exercise becomes obscured by the bureaucratic machinery set up to achieve it. To be businesslike, the approach should be in Druckers phrase again to manage for results. Its the end that counts, not the means, although it is necessary to adopt the most efcient way of getting from here to there. Costs must be controlled, and if they are excessive, cost-cutting exercises may be necessary, even drastic ones like a 10 per cent cut across the board. But money is not made and results are not attained by cutting costs. Organizations must go for growth and/or continuous improvement. They must invest in success and in prot-making rms they often have to spend money to make money.
How to be businesslike
Managers who are businesslike are concerned generally with understanding the business they are in and with being effective rather than merely efcient. In particular, they need to understand how to prepare a business plan, how to make a business case, how to control their nancial budgets and how to conduct a costbenet analysis.
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improve operational exibility by extending the range of skills possessed by employees (multi-skilling); increase the commitment of employees by encouraging them to identify with the mission and objectives of the organization; help to manage change by increasing understanding of the reasons for change and providing people with the knowledge and skills they need to adjust to new situations; provide line managers with the skills required to manage and develop their people; help to develop a positive culture in the organization, for example one that is orientated towards performance improvement; help to provide higher levels of service to customers; minimize learning costs (reduce the length of learning curves).
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Financial budgeting
Budgets translate policy into nancial terms. They are statements of the planned allocation and use of the companys resources. They are needed to: (1) show the nancial implications of plans; (2) dene the resources required to achieve the plans; and (3) provide the means of measuring, monitoring and controlling results against the plans. The procedure for preparing nancial budgets consists of the following steps: 1. Budget guidelines are prepared that have been derived from the corporate plan and forecasts. They will include the activity levels for which budgets have to be created and the ratios to be achieved. In a commercial rm these would include return on capital employed, overheads to sales revenue, stock to sales, stock to current assets, and current liabilities to current assets. In a non-commercial organization such as a charity the key ratio may be expenses to revenue. The assumptions to be used in budgeting are also given. These could include rates of ination and increases in costs and prices. 2. Initial budgets for a budget or cost centre are prepared by departmental managers with the help of budget accountants. They record projected expenditures and activity levels. Increases to budgets that are not in line with changes in activity levels or price/cost assumptions have to be justied. A business case may be required for this purpose. Departmental budgets are checked by the nance department (a management accountant) and then by higher management to ensure that they meet the guidelines and increases are properly justied. 3. Departmental budgets are collated and analysed to produce the master budget. This is reviewed by top management, who may require changes at departmental level to bring it into line with corporate nancial objectives and plans. 4. The master budget is nally approved by top management and issued to each departmental (budget centre) manager for planning and control purposes.
Budgetary control
Budgetary control ensures that nancial budgets are met and that any variances are identied and dealt with. Control starts with the budget for the cost centre, which sets out the budgeted expenditure under cost headings against which activity levels have been built into the budget. A system of measurement or recording is used to allocate expenditures to cost headings and
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record activity levels achieved. The actual expenditures and activity levels are compared and positive and negative variances noted. Cost centre managers then act to deal with the variances and report their results to higher management.
Costbenet analysis
Costbenet analysis is the nancial assessment of the total costs and revenues or benets of a project, paying attention to the social costs and benets that do not normally feature in conventional costing exercises. The aims are to justify a project, programme or activity and inform the development of a strategy that achieves the maximum benet for the minimum cost. A costbenet analysis is carried out in the following stages: 1. The project and its overall objectives (described as benets) are dened. 2. A more detailed list is prepared of the anticipated benets and likely costs. Social benets and costs will be included in this list. 3. The list of benets and costs, direct and indirect, is reduced to monetary values to arrive at an estimate of the projected net benet of the project, if any. This can be a judgemental process. 4. The stream of net benets is predicted for each year of the project. 5. The stream of annual net benets is concerned with the capital cost of the project, which can be expressed as a percentage return on investment (RoI). The most common method is discounted cash ow, which converts the time stream of net benets into present value terms.
References
Drucker, P (1963) Managing for Results, Heinemann, London Reddin, W J (1970) Managerial Effectiveness, McGraw-Hill, London Tyson, S (1985) Is this the very model of a modern personnel manager? Personnel Management, 26, pp 3539 Ulrich, D (1998) A new mandate for human resources, Harvard Business Review, JanuaryFebruary, pp 12434 Wodehouse, P G (1929) Summer Lightning, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth
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8
Management Skills
The manager of tomorrow will have to master system and method, will have to conceive patterns and synthesize elements into wholes, will have to formulate general concepts and to apply general principles. Peter Drucker (1955) The Practice of Management, Heinemann, London
This chapter deals with the following basic skills needed by managers: communicating; report writing; making presentations; motivating; coaching; decision-making; delegating; facilitating; giving feedback; networking; problem-solving.
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Communicating
The managers role can be said to be 20 per cent doing and 80 per cent putting it across, that is, communicating. People recognize the need to communicate but nd it difcult. Like Schopenhauers hedgehogs, they want to get together, its only their prickles that keep them apart. There are two forms of communication: 1. Intra-personal communication, which takes place when we converse with ourselves. We ask ourselves questions, reect on events and our involvement in them, consider the actions we have taken or not taken, and interpret the factors affecting the decisions we have made in different circumstances. 2. Inter-personal communication, which takes the form of conveying or exchanging information, instructions, observations or comments to and between people. In inter-personal communications words are used that may sound or look precise, but they are not. All sorts of barriers exist between the communicator and the receiver. Unless these barriers are overcome, the message will be distorted or will not get through. It will fail to persuade or convince. The main barriers and methods of overcoming them are set out in Table 8.1. Methods of communicating through reports and presentations are dealt with in the next two sections of this chapter. Table 8.1 Barriers to communication Barriers to communication Hearing what we want to hear: What we hear or understand when someone speaks to us is largely based on our own experience and background. Instead of hearing what people have told us, we hear what our minds tell us they have said. Ignoring conicting information: We tend to ignore or reject communications that conict with our own beliefs. If they are not rejected, some way is found of twisting and shaping their meaning to t our preconceptions. Overcoming the barriers Adjust to the world of the receiver: Try to predict the impact of what you are going to write or say on the receivers feelings and attitudes. Tailor the message to t the receivers vocabulary, interests and values. Use feedback: Ensure that you get a message back from the receiver that tells you how much has been understood.
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Table 8.1 continued Barriers to communication Perceptions about the communicator: It is difcult to separate what we hear from our feelings about the person who says it. Non-existent motives may be ascribed to the communicator. If we like people we are more likely to accept what they say whether it is right or wrong than if we dislike them. Overcoming the barriers Use face-to-face communication: Whenever possible talk to people rather than write to them. That is how you get feedback. You can adjust or change your message according to reactions. You can also deliver it in a more human and understanding way this can help to overcome prejudices. Verbal criticism can often be given in a more constructive manner than a written reproof, which always seems to be harsher. Involve the group: Get the group involved in the discussion so that feelings can be brought out into the open.
Inuence of the group: The group with which we identify inuences our attitudes and feelings. What a group hears depends on its interests. People are more likely to listen to their colleagues, who share their experiences (their reference group), than to outsiders such as managers. Words mean different things to different people: Essentially language is a method of using symbols to represent facts and feelings. Strictly speaking, we cant convey meaning, all we can do is to convey words. Do not assume that because something has a certain meaning to you, it will convey the same meaning to someone else. Emotions: Our emotions colour our ability to convey or to receive the true message. Non-verbal communication: When we try to understand the meaning of what people say we listen to the words, but we also use other clues that convey meaning. We attend not only to what people say but to how they say it. We form impressions from what is called body language.
Use direct, simple language: This seems obvious. But many people clutter up what they say with jargon, long words and elaborate sentences.
Control emotion: Try to make your communication as unemotional as possible. Appeal to reason. Understand the role of non-verbal communication: Remember that your body language may affect listeners.
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Table 8.1 continued Barriers to communication Misinterpretation: People can easily misinterpret information for any of the reasons given above. Size: The larger and more complex the organization, the greater the problem of communication. Overcoming the barriers Get it across: Reinforce written communications with the spoken word. Conversely, an oral brieng should be reinforced in writing. Reduce problems of size: Go direst to those who need to get the message.
Report writing
A good report has the following characteristics: a logical structure; the use of plain words to convey meaning; messages presented lucidly, persuasively and, above all, succinctly.
Structure
A report should be structured in a way that ensures the reader is taken through a sequence of sections that are clearly linked to one another and proceed logically from the introduction to the recommendations and conclusions. An executive summary may be included. A typical structure could incorporate the following sections:
Executive summary
If the report is long and/or complex, an executive summary of the ndings, recommendations and conclusions is helpful. It concentrates the readers mind and can serve as an agenda for discussion. The summary should be brief, no more than one side of a sheet of paper, and it should be set out in bullet points.
The introduction
This explains what the report is about, why the report has been written, its aims, its terms of reference, and why it should be read. If the report is divided into sections the readers should be given an indication of the logic of the structure as a signpost to direct them through the report.
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The analysis
This is a factual review of the situation or problem. It could describe the present arrangements, breaking them down into their elements the main areas for attention. It would refer to the data collected as part of the study the key facts that have been assembled, although too much detail should not be included (this could be attached in an appendix). The analysis would identify the symptoms of any problems and should lead directly to the diagnosis.
The diagnosis
This is prepared by reference to the factual analysis. It indicates the causes of any problems and therefore sets out the issues to be addressed. The diagnosis provides the basis for any recommendations.
Recommendations
The recommendations specify the proposed action(s). They should ow logically and clearly from the analysis and diagnosis. Where there is no obvious solution, alternatives may be presented and evaluated but a clear recommendation should emerge from this evaluation. An indication should be given of what the recommendation involves and why and how it addresses the issue(s).
Action plan
The action plan sets out what needs to be done to implement the recommendations. It should identify: what precisely will have to be done; who will be responsible; the estimated costs; the other resources required (internal staff, external advice, materials and equipment); the timescale for implementation; the programme of work.
Conclusions
The conclusions summarize the main ndings (the analysis and diagnosis) and recommendations. An indication of the benets arising from these proposals should be made (this could be linked to costs in the form of a costbenet analysis).
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Plain words
Gowers (1987) suggested that in order to convey meaning without ambiguity, and avoid giving the reader unnecessary trouble, it is advisable to: 1. Use no more words than are required to express the meaning, for if too many are used the meaning may be obscured and the reader will be tired. Do not use superuous adjectives and adverbs, and do not use roundabout phrases where single words would serve. 2. Use familiar words rather than the far-fetched if they express the meaning equally well, for the familiar are more likely to be understood. 3. Use short words with a precise meaning rather than those that are vague, for they will obviously serve better to make the meaning clear; and in particular, prefer concrete words to abstract for they are more likely to have a precise meaning. Too many long words are off-putting. 4. Avoid jargon. If its use is unavoidable, explain what it means in plain language.
Presentation
The way in which the report is presented and written affects its impact and value. The reader should be able to follow the argument easily and not get bogged down in too much detail. If a large amount of supporting data are needed, place these in appendices. Paragraphs should be short and each one should be restricted to a single topic. It is helpful to use bullet points in order to list and highlight a series of observations or comments. In long reports it may be a good idea to number paragraphs for ease of reference. Some people prefer the system that numbers main sections 1, 2, etc, subsections 1.1, 1.2, etc, and sub-subsections 1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc. However, this can be clumsy and distracting. A simpler system, which eases cross-referencing, is to number each paragraph 1, 2, 3, etc rather than the headings; subparagraphs or tabulations can be indicated as bullet points. Use headings to guide people on what they are about to read and to help them nd their way about the report. Main headings should be in capitals or bold lower case, and subheadings should be in bold where capitals have been used for main headings, or italicized lower case where the main headings have been in bold. The report will make most impact if it is brief and to the point. Read and reread the draft to cut out any superuous material or abby writing.
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Making presentations
The three keys to effective speaking are: thorough preparation; good delivery; overcoming nervousness.
Thorough preparation
Allow yourself ample time for preparation. You will probably need at least 10 times as much as the duration of your talk. The main stages are: 1. Get informed. Collect and assemble all the facts and arguments you can get hold of. 2. Decide what to say. Dene the main messages you want to get across. 3. Limit the number to three or four few people can absorb more than this number of new ideas at any one time. Select the facts, arguments and examples that support your message. 4. Structure your talk into the classic beginning, middle and end: Start thinking about the middle rst, with your main messages and the supporting facts, arguments and illustrations. Arrange your points so that a cumulative impact and a logical ow of ideas is achieved. Then turn to the opening of your talk. Your objectives should be to create attention, arouse interest and inspire condence. Give your audience a trailer to what you are going to say. Underline the objective of your presentation what they will get out of it. Finally, think about how you are going to close your talk. First and last impressions are very important. End on a high note.
5. Think carefully about length. Never talk for more than 40 minutes at a time 20 or 30 minutes is better. Very few speakers can keep peoples attention for long. An audience is usually very interested to begin with (unless you make a mess of your opening), but interest declines steadily until people realize that you are approaching the end. Then they perk up. Hence the importance of your conclusion. 6. Keep the audiences attention throughout. Give interim summaries that reinforce what you are saying and, above all, hammer home your key points at intervals throughout your talk. 7. Ensure continuity. You should build your argument progressively until you come to a positive and convincing conclusion. Provide signposts, interim summaries and bridging sections that lead your audience naturally from one point to the next.
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8. Prepare your notes. In the rst place write out your introductory and concluding remarks in full and set out in some detail the main text of your talk. It is not usually necessary to write everything down. You should then boil down your text to the key headings to which you will refer in your talk. Your aim should be to avoid reading your speech if you possibly can, as this can completely remove any life from what you have to say. So as not to be pinned down behind a lectern, it is better to write your summarized points on lined index cards to which you can refer easily as you go along. 9. Prepare and use visual aids. As your audience will only absorb one-third of what you say, if that, reinforce your message with visual aids. Appeal to more than one sense at a time. PowerPoint slides provide good backup, but dont overdo them and keep them simple. Too many visuals can be distracting (use no more than 15 or so in a half-hour presentation) and too many words, or an over-elaborate presentation, will divert, bore and confuse your audience. As a rule of thumb, try not to put more than ve or six bullet points on a slide. Each point should contain not more than six or seven words. Audiences dislike having to read a lot of small print on an over-busy slide. Use diagrams and charts wherever possible to break up the ow of words and illustrate points. If you want the members of your audience to read something fairly elaborate, distribute the material as a handout and take them through it. 10. Rehearse. Rehearsal is vital. It instils condence, helps you to get your timing right, and enables you to polish your opening and closing remarks and coordinate your talk and visual aids. Rehearse the talk to yourself several times and note how long each section takes. Get used to expanding on your notes without wafing. Practise giving your talk out loud standing up, if that is the way you are going to present it. Get someone to hear you and provide constructive criticism. It may be hard to take but it could do you a world of good. 11. Check arrangements in the room. Ensure that your projector works and you know how to operate it. Check also on focus and visibility. Before you begin your talk, check that your notes and visual aids are in the right order and to hand.
Good delivery
To deliver a presentation effectively the following approaches should be used: Talk audibly and check that you can be heard at the back of the room. Your task is to project your voice. Its easier when there is a microphone, but even then, you have to think about getting your words across. Vary the pace (not too fast, not too slow), pitch and emphasis of your delivery. Use pauses to make a point. Try to be conversational and as informal as the occasion requires (but not too casual).
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Convey that you truly believe in what you are saying; audiences respond well to enthusiasm. Avoid a stilted delivery. That is why you must not read your talk. If you are your natural self people are more likely to be on your side. They will forgive the occasional pause to nd the right word. Light relief is a good thing but dont drag in irrelevant jokes or, indeed, make jokes at all if you are no good at telling them. You do not have to tell jokes. Use short words and sentences. Keep your eyes on the audience, moving from person to person to demonstrate that you are addressing them all, and also to gauge their reactions to what you are saying. If you can manage without elaborate notes (your slides or a few cards may be sufcient), come out from behind the desk or lectern and get close to your audience. It is best to stand up so that you can project what you say more effectively, unless it is a smallish meeting round a table. Use your hands for gesture and emphasis in moderation (dont put them in your pockets if you have them). Dont dget. Stand naturally and upright. You can move around the platform a little to add variety you dont want to look as if you are clutching the lectern for much needed support. But avoid pacing up and down like a caged tiger.
Overcoming nervousness
Some nervousness is a good thing. It makes you prepare, makes you think and makes the adrenalin ow, thus raising performance. But excessive nervousness ruins your effectiveness and must be controlled. The common reasons for excessive nervousness are: fear of failure; fear of looking foolish; fear of breakdown; a sense of inferiority; and dread of the isolation of the speaker. To overcome nervousness you should: Practise. Take every opportunity you can get to speak in public. The more you do it, the more condent you will become. Solicit constructive criticism and act on it. Know your subject. Get the facts, examples and illustrations that you need to put across. Know your audience. Who is going to be there? What are they expecting to hear? What will they want to get out of listening to you?
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Know your objective. Make sure that you know what you want to achieve. Visualize, if you can, each member of your audience going away having learnt something new that they are going to put into practical use. Prepare. If you know that you have prepared carefully, as suggested earlier, you will be much more condent on the day. Rehearse. This is an essential method of overcoming nervousness.
Motivating
Leadership, as described in Chapter 1, is about getting people into action and ensuring that they continue taking that action in order to complete the task. It is therefore very much about motivation. This can be dened as the process of getting people to move in the direction the leader wants them to go. The organization as a whole provides the context within which high levels of motivation can be achieved, through reward systems and the provision of opportunities for growth and development. But managers still have a major part to play in deploying their motivating skills to ensure that people give of their best. The aim is to get people to exert the maximum amount of positive discretionary effort they often have a choice about how they carry out their work and the amount of care, innovation and productive behaviour they display. Discretionary effort makes the difference between people just doing a job and people doing a great job.
What is motivation?
A motive is a reason for doing something. Motivation is concerned with the factors that inuence people to behave in certain ways. Motivating other people is about getting them to move in the direction you want them to go in order to achieve a result. Motivation can be described as goal-directed behaviour. Motivation is initiated by the conscious or unconscious recognition of an unsatised need. A goal is then established that it is believed will satisfy this need, and a decision is made on the action that it is expected will achieve the goal. If the goal is achieved the need will be satised and the behaviour is likely to be repeated the next time a similar need emerges. If the goal is not achieved the same action is less likely to be repeated. This process is modelled in Figure 8.1.
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goal
need
action
Coaching
Coaching is a personal (usually one-to-one), on-the-job approach used by managers and trainers to help people develop their skills and levels of competence. As a manager you are there to get results through people; this means that you have a personal responsibility for ensuring that they acquire and develop the skills they need. Other people in the shape of learning and development specialists may help, but because by far the best way of learning is on the job, the onus is mainly on you.
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The need for coaching may arise from formal or informal performance reviews, but opportunities for coaching will emerge during normal day-to-day activities. Every time you delegate a new task to someone, a coaching opportunity is created to help the individual learn any new skills or techniques that are needed to do the job. Every time you provide feedback to an individual after a task has been completed, there is an opportunity to help that person do better next time. Methods of giving feedback are described later in this chapter.
Aims of coaching
The aims of coaching are to: help people to become aware of how well they are doing, where they need to improve and what they need to learn; put controlled delegation into practice; in other words, managers can delegate new tasks or enlarged areas of work, provide guidance as necessary on how the tasks or work should be carried out, and monitor performance in doing the work; get managers and individuals to use whatever situations arise as learning opportunities; enable guidance to be provided on how to carry out specic tasks as necessary, but always on the basis of helping people to learn rather than spoon-feeding them with instructions on what to do and how to do it.
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Effective coaching
Coaching will be most effective when the coach understands that their role is to help people to learn, when individuals are motivated to learn, and when they are given guidance on what they should be learning and feedback on how they are doing. The coach should listen to individuals to understand what they want and need, and adopt a constructive approach, building on strengths and experience. It should be remembered that learning is an active, not a passive, process individuals need to be actively involved with their coach.
Planned coaching
Coaching may be informal but it has to be planned. It is not simply checking from time to time on what people are doing and then advising them on how to do it better. Nor is it occasionally telling people where they have gone wrong and throwing in a lecture for good measure. As far as possible, coaching should take place within the framework of a general plan of the areas and direction in which individuals will benet from further development. Coaching plans can and should be incorporated into the general development plans set out in performance management discussions.
Decision-making
Good managers are decisive. They can quickly size up a situation and reach the right conclusion about what should be done about it. To say of someone He or she is decisive is praise indeed, as long as the decisions are effective. To be decisive it is rst necessary to know something about the decision-making process as summarized in the following section. You should also be familiar with the techniques of problem-solving explained later in this chapter.
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It is at best a choice between almost right and probably wrong but much more often a choice between two courses of action neither of which is probably more nearly right than the other. You should not expect or even welcome a bland consensus view. The best decisions emerge from conicting viewpoints. This is Druckers rst law of decision-making: One does not make a decision without disagreements. You can benet from a clash of opinion as it prevents people falling into the trap of starting with the conclusion and then looking for the facts that support it. Alfred P Sloan of General Motors knew this. At a meeting of one of his top committees he said: Gentlemen, I take it we are all in agreement on the decision here. Everyone around the table nodded assent. Then, continued Mr Sloan, I propose we postpone further discussion of the matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.
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for judging whether they have been achieved, getting and analysing the facts, looking for causes rather than focusing on symptoms, developing and testing hypotheses and alternative solutions, and evaluating possible causes of action against the objectives and criteria. 8. Talk it through before you make a signicant decision talk it through with someone who is likely to disagree so that any challenge they make can be taken into account (but you have to canvass opinion swiftly). 9. Leave time to think it over swift decision-making is highly desirable but you must avoid knee-jerk reactions. Pause, if only for a few minutes, to allow yourself time to think through the decision you propose to make. Conrm that it is logical and fully justied. 10. Consider the potential consequences McKinsey, the management consultants, call this consequence management. Every decision has a consequence and you should consider very carefully what that might be and how you would manage it. When making a decision it is a good idea to start from where you mean to end dene the end result and then work out the steps needed to achieve it.
Delegating
You cant do everything yourself, so you have to delegate. It is one of the most important things managers do. At rst sight delegation looks simple. Just tell people what you want them to do and then let them get on with it. But there is more to it than that. It is not easy. It requires courage, patience and skill. And it is an aspect of your work in which you have more freedom of choice than in any other of your activities. What you choose to delegate, to whom and how, is almost entirely at your discretion. This section provides answers to the following questions about delegation: what is it? what are its advantages? what are the difculties? when do you delegate? how do you delegate?
What is delegation?
Delegation is not the same as handing out work. There are some things that your team members do that go with the territory. They are part of their normal duties and all you have to do is to dene what those duties are and allocate work accordingly.
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Delegation is different. It takes place when you deliberately give someone the authority to carry out a piece of work that you could have decided to keep and carry out yourself. Bear in mind that what you are doing is delegating authority to carry out a task and make the decisions this involves. You are still accountable for the results achieved. It is sometimes said that you cannot delegate responsibility, but this is misleading if responsibility is dened, as it usually is, as what people are expected to do their work, their tasks and their duties. What you cannot do is delegate accountability. In the last analysis you as the manager or team leader always carry the can. What managers have to do is to ensure that people have the authority to carry out their responsibilities. A trafc warden without the power to issue tickets would have to be exceedingly persuasive to have any chance of dealing with parking offences.
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managers are reluctant to delegate simply because they enjoy what they are doing and cannot bear the possibility of giving it away to anyone else.
Approaches to delegation
To a degree, overcoming these difculties is a matter of simply being aware of them and appreciating that if there any disadvantages, these are outweighed by the advantages. But adopting approaches to delegation such as those discussed in this section is the best way to deal with such difculties. You need to understand the process of delegation, when to delegate, what to delegate, how to choose people to whom you want to delegate, how to give out the work, and how to monitor performance.
manager gives manager empowers general directions individual to control to individual and own performance asks for feedback at the latters discretion
When to delegate
You should delegate when you: have more work than you can carry out yourself; cannot allow sufcient time to your priority tasks; want to develop a member of your team;
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believe that it will increase someones engagement with their job; think that the job can be done adequately by the individual or the team to whom you are delegating.
What to delegate
The tasks you delegate are ones that you dont need to do yourself. You are not just ridding yourself of the difcult, tedious or unrewarding tasks. Neither are you trying simply to win for yourself an easier life. In some ways delegation will make your life more difcult, but also more rewarding. You should delegate routine and repetitive tasks that you cannot reasonably be expected to do yourself as long as you use the time you have won productively. You can delegate specialist tasks to those who have the skills and know-how to do them. You cannot be expected to do it all yourself. Neither can you be expected to know it all yourself. You have to know how to select and use expertise. There will be no problem as long as you make it clear what you want from the experts and get them to present it to you in a useable way. As their manager, you should know what your specialists can do for you and you should be knowledgeable enough about the subject to understand whether or not what they produce is worth having. You delegate to a team when you ask people collectively to carry out a task that you previously did yourself and that you are condent they can do.
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do them. You may start by supervising them fairly closely, but you can progressively let go until they are nally working mainly on their own with only periodical checks on progress. If they get on well, their sense of responsibility and powers of judgement will increase and improve and they will acquire the additional skills and condence to justify your trust in their capacity to take on more demanding and responsible tasks.
You have to consider how much guidance will be required on how the work should be done. You dont want to give directions in such laborious detail that you run the risk of stiing initiative. Neither do you want to infuriate people by explaining everything needlessly. As long as you are reasonably certain that they will do the job to your satisfaction without embarrassing you or seriously upsetting people, exceeding the budget or breaking the law, let them get on with it. Follow Robert Hellers (1972) golden rule: If you cant do something yourself, nd someone who can and then let them get on with it in their own sweet way. You can make a distinction between hard and soft delegation. Hard delegation takes place when you tell someone exactly what to do and how to do it. You spell it out, conrm it in writing and make a note in your diary of the date when you expect the job to be completed. And then you follow up regularly. Soft delegation takes place when you agree generally what has to be done and leave the individual to get on with it. You still agree limits of authority, define the outcomes you expect, indicate how you will review progress and lay down when exception reports should be made. An exception report is one that only deals with events out of the ordinary. It is based on the principle of management by exception, which means focusing on the key events and measures that will show up good, bad or indifferent results the exceptions to the norm as a guide to taking action. This approach frees people to concentrate on the issues that matter.
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You should always delegate by the results you expect. When you are dealing with an experienced and capable person you dont need to specify how the results should be achieved. In the case of less experienced people you have to exercise judgement on the amount of guidance required. Newcomers with little or no experience will need plenty of guidance. They are on a learning curve, ie they are gradually acquiring the knowledge and skills they need to reach the required level of performance. You are responsible for seeing that they progress steadily up the learning curve, bearing in mind that everyone will be starting from a different point and learning at a different rate. It is during this period that you act as a coach or an instructor, helping people to learn and develop. Even if you do not need to specify how the results should be achieved, it is a good idea when the delegation involves getting someone to solve a problem to ask them how they propose to solve it.
Monitoring performance
Delegation is not abdication. You are still accountable for the results obtained by the members of your team collectively and individually. The extent to which you need to monitor performance and how you do so depends on the individuals concerned and the nature of the task. If individuals or the team as a whole are inexperienced generally or are being specically asked to undertake an unfamiliar task, you may at rst have to monitor performance carefully. But the sooner you can relax and watch progress informally the better. The ideal situation is when you are condent that the individual or team will deliver the results you want with the minimum of supervision. In such cases you may only ask for periodical exception reports. For a specic task or project, set target dates and keep a reminder of these in your diary so that you can check that they have been met. Dont allow people to become careless about meeting deadlines. Without becoming oppressive, you should ensure that progress and exception reports are made when required so that you can agree any necessary corrective action. You should have indicated the extent to which people have the authority to act without reference to you. They must therefore expect to be criticized if they exceed their brief or fail to keep you informed. You dont want any surprises and your people must understand that keeping you in the dark is unacceptable. Try to restrain yourself from interfering unnecessarily in the way the work is being done. After all, it is the results that count. Of course, you must step in if there is any danger of things going off the rails. Rash decisions, over-expenditure and ignoring dened and reasonable constraints must be prevented. There is a delicate balance to be achieved between hedging people around with restrictions, which may appear petty, and allowing them licence to do what they like. There are no absolute rules as to where this balance should be struck. Managing people is an art, not a science. But you should at least have some notion of what is appropriate based on your knowledge of the
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people concerned and the situation you are in. Its a judgement call but the judgement is based on a full understanding of the facts. The best delegators are those who have a comprehensive knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of their team members and of the circumstances in which they work. Above all, avoid river banking. This happens when a boss gives a subordinate a task that is more or less impossible to do. As the subordinate is going down for the third time, the boss can be observed in a remote and safe position on the river bank saying: Its easy, really; all you need to do is to try a bit harder.
Facilitating
Facilitation is dened in the Oxford English Dictionary as to make easy, promote, help move forward. Managers act as facilitators in relation to their team members when they make it easier for them to develop by promoting their skills and capabilities, thus helping them to move forward. Managers may also be involved in facilitating the work of groups of people assembled to carry out a task jointly.
Facilitating groups
A group facilitator is there to help the group reach conclusions in the shape of ideas and solutions. Facilitators do not exist to chair the meeting in the sense of controlling the discussion and pressurizing the group to agree to a course of action. The group is there to make up its own mind and the facilitator helps it to do so. The help is provided by asking questions that encourage the group members to think for themselves. These can be challenging and probing questions but the facilitator does not provide the answers that is the role of the group. Neither do facilitators allow their own opinions to intrude they are there to help the group marshal its opinions, not to enforce their own ideas. However, by using questioning techniques
carefully, facilitators can ensure that the group does thoroughly discuss and analyse the issues and reaches conclusions by consensus, rather than allowing anyone to dominate the process. Facilitators ensure that everyone has their say and that they are listened to. They step in quickly to defuse unproductive arguments. They see that the group denes and understands its objectives and any methodology they might use. They summarize from time to time the progress made in achieving the objectives without bringing their own views to bear. Facilitators are there to ensure that the group makes progress and does not get stuck in fruitless or disruptive argument. But they encourage the group rather than drive it forward.
Giving feedback
People need to be informed to be provided with feedback about how well they are doing in order to carry on doing it to good effect or to understand what they need to do to improve. They take action and then they learn through information that is fed back to them on how effective that action has been. Thus they complete the feedback loop by making any corrections to their behaviour on the basis of the information they have received. Ideally, feedback should be built into the job. Individuals should be able to keep track of what they are doing so that they can initiate speedy corrective action. But that is not always feasible and then the manager has the responsibility of providing the feedback. This can and should be done regularly, and especially after a particular task has been carried out or a project has been completed. But it can also be provided in more formal performance review meetings.
Aim of feedback
The aim of feedback is to provide information to people that will enable them to understand how well they have been doing and how effective their behaviour has been. Feedback should promote this understanding so that appropriate action can be taken. This can be corrective action where the feedback has indicated that something has gone wrong or, more positively, action can be taken to make the best use of the opportunities the feedback has revealed. In the latter case, feedback acts as a reinforcement, and positive feedback can be a powerful motivator because it is a recognition of achievement.
Giving feedback
Feedback should be based on facts, not subjective judgements. The following are some guidelines on giving feedback: Build feedback into the job. Individuals or teams should be able to nd out easily how they have done from the control information readily available to them. If it cannot be
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built into the job it should be provided as quickly as possible after the activity has taken place, ideally within a day or two. Provide feedback on actual events. Feedback should be provided on actual results or observed behaviour, not based on subjective opinion. Describe, dont judge. The feedback should be presented as a description of what has happened. It should not be accompanied by a judgement. Refer to specic behaviours. The feedback should be related to specic items of behaviour; it should not transmit general feelings or impressions. Ask questions rather than make statements: Why do you think this happened?, On reection, is there any other way in which you think you could have handled the situation?, What are the factors that inuenced you to make that decision? Get people to work things out for themselves. Encourage people to come to their own conclusions about what they should do or how they should behave. Ask questions such as: How do you think you should tackle this sort of problem in the future?, How do you feel you could avoid getting into this situation again? Select key issues and restrict the feedback to them. There is a limit to how much criticism anyone can take. If it is overdone, the shutters will go up and the discussion will get nowhere. Focus on aspects of performance that the individual can improve. It is a waste of time to concentrate on areas that they can do little or nothing about. Show understanding. If something has gone wrong, nd out if this has happened because of circumstances beyond the individuals control and indicate that this is understood.
Networking
Increasingly in todays more uid and exible organizations, people get things done by networking. Networks are loosely organized connections between people with shared interests. Networking takes place within them when people exchange information, enlist support and create alliances getting agreement with other people on a course of action and joining forces to make it happen. It occurs outside the usual formal communication channels. It is an essential way of getting things done in organizations it ensures that the informal organization works. Networks inside organizations are often uid and informal. They exist to meet a need and can be dispersed if that need no longer exists, only to be reformed when it reappears. Networks may just consist of people with similar aims or interests who communicate with one another or get together as required. Networks are sometimes set up formally in organizations, for example the communities of interest that are created to exchange and share knowledge and experience as part of a knowledge management programme. Networks can also exist outside the organization. Again, they may consist of like-minded individuals exchanging information and meeting informally, or they may be set up formally with regular meetings and newsletters. Here are 10 steps you can take to network effectively: 1. Identify people who may be able to help. 2. Seize any opportunity that presents itself to get to know people who may be useful. 3. Have a clear idea of why you want to network to share knowledge, to persuade people to accept your proposal or point of view, or to form an alliance. 4. Know what you can contribute networking is not simply about enlisting support, it is just as much if not more concerned with developing knowledge and understanding and joining forces with like-minded people so that concerted effort can be deployed to get things done. 5. Show interest if you engage with people and listen to them, they are more likely to want to network with you. 6. Ask people if you can help them as well as asking people to help you. 7. Put people in touch with one another. 8. Operate informally but be prepared to call formal meetings when necessary to reach agreement and plan action. 9. Make an effort to keep in touch with people. 10. Follow up check with members of the network on progress in achieving something, refer back to conversations you have had, discuss with others how the network might be developed or extended to increase its effectiveness.
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Problem-solving
Peter Drucker (1967) wrote that In every area of effectiveness within an organization, one feeds the opportunity and starves the problem. It is indeed often said that there are no problems, only opportunities. This is not universally true of course, but it does emphasize the point that a problem should lead to positive thinking about what is to be done now. It is not the time for recriminations. If a mistake has been made, the reasons for it should be analysed so that it does not happen again. The following are 10 steps for effective problem-solving: 1. Dene the situation establish what has gone wrong or is potentially going to go wrong. 2. Specify objectives dene what is to be achieved now or in the future to deal with an actual or potential problem or a change in circumstances. 3. Develop hypotheses come up with theories about what has caused the problem. 4. Get the facts nd out what has actually happened and contrast this with an assessment of what ought to have happened. Obtain information about internal or external constraints that affect the situation. However, remember what Nietzsche (1883) wrote: There are no facts, only interpretations. Try to understand the attitudes and motivation of those concerned. Remember that people will see what has happened in terms of their own position and feelings (their framework of reference). 5. Analyse the facts determine what is relevant and what is irrelevant. Diagnose the likely cause or causes of the problem. Do not be tempted to focus on symptoms rather than root causes. Test any assumptions. Dig into what lies behind the problem. 6. Identify possible courses of action spell out what each involves. 7. Evaluate alternative courses of action assess the extent to which they are likely to achieve the objectives, the cost of implementation, any practical difculties that might emerge and the possible reactions of stakeholders. 8. Weigh and decide determine which alternative is likely to result in the most practical and acceptable solution to the problem. This is often a balanced judgement. 9. Plan implementation timetable, project management, and resources required. 10. Implement monitor progress and evaluate success. Remember that a problem has not been solved until the decision has been implemented. Always work out the solution to a problem with implementation in mind.
References
Drucker, P (1967) The Effective Executive, Heinemann, London Gowers, Sir E (1987) The Complete Plain Words, Penguin, London Heller, R (1972) The Naked Manager, Barrie & Jenkins, London Nietzsche, F (1883) Also Sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch fr Alle und Keinen, Penguin Books (translated 1974), Harmondsworth
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9
Managing Systems and Processes
Process and procedure are the last hiding place of people without the wit or wisdom to do their job properly. The Ofce, BBC
This chapter deals with an important aspect of managerial activities, namely the management of the systems and processes that exist in organizations to get work done. A system consists of formally interconnected activities that are managed together to achieve certain dened ends. A process is a series of operations that are carried out in order to produce something, provide a service or carry out a complex task. In this chapter, the rst two sections examine the approach to managing systems and processes. Examples are then given of system and process management. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the conict and challenges that managing systems and processes presents. One word of warning: as the quotation at the head of this chapter implies, processes and procedures (which could be extended to systems) are only as effective as the people who operate them and do not replace good management and leadership.
Managing systems
Systems can be complex and when managing them it is necessary to know how each part of the system contributes to the whole result. It is then essential to see that the different parts of the system work smoothly together so that each contributes to satisfactory performance. Complications arise when the parts do not t together. The design and development of systems has to be based on a thorough analysis of requirements, with close attention being paid to who will use it and how the system will perform in different circumstances.
Systems need to be maintained and updated to ensure that they continue to function effectively and deliver the required results. Their performance has to be monitored and corrective action taken as necessary. The purpose of the system has to be explained to those who use it and people will have to be trained in its operation.
Managing processes
The management of processes starts with process denition. This involves specifying what the process is, how it operates, and what results it is expected to achieve in terms of output levels or levels of service, speed of operation, quality standards and cost. The process specication denes the process and sets out its inputs and outputs and the internal and external customers it serves. It is necessary to clarify the inputs required at each stage. Flow charts are produced to represent diagrammatically the events and stages of the process with a view to dening how it functions and allocating responsibilities for its operation and management. Managing the process involves ensuring that the resources (in the form of facilities and equipment) required are available and trained and capable people are there to operate the process. The technique of process capability analysis may be used to examine variables in the process to establish the extent to which it is doing the job properly, and if it is not, what should be done about it. Control information needs to be generated in order to monitor the performance of the process and the people who operate it. This will allow analysis of variations as a basis for further investigation.
Information technology
Managing an IT system involves in the rst place planning the system, analysing and agreeing user requirements, and specifying how the system will meet them. Processors, operating systems and software have to be obtained and networks and databases developed, installed and maintained. Outsourcing to application service providers who run applications at their own data centres will need to be considered. Managing an IT system within an organization means delivering to internal customers the information processing services they require. This involves managing support services which, as dened by the British Computer Society, means that the IT department must:
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establish the level of support that may reasonably be expected and provide the tools, documentation and suitably trained staff needed to meet this expectation; respond swiftly to support requests and satisfy internal customers that their needs are being met; identify to internal customers any changes to business procedures that will improve the efciency of the service provided; keep internal customers informed of the steps being taken to maintain agreed service levels; maintain records of the services provided and take the actions needed to achieve target service levels.
Reward systems
A reward system is an example of a different type of system. It is designed and operated to achieve the reward management objectives of an organization. The elements and interrelationships in a reward system are illustrated in Figure 9.1. The task of reward management is to ensure that all these elements are properly provided for, that they operate effectively in relation to one another, and that the system achieves the reward objectives of the organization.
Computer-integrated manufacturing
A computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) system uses information technology to integrate the various processes that together comprise the total manufacturing process. These processes can include design, production engineering, production planning and control, production scheduling, material requirement planning, manufacturing, material handling and inventory control. Such a system is illustrated in Figure 9.2.
job evaluation
contingent pay business and HR Strategy reward strategy employee benefits total remuneration
total reward
allowances
performance management
non-financial rewards
Figure 9.1 A reward management system Problems with the management of systems and processes occur if: their design does not take sufcient account of user needs and is not user-friendly; they no longer serve their original purpose; their managers pay insufcient attention to developing them to meet new demands; support from technicians is inadequate; line managers nd them difcult to use; they rely heavily on a computer system that is prone to failures; they are clumsy, time-consuming or wasteful.
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computerized production planning and control master production schedule materials/manufacturing requirements planning capacity planning inventory control
computer-aided process planning process planning computer numerical control programming robot programming
computer-aided manufacturing computer numerical control robot control material handling systems control manufacturing computer numerical control robots assembly materials handling
purchasing
stock
dispatch
quality assurance
All of these problems can be resolved if sufcient care is taken over the design and maintenance of the system or process and if proper training and support is given to users.
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Managing Health and Safety
Managing health and safety is little different from managing any other aspect of your business. You need to do a risk assessment to nd out about the risks in your workplace, put sensible measures in place to control them, and make sure they stay controlled. Health and Safety Executive (2006) Introduction to Health and Safety
The management of health and safety in the working environment is a corporate responsibility and many organizations have qualied staff to deal with it. But it is also very much the concern of individual managers who have to ensure that there is a healthy and safe system of work in their areas and that the people in their departments adhere to the organizations health and safety policies and procedures. This applies just as much for those working in ofces, shops and laboratories as for those on the factory oor, in distribution centres or involved in transport. Health and safety policies and procedures are concerned with protecting employees and other people affected by what the company produces and does against the hazards arising from their employment or their links with the company. Occupational health programmes deal with the prevention of ill health arising from working conditions. They consist of two elements: occupational medicine, which is a specialized branch of preventive medicine concerned with the diagnosis and prevention of health hazards at work, and dealing with any ill health or stress that has occurred in spite of preventive actions; occupational hygiene, which is the province of the chemist and the engineer or ergonomist engaged in the measurement and control of environmental hazards.
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Safety programmes deal with the prevention of accidents and with minimizing the resulting loss and damage to persons and property. They relate more to systems of work than the working environment, but both health and safety programmes are concerned with protection against hazards, and their aims and methods are clearly interlinked.
The policy statement should consist of three parts: the general policy statement; a description of the organization for health and safety; details of arrangements for implementing the policy.
Organization
This section of the policy statement should describe the health and safety organization of the business, through which high standards are set and achieved by people at all levels in the organization. This statement should underline the ultimate responsibility of top management for the health and safety performance of the organization. It should then indicate how key management personnel are held accountable for performance in their areas. The role of safety representatives and safety committees should be dened, and the duties of specialists such as the safety advisor and the medical ofcer should be summarized.
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The purpose of risk assessments is to initiate preventive action. They enable control measures to be devised on the basis of an understanding of the relative importance of risks.
Most accidents are caused by a few key activities. Risk assessments should concentrate initially on those that could cause serious harm. Operations such as roof work, maintenance and transport movement cause far more deaths and injuries each year than many mainstream activities. When carrying out a risk assessment it is also necessary to consider who might be harmed, eg employees or visitors (including cleaners and contractors and the public when calling in to buy products or enlist services).
Taking action
Risk assessment should lead to action. The type of action can be ranked in order of potential effectiveness in the form of a safety precedence sequence: Hazard elimination use of alternatives, design improvements, change of process. Substitution for example replacement of a chemical with one that is less risky. Use of barriers removing the hazard from the worker or removing the worker from the hazard. Use of procedures limitation of exposure, dilution of exposure, safe systems of work (these depend on human response). Use of warning systems signs, instructions, labels (these also depend on human response). Use of personal protective clothing this depends on human response and is used as a side measure only when all other options have been exhausted.
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Policies
Do health and safety policies meet legal requirements? Are senior managers committed to health and safety? How committed are other managers, team leaders and supervisors to health and safety? Is there a health and safety committee? If not, why not? How effective is the committee in getting things done?
Procedures
How effectively do the procedures: support the implementation of health and safety policies? communicate the need for good health and safety practices? provide for systematic risk assessments? ensure that accidents are investigated thoroughly? record data on health and safety that is used to evaluate performance and initiate action? ensure that health and safety considerations are given proper weight when designing systems of work or manufacturing and operational processes (including the design of equipment and work stations, the specication for products or services, and the use of materials)?
provide safety training, especially induction training and training when jobs or working methods are changed?
Safety practices
To what extent do health and safety practices in all areas of the organization conform to the general requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the specic requirements of the various regulations and Codes of Practice? What risk assessments have been carried out? What were the ndings? What actions were taken? What is the health and safety performance of the organization as shown by the performance indicators? Is the trend positive or negative? If the latter, what is being done about it? How thoroughly are accidents investigated? What steps have been taken to prevent their recurrence? What is the evidence that managers and supervisors are really concerned about health and safety?
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dene the frequency with which inspections should be carried out daily in critical areas; use the checklists as the basis for the inspection; carry out sample or spot checks on a random basis; carry out special investigations as necessary to deal with special problems such as operating machinery without guards to increase throughput; set up a reporting system (a form should be used for recording the results of inspections); set up a system to monitor whether health and safety inspections are being conducted properly and on schedule and whether corrective action is taken where necessary.
Accident prevention
The prevention of accidents is achieved by: identifying the causes of accidents and the conditions under which they are most likely to occur; taking account of safety factors at the design stage building safety into the system; designing safety equipment and protective devices and providing protective clothing; carrying out regular risk assessments, audits, inspections and checks and taking action to eliminate risks; investigating all accidents resulting in damage to establish the cause and to initiate corrective action;
maintaining good records and statistics in order to identify problem areas and unsatisfactory trends; conducting a continuous programme of education and training on safe working habits and methods of avoiding accidents.
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maintaining preventive medicine programmes that develop health standards for each job and involve regular audits of potential health hazards and regular examinations for anyone at risk.
Particular attention needs to be paid to the control of noise, fatigue and stress. The management and control of stress a major health problem should be regarded as a key part of any occupational health programme.
Managing stress
There are four main reasons why organizations should take account of stress and do something about it: rst, because they have a social responsibility to provide a good quality of working life; second, because excessive stress causes illness; third, because it can result in inability to cope with the demands of the job, which creates more stress; and nally, because excessive stress can reduce employee effectiveness and therefore organizational performance. The ways in which stress can be managed by an organization include: job design clarifying roles, reducing the danger of role ambiguity and conict, and giving people more autonomy within a dened structure to manage their responsibilities; targets and performance standards setting reasonable and achievable targets that may stretch people but do not place impossible burdens on them; placement taking care to place people in jobs that are within their capabilities; career development planning careers and promoting staff in accordance with their capabilities, taking care not to over- or under-promote; performance management processes, which allow a dialogue to take place between managers and individuals about the latters work problems and ambitions; counselling giving individuals the opportunity to talk about their problems with a member of the HR department, or through an employee assistance programme; anti-bullying campaigns bullying at work is a major cause of stress; management training in what managers can do to alleviate their own stress and reduce it in others.
and implements health and safety policies and ensures that procedures for carrying out risk assessments, safety audits and inspections are implemented. Importantly, management has the duty of monitoring and evaluating health and safety performance and taking corrective action as necessary. Managers can exert a greater inuence on health and safety. They are in immediate control and it is up to them to keep a constant watch for unsafe conditions or practices and to take immediate action. They are also directly responsible for ensuring that employees are conscious of health and safety hazards and do not take risks.
References
Health and Safety Executive (2002) Annual Report, HSE, London Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (2008) Annual Report, RoSPA, London
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Self-development
Self-development of the effective executive is central to the development of the organization. Peter Drucker (1967) The Effective Executive, Heinemann, London
As Peter Drucker (1955) also wisely said: Development is always self-development. Nothing could be more absurd than for the enterprise to assume responsibility for the development of a person. The responsibility rests with individuals, their abilities, their efforts. This chapter expands on this statement by examining the processes of selfdevelopment and self-managed learning, discussing the use of personal development plans and examining the various ways in which organizations can help people to develop. The chapter concludes with comments on self-management strategies and the evaluation of ones own performance.
Self-managed learning
The case for self-managed or self-directed learning is that people learn and retain more if they nd things out for themselves. But they may still need to be helped to identify what they should look for. Self-managed learning is about self-development and this will be furthered by self-assessment (evaluating the impact of your own performance), which leads to better selfunderstanding. Pedler and his co-writers (1986) recommend the following four-stage approach: Self-assessment based on analysis by individuals of their work and life situation. Diagnosis derived from the analysis of learning needs and priorities. Action planning to identify objectives, helps and hindrances, resources required (including people) and timescales. Monitoring and review to assess progress in achieving action plans.
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seeing what others do (good practice); project work; networking discussing management issues with other people and learning from them in the process. Organizations concerned with knowledge management (enhancing the availability and effective use of knowledge relevant to the organization) may set up communities of interest, which formalize networks by bringing people together to discuss ideas and enhance knowledge; involvement in other work areas; input to policy formulation; special assignments.
Coaching
Coaching, as described in detail in Chapter 8, is a person-to-person technique designed to develop individual skills, knowledge and attitudes. It can take place informally as part of the normal process of management or team leadership. This type of coaching consists of: helping people to become aware of how well they are doing and what they need to learn; controlled delegation; using whatever situations arise as learning opportunities; providing guidance on how to carry out specic tasks as necessary, but always on the basis of helping individuals to learn rather than force-feeding them with instructions on what to do and how to do it.
Executive coaching can be provided by specialist consultants. They usually concentrate on helping people to develop more productive ways of behaving and to change dysfunctional management styles. Coaching is often based on the information provided by personality questionnaires such as the Myers-Briggs Types Indicator.
Mentoring
Mentoring is the process of using specially selected and trained individuals to provide guidance and advice that will help to develop the careers of the people allocated to them (sometimes called protgs). Mentoring is aimed at complementing learning on the job, which must always be the best way of acquiring the particular skills and knowledge the job holder needs. Mentoring also complements formal training by providing those who benet from it with individual guidance from experienced managers who are wise in the ways of the organization. Mentors provide for the person or persons assigned to them: advice in drawing up self-development programmes or learning contracts; general help with learning programmes; guidance on how to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to do a new job; advice on dealing with any administrative, technical or people problems individuals meet, especially in the early stages of their careers; information on the way things are done around here the corporate culture and its manifestations in the shape of core values and organizational behaviour (management style);
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coaching in specic skills; help in tackling projects not by doing it for people but by pointing them in the right direction, that is, helping people to help themselves; a parental gure with whom the people they are dealing with can discuss their aspirations and concerns and who will lend a sympathetic ear to their problems.
There are no standard mentoring procedures. Typically, however, a mentor is allocated one or more people and given a very general brief to carry out the functions described above, having been carefully trained in mentoring techniques.
Action learning
Action learning, as developed by Revans (1989), is a method of helping managers develop their talents by exposing them to real problems. They are required to analyse the problems, formulate recommendations, and then take action. It accords with the belief that managers learn best by doing rather than being taught. Revans produced the following formula to describe his concept: L (learning) = P (programmed learning) + Q (questioning, insight) He suggested that the concept is based on six assumptions: 1. Experienced managers have a huge curiosity to know how other managers work. 2. We dont learn as much when we are motivated to learn as when we are motivated to learn something. 3. Learning about oneself is threatening and is resisted if it tends to change ones self-image. However, it is possible to reduce the external threat to a level that no longer acts as a total barrier to learning about oneself. 4. People learn only when they do something, and they learn more the more responsible they feel the task to be. 5. Learning is deepest when it involves the whole person mind, values, body, emotions. 6. The learner knows better than anyone else what they have learnt. A typical action learning programme brings together a set or group of four or ve managers to solve a real problem. They help and learn from each other, but an external consultant, or set advisor, sits in with them regularly. The project may last several months, and the set meets frequently, possibly one day a week. The advisor helps the members of the set to learn from one another and claries the process of action learning. This process involves change embedded in
the web of relationships called the client system. The web comprises at least three separate networks: the power network; the information network; and the motivational network (this is what Revans refers to as who can, who knows, and who cares). The forces for change are already there within the client system and it is the advisors role to point out the dynamics of this system as the work of diagnosis and implementation proceeds. The set has to manage the project like any other project, deciding on objectives, planning resources, initiating action and monitoring progress. But all the time, with the help of their advisor, they are learning about the management processes involved as they actually happen.
Self-management strategies
Self-management strategies should be based on self-assessment, which means assessing your own performance and identifying how you can improve. To assess your own performance you need to: 1. Ensure that you are clear about what your job entails in terms of the main tasks or key result areas. If in doubt, ask your manager for clarication. 2. Find out what you are expected to achieve for each of the key result areas. Expectations should be denable as objectives in the form of quantied targets or standards of performance (qualitative statements of what constitutes effective performance). Ideally they should have been discussed and agreed as part of the performance appraisal/management process, but if this has not happened, ask your manager to spell out what they expect you to achieve. 3. Refer to the organizations competency framework. Discuss with your manager how they interpret this as far as you are concerned. 4. At fairly regular intervals, say once a month, review your progress by reference to the objectives, standards and competency headings. Take note of your achievements and, if they exist, your failures. Ask yourself why you were successful or unsuccessful and what you can do to build on success or overcome failure. You may identify actions you can take or specic changes in behaviour you can try to achieve. Or you may identify a need for further coaching, training or experience. 5. At the end of the review period and prior to the appraisal discussion with your manager, look back at each of your interim reviews and the actions you decided to take. Consider what more needs to be done in any specic area or generally. You will then be in a position to answer the following questions that might be posed by your manager before or during the appraisal discussion: How do you feel you have done?
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What are you best at doing? Are there any parts of your job that you nd difcult? Are there any aspects of your work in which you would benet from better guidance or further training?
Self-management strategies can be derived from this assessment, which should identify specic areas for development or improvement. The strategies can be based on the following 10 steps, which you can take to develop yourself: 1. Create a development log record your plans and action. 2. State your objectives the career path you want to follow and the skills you will need to proceed along that path. 3. Develop a personal prole what sort of person you are, your likes and dislikes about work, your aspirations. 4. List your strengths and weaknesses what you are good and not so good at doing. 5. List your achievements what you have done well so far and why you believe these were worthwhile achievements. 6. List signicant learning experiences recall events where you have learnt something worthwhile (this can help you to understand your learning style). 7. Ask other people about your strengths and weaknesses and what you should do to develop yourself. 8. Focus on the present what is happening to you now: your job, your current skills, your short-term development needs. 9. Focus on the future where you want to be in the longer term and how you are going to get there (including a list of the skills and abilities you need to develop). 10. Plan your self-development strategy how you are going to achieve your ambitions.
References
Drucker, P (1955) The Practice of Management, Heinemann, London Drucker, P (1967) The Effective Executive, Heinemann, London Pedler, M, Burgoyne J and Boydell, T (1986) A Managers Guide to Self Development, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead Revans, R W (1989) Action Learning, Blond and Briggs, London
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Part III
Organizations
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Understanding Organizations
Organization structure is more than boxes on a chart; it is a pattern of interactions and coordination that links the technology, tasks and human components of the organization to ensure that the organization accomplishes its purpose. Duncan, R B (1979) What is the right organization structure? Organization Dynamics, 7 (3), p 429
Managers get results within the context of the organization in which they work. It is therefore necessary to understand how organizations function and the processes involved. This chapter covers: denitions of what an organization is and the process of organizing; how organizations function; organization structure; types of organization; the concept of organizational culture; the various processes that take place in organizations group behaviour, interaction and networking, power, politics and conict; the role of organizational policies.
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The socio-technical model Emery (1959) and his Tavistock Institute colleagues proposed that in any system of organization, technical or task aspects are interrelated with the human or social aspects. The contingency school in the 1960s Burns and Stalker (1961), Woodward (1965) and Lawrence and Lorsch (1969) analysed a variety of organizations and concluded that organization structures and methods of operation are a function of the circumstances in which they exist.
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Managers are beginning to deal with their organizations in different ways. Rather than seeing them as a hierarchy of static roles, they think of them as a portfolio of dynamic processes. They see core organizational processes that overlay and often dominate the vertical, authority-based processes of the hierarchical structure.
Organization structure
All organizations have some form of structure the framework for getting things done. As dened by Child (1977), organizations structures consist of all the tangible and regularly occurring features which help to shape their members behaviour. Structures incorporate a network of roles and relationships and are there to help in the process of ensuring that collective effort is explicitly organized to achieve specied ends. Organizations vary in their complexity, but it is necessary to divide the overall management task into a variety of activities, to allocate these activities to the different parts of the organization and to establish means of controlling, coordinating and integrating them. The formal structure of an organization consists of units, functions, divisions, departments and formally constituted work teams into which activities related to particular processes, projects, products, markets, customers, geographical areas or professional disciplines are grouped together. This structure indicates who is accountable for directing, coordinating and carrying out these activities and denes management hierarchies the chain of command thus spelling out, broadly, who is responsible to whom and for what at each level in the organization. However, there are many different types of structures, as described later in this chapter.
Organization charts
Structures are usually described in the form of an organization chart (deplorably, sometimes called an organogram, especially in UK government circles). This places individuals in boxes that denote their job and their position in the hierarchy and traces the direct lines of authority (command and control) through the management hierarchies. Organization charts are vertical in their nature and therefore misrepresent reality. They do not give any indication of the horizontal and diagonal relationships that exist within the framework between people in different units or departments, and do not recognize the fact that within any one hierarchy, commands and control information do not travel all the way down and up the structure as the chart implies. In practice, information jumps (especially computergenerated information) and managers or team leaders will interact with people at levels below those immediately beneath them.
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Organization charts have their uses as a means of dening simplistically who does what and hierarchical lines of authority. But even if backed up by organization manuals (which no one reads and which are, in any case, out of date as soon as they are produced), they cannot convey how the organization really works. They may, for example, lead to denitions of jobs what people are expected to do but they cannot convey the roles these people carry out in the organization; the parts they play in interacting with others and the ways in which, like actors, they interpret the parts they are given.
Types of organization
Mintzberg (1983) produced an original analysis of organizations as: 1. Simple structures, which are dominated by the top of the organization, with centralized decision-making. 2. Machine bureaucracy, which is characterized by the standardization of work processes and extensive reliance on systems. 3. Professional bureaucracy, where the standardization of skills provides the prime coordinating mechanism. 4. Divisionalized structures, in which authority is drawn down from the top and activities are grouped together into units that are then managed according to their standardized outputs. 5. Adhocracies, where power is decentralized selectively to constellations of work that are free to coordinate within and between themselves by mutual adjustments. Organizations can also be categorized as follows.
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Unitary structures
Unitary structures are those that exist as single and separate units that have not been subdivided into divisions. In such structures the heads of each major function usually report directly to the top, although organizations may differ in dening what these key functions are. A unitary structure is illustrated in Figure 12.1.
Chief Executive
Operations
Marketing
Finance
HR
Figure 12.1 A unitary organization structure This is the most common structure. It is simple and relationships are clearly dened. However, there is an ever-present risk of lack of cooperation between functions or departments, and to avoid this, the chief executive has a key role in coordinating as well as directing activities.
Centralized structures
A centralized structure is one where authority is located at the centre, which exercises total control over the activities and decisions of any divisions, subsidiaries or regionalized units. This control is exercised by authority emanating from headquarters. This denes policies, procedures, targets and budgets, which have to be followed and achieved. A centralized structure is illustrated in Figure 12.2. In a centralized structure close control is maintained over divisional activities, standardized procedures and systems are used, and guidance is provided by functional specialists at headquarters. The disadvantage is that centralization restricts the scope of divisional management to handle their own affairs in the light of local knowledge, and the lack of autonomy in divisions can constrain initiative and entrepreneurship.
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Corporate office
HR
Finance
Marketing
Technical
Division
Operations
HR
Finance
Marketing
Technical
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Corporate Office
Finance
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Division A
Division B
Division C
Matrix organizations
A matrix organization is a functional structure consisting of a number of different disciplines or functions overlaid by a project structure consisting of project teams drawn from the disciplines. Thus an employee can be a member of a discipline and of a project team and so have two reporting relationships. Matrix organizations are project-based. Development, design or construction projects will be controlled by project directors or managers or, in the case of a consultancy, assignments will be conducted by project leaders. Project managers will have no permanent staff except, possibly, some administrative support. They will draw the members of their project teams from discipline groups, each of which will be headed up by a director or manager who is responsible on a continuing basis for resourcing the group, developing and managing its members and ensuring that they are assigned as fully as possible to project teams. These individuals are assigned to a project team and they will be responsible to the team leader for delivering the required results, but they will continue to be accountable generally to the head of their discipline for their overall performance and contribution. The most typical form of matrix organization is a large multi-discipline consultancy. A matrix organization is illustrated in Figure 12.4.
Disciplines A 1 Project teams 2 3 4 B C D
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Flexible organizations
Flexible organizations may conform broadly to the Mintzberg (1983) category of an adhocracy in the sense that they are capable of quickly adapting to new demands and operate uidly. The exible rm is one in which there is structural, functional and numerical exibility. The concept originated in the work of Doeringer and Priore (1971) and Loveridge and Mok (1979) but was popularized by Atkinson (1984). Structural exibility is present when the core of permanent employees is supplemented by a peripheral group of part-time employees, employees on short- or xed-term contracts (for example interim managers who are appointed to ll in for a manager over a limited period of time) or subcontracted workers. This is often called a core-periphery organization. Functional exibility exists when employees can be redeployed quickly and smoothly between activities and tasks. It may require multi-skilling (workers who possess and can apply a number of skills, for example both mechanical and electrical engineering) or multi-tasking (workers who carry out a number of different tasks, for example in a work team). Numerical exibility happens when the numbers of employees can be quickly and easily increased or decreased in line with even short-term changes in the level of demand for labour. The shamrock organization was the term used by Charles Handy (1985) for a core-periphery structure. As he put it: The core will be composed of well-qualied people, professionals, technicians or managers. They get most of their identity and purpose from their work. They are the organization and are likely to be both committed to it and dependent on it. In contrast, what Handy calls the contractual fringe will be made up of both individuals and organizations. The individuals will be self-employed professionals or technicians, many of them past employees of the central organization who preferred the freedom of self-employment. The core and the contractual fringe compose two leaves of the shamrock; the third leaf consists of the exible labour force who carry out part-time or temporary work. Atkinson (1984) suggested that the growth of the exible rm has involved the break-up of the labour force into increasingly peripheral (and therefore numerically exible) groups of workers clustered around a numerically stable core group that will conduct the organizations key, rm-specic activities. At the core, the focus is on functional exibility. Shifting to the periphery, numerical exibility becomes more important. As the market grows, the periphery expands to take up slack; as growth slows, the periphery contracts. At the core, only tasks and responsibilities change; the workers here are insulated from medium-term uctuations in the market and can therefore enjoy a measure of job security, whereas those in the periphery are exposed to them.
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In a process-based organization there may still be designated functions for, say, manufacturing, sales and distribution. But the emphasis will be on how these areas work together on multi-functional projects to deal with new demands such as product/market development. Teams will jointly consider ways of responding to customer requirements. Quality and continuous improvement will be regarded as a common responsibility shared between managers and staff from each function. The overriding objective will be to maintain a smooth ow of work between functions and to achieve synergy by pooling resources from different functions in task forces or project teams.
Organizational culture
Organizational or corporate culture is the pattern of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions that may not have been articulated but that shape the ways in which people in organizations behave and things get done. It can be expressed through the medium of a prevailing management style in the organization. It is often described as the way we do things around here. As Furnham and Gunter (1993) point out:
Culture represents the social glue and generates a we-feeling, thus counteracting processes of differentiation which are an unavoidable part of organizational life. Organizational culture offers a shared system of meanings which is the basis for communications and mutual understanding. If these functions are not fullled in a satisfactory way, culture may signicantly reduce the efciency of an organization.
Values
Values are beliefs in what is best or good for the organization and what should or ought to happen. The value set of an organization may only be recognized at top level, or it may be shared throughout the business, in which case it could be described as value driven. The stronger the values, the more they will inuence behaviour. This does not depend upon their having been articulated. Implicit values that are deeply embedded in the culture of an organization and are reinforced by the behaviour of management can be highly inuential, while espoused values that are idealistic and are not reected in managerial behaviour may have little or no effect. When values are acted on they are called values in use.
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Some of the most typical areas in which values can be expressed, implicitly or explicitly, are: performance; competence; competitiveness; innovation; quality; customer service; teamwork; care and consideration for people.
Values are translated into reality through norms and artefacts as described in the following sections. They may also be expressed through the media of language (organizational jargon), rituals, stories and myths.
Norms
Norms are the unwritten rules of behaviour, the rules of the game, which provide informal guidelines on how to behave. Norms tell people what they are supposed to be doing, saying, believing, even wearing. They are never expressed in writing if they were, they would be policies or procedures. They are passed on by word of mouth or behaviour and can be enforced by the reactions of people if they are violated. They can exert very powerful pressure on behaviour because of these reactions we control others by the way we react to them. Norms refer to such aspects of behaviour as: how managers treat the members of their teams (management style) and how the latter relate to their managers; the prevailing work ethic, eg work hard, play hard, come in early, stay late, if you cannot nish your work during business hours you are obviously inefcient, look busy at all times, look relaxed at all times; status how much importance is attached to it; the existence or lack of obvious status symbols; ambition naked ambition is expected and approved of, or a more subtle approach is the norm; performance exacting performance standards are general; the highest praise that can be given in the organization is to be referred to as very professional.
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Artefacts
Artefacts are the visible and tangible aspects of an organization that people hear, see or feel and that contribute to their understanding of the organizations culture. Artefacts can include such things as the working environment, the tone and language used in e-mails, letters or memoranda, the manner in which people address each other at meetings or over the telephone, the welcome (or lack of welcome) given to visitors, and the way in which telephonists deal with outside calls. Artefacts can be very revealing.
Management style
Management style is the approach used by managers to manage other people. The concept of management style is associated with that of leadership style as described in Chapter 3. To varying degrees management style can be autocratic or democratic, enabling or controlling, transactional or transformational. Although individual managers have their own management style, the organizational culture may foster a prevailing management style that is widely adopted.
Harrison
Harrison (1972) categorized what he called organization ideologies. These are: Power-orientated competitive, responsive to personality rather than expertise. People-orientated consensual, management control rejected. Task-orientated focus on competency, dynamic. Role-orientated focus on legality, legitimacy and bureaucracy.
Handy
Handy (1976) based his typology on Harrisons classication, although Handy preferred the word culture to ideology as culture conveyed more of the feeling of a pervasive way of life or set of norms. His four types of culture were: 1. The power culture, in which a central power source exercises control. There are few rules or procedures and the atmosphere is competitive, power-orientated and political.
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2. The role culture, in which work is controlled by procedures and rules and the role, or job description, is more important than the person who lls it. Power is associated with positions not people. 3. The task culture, in which the aim is to bring together the right people and let them get on with it. Inuence is based more on expert power than position or personal power. The culture is adaptable and teamwork is important. 4. The person culture, in which the individual is the central point. The organization exists only to serve and assist the individuals in it.
Appropriate cultures
As described by Furnham and Gunter (1993), a good culture is consistent in its components and shared amongst organizational members, and it makes the organization unique, thus differentiating it from other organizations. It is said that such a culture exerts a positive inuence on organizational behaviour and helps to create a high-performance culture, one that will produce a high level of business performance. However, a high-performance culture simply means any culture that will produce a high level of business performance. The attributes of cultures vary tremendously by context. The qualities of a high-performance culture for an established retail chain, a growing service business and a consumer products company that is losing market share may be very different. Cultures may vary in different organizational functions, for example manufacturing and marketing. Furthermore, in addition to context differences, all cultures evolve over time. Cultures that are good in one set of circumstances or period of time may be dysfunctional in different circumstances or different times. Because culture is developed and manifests itself in different ways in different organizations, it is not possible to say that one culture is better than another, only that it is dissimilar in certain ways. There is no such thing as an ideal culture, only an appropriate culture. This means that there can be no universal prescription for managing culture, though there are certain approaches that can be helpful, as described in the next section.
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Organizational processes
The ways in which organizations function are expressed through their cultures and through the various associated processes described in this section.
Group behaviour
Organizations consist of groups of people working together. Groups or teams may be set up as part of the structure or they may be informal gatherings. Interactions take place within and between groups and the degree to which these processes are formalized varies according to the organizational context.
Formal groups
Formal groups are groups of people who are set up as formally constituted teams to carry out dened tasks. A system exists for directing, coordinating and controlling the groups activities. The structure, composition and size of the group will depend largely on the nature of the task; although tradition, organizational culture and management style may exert considerable inuence. The more routine or clearly dened the task is, the more structured the group will be. In a highly structured group the leader will have a positive role and may well adopt an authoritarian style. The role of each member of the group will be precise and a hierarchy of authority is likely to exist. The more ambiguous the task, the more difcult it will be to structure the group. The leaders role is then more likely to be supportive they will tend to concentrate on encouragement and coordination rather than on issuing orders. The group will operate in a more democratic way and individual roles will be uid and less clearly dened.
Informal groups
Informal groups are set up by people in organizations who have some afnity for one another. It could be said that formal groups satisfy the needs of the organization, while informal groups satisfy the needs of its members.
Group processes
Group processes include: the ways in which people in groups interact and behave with each other and with people outside the group; ideology of the group its values and norms, which affect the behaviour of its members;
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cohesion a cohesive group will share a common ideology and its members will identify closely with it because they, like the other members, approve of the purpose and work of the group and wish to be associated with the standing of the group in the organization.
Power
Organizations exist to get things done, and in the process of doing this, people or groups exercise power. Directly or indirectly, the use of power in inuencing behaviour is a pervading feature of organizations, whether it is exerted by managers, specialists, informal groups or trade union ofcials. According to Nietzsche (1883) power has crooked legs, and Marks et al (2006) propose that power is the central concept in management, as the disinclination to talk about it suggests. Power is the capacity to secure the dominance of ones goals or values on others and thus obtain compliance. It can, of course, be misused but it is a fact of life in all organizations and its role needs to be understood. Four different types of power have been identied by French and Raven (1959): 1. Reward power derived from the belief of individuals that compliance brings rewards; the ability to distribute rewards contributes considerably to an executives power. 2. Coercive power making it plain that non-compliance will bring punishment. 3. Expert power exercised by people who are popular or admired and with whom the less powerful can identify. 4. Legitimized power power conferred by the position in an organization held by an executive. John Kotter (1977) interviewed over 250 managers who were in a position to use power. He found that the successful ones had the following characteristics:
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1. They use power openly and legitimately. They are seen as genuine experts in their eld and constantly live up to the leadership images they build for themselves. 2. They are sensitive to what types of power are most effective with different kinds of people. For example, experts respect expertise. 3. They develop all their sources of power and do not rely on any particular technique. 4. They seek jobs and tasks that will give them the opportunity to acquire and use power. They constantly seek ways to invest the power they already have to secure an even higher positive return. 5. They use their power in a mature and self-controlled way. They seldom if ever use power impulsively or for their own aggrandizement. 6. They get satisfaction from inuencing others.
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5. Predict the other persons response. Everything you say should be focused on that likely response. Anticipate objections by asking yourself how the other party might react negatively to your proposition and thinking up ways of responding to them. 6. Create the other persons next move. It is not a question of deciding what you want to do but what you want the other person to do. Your goal is to get results. 7. Convince people by reference to their own perceptions. People decide what to do on the basis of their own perceptions, not yours. 8. Prepare a simple and attractive proposition. Make it as straightforward as possible. Present the case sunny side up, emphasizing its benets. Break the problem into manageable pieces and deal with them one step at a time. 9. Make the person a party to your ideas. Get them to contribute. Find some common ground so that you can start with agreement. Dont try to defeat them in an argument you will only antagonize them. 10. Clinch and take action. Choose the right moment to clinch the proposal dont prolong the discussion and risk losing it. But follow up promptly.
Authority
Authority is exercised when someone gets someone else to do something. Managers are given the authority to get things done. They are expected to ensure that their teams follow their leadership, although this should not necessarily mean telling them what to do. It can involve motivating, empowering and persuading. Effective managers give the lead and their teams follow, without being forced to do so by the use of authority in a command and control mode. Charles Handy (1994) advocates the development of a culture of consent where the emphasis is on the virtues of decentralization, empowerment and self-managed teams. Authority is best exercised in the form of management by agreement rather than management by control. Managers who rely entirely on what is called authority based on position are less likely to succeed than those whose authority rests on the respect they have earned from their team on the basis of their ability to lead and get results and their expertise. However, managers still have to be authoritative. As such, they are listened to. They get things done and others take note of what they say and act on it. Good managers demonstrate that they are authoritative by the way they behave. They rely on the authority of expertise and wisdom rather than the authority of power. Managers may be drest in a little brief authority but they have to earn respect for that authority and keep on earning it. To be authoritative you have to: Be good at what you are doing as a leader, a manager, an expert or all three.
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Be able to dene what you expect people to do clearly, concisely and persuasively. Demonstrate that you know where you are going, what you are doing and why you are doing it. As necessary, explain the course of action you are taking. Lead by example. Accept that your authority is not absolute it only exists if others recognize it. Be decisive but avoid rushing into decisions without careful thought. Get people to accept that there will be occasions when what you say goes you are accountable and the nal decision is always yours. Be self-condent and convey that to everyone concerned. Be a good communicator, ensuring that people know exactly what is expected of them.
Politics
Power and politics are inextricably mixed, and in any organization there will inevitably be people who want to achieve their satisfaction by acquiring power, legitimately or illegitimately. Kakabadse (1983) denes politics as a process, that of inuencing individuals and groups of people to your point of view, where you cannot rely on authority. People who play politics in organizations get their way by machinations, manipulations, wire-pulling, exerting more or less subtle pressure, inuencing people and events behind the scenes, and generally adopting a Machiavellian approach that includes the belief that the end justies the means. Politics play an inevitable part in organizations that contain individuals who, while they are ostensibly there to achieve a common purpose, are, at the same time, driven by their own needs to achieve their own goals. Some individuals genuinely believe that using political means to achieve their goals is the only way to get things done and will benet the organization as well as themselves. Others rationalize this belief. Yet others unashamedly pursue their own ends.
Conict
Conict happens in organizations because they function by means of adjustments and compromises among competitive elements in their structure and membership. Conict also arises when there is change, because it may be seen as a threat to be challenged or resisted, or when there is frustration this may produce an aggressive reaction; ght rather than ight. Conict is not to be deplored. It is an inevitable result of progress and change and it can and should be used constructively.
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Conict between individuals raises fewer problems than conict between groups. Individuals can act independently and resolve their differences. Members of groups may have to accept the norms, goals and values of their group. The individuals loyalty will usually be to their own group if it is in conict with others.
References
Argyris, C (1957) Personality and Organization, Harper & Row, New York Atkinson, J (1984) Manpower strategies for exible organizations, Personnel Management, August, pp 2831 Barnard, C (1938) The Functions of an Executive, Harvard University Press, Boston, MA Burns, T and Stalker, G (1961) The Management of Innovation, Tavistock, London Child, J (1977) Organization: A guide to problems and practice, Harper & Row, London Doeringer, P and Piore, M (1971) Internal Labor Markets and Labor Market Analysis, Heath, Lexington, DC Emery, F E (1959) Characteristics of Socio-Technical Systems, Tavistock Publications, London Fayol, H (1916) Administration Industrielle et General, translated by C Storrs (1949) as General and Industrial Management, Pitman, London French, J R and Raven, B (1959) The basis of social power, in Studies in Social Power, ed D Cartwright, pp 15067, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI
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Furnham, A and Gunter, B (1993) Corporate Assessment, Routledge, London Ghoshal, S and Bartlett, C A (1995) Changing the role of top management: beyond structure to process, Harvard Business Review, JanuaryFebruary, pp 8696 Handy, C (1985) Understanding Organizations, Penguin, Harmondsworth Handy, C (1994) The Empty Raincoat, Hutchinson, London Harrison, R (1972) Understanding your organizations character, Harvard Business Review, 5, pp 11928 Herzberg, F (1968) One more time: how do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, January February, pp 10920 Huczynski, A A and Buchanan, D A (2007) Organizational Behaviour, 6th edn, FT Prentice Hall, Harlow Kakabadse, A (1983) The Politics of Management, Gower, Aldershot Kinnie, N et al (1996) The People Management Implications of Leaner Methods of Working, IPD, London Kotter, J (1977) Power, dependence and effective management, Harvard Business Review, JulyAugust, pp 12536 Lawrence, P R and Lorsch, J W (1969) Developing Organizations, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA Likert, R (1961) New Patterns of Management, Harper & Row, New York Loveridge, R and Mok, A (1979) Theories of Labour Market Segmentation: A critique, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague Marks, B, Marks, R and Spillane, R (2006) The Management Contradictionary, Michelle Anderson Publishing, South Yarra, Vic Mayo, E (1933) Human Problems of an Industrial Civilisation, Macmillan, London McGregor, D (1960) The Human Side of Enterprise, McGraw-Hill, New York Miller, E and Rice, A (1967) Systems of Organization, Tavistock, London Mintzberg, H (1983) Structure in Fives, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ Nietzsche, F (1883) Also Sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch fr Alle und Keinen, Penguin Books (translated 1974), Harmondsworth Pascale, R (1990) Managing on the Edge, Viking, London Sloan, A P (1986) My Years With General Motors, Sidgwick & Jackson, London Taylor, F W (1911) Principles of Scientic Management, Harper, New York Urwick, L F (1947) Dynamic Administration, Pitman, London Weber, M (1946) From Max Weber: Essays in sociology, ed H H Gerth and C W Mills, Oxford University Press, Oxford Womack, J and Jones, D (1970) The Machine that Changed the World, Rawson, New York Woodward, J (1965) Industrial Organization, Oxford University Press, Oxford
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13
Designing Organizations
Most organizations are not designed, they grow. Charles Handy (1976) Understanding Organizations, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth
The management of people in organizations constantly raises questions such as: Who does what? How should activities be grouped together? What lines and means of communication need to be established? How should people be helped to understand their roles in relation to the objectives of the organization and the roles of their colleagues? Are we doing everything that we ought to be doing and nothing that we ought not to be doing? How can we achieve a reasonable degree of exibility? Have we got too many unnecessary layers of management in the organization? How can we overcome the organizational dilemma of reconciling the potential inconsistency between individual needs and aspirations on the one hand, and the collective purpose of the organization on the other? How can we design jobs to provide for motivation and engagement?
These are questions involving people that must concern managers who are leading and therefore organizing the efforts of people to get results.
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This chapter covers: (1) the process of organizing; (2) the aims of organizational design; (3) conducting organization reviews; (4) organizational analysis; (5) organizational diagnosis; and (6) job design.
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optimize the arrangements for conducting the affairs of the business or a unit in the business. To do this it is necessary, as far as circumstances allow, to: clarify the overall purposes of the organization the strategic goals that govern what it does and how it functions; dene how work should be organized to achieve that purpose, including the use of technology and other work processes; dene as precisely as possible the key activities involved in carrying out the work; group these activities logically together to avoid unnecessary overlap or duplication; provide for the integration of activities and the achievement of cooperative effort and teamwork; build exibility into the system so that organizational arrangements can adapt quickly to new situations and challenges; provide for the rapid communication of information throughout the organization; dene the role and function of each organizational unit so that all concerned know how it plays its part in achieving the overall purpose; clarify individual roles, accountabilities and authorities; take account of individual needs and aspirations; design jobs to make the best use of the skills and capacities of the job holders and to provide them with high levels of intrinsic motivation; plan and implement organization development activities to ensure that the various processes within the organization operate in a manner that contributes to organizational effectiveness (see Chapter 14); set up teams and project groups as required to be responsible for specic processing, development, professional or administrative activities or for the conduct of projects.
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3. A plan to implement any revisions to the structure emerging from the diagnosis, possibly in phases. The plan may include longer-term considerations about the structure and the type of managers and employees who will be required to operate within it. 4. Implementation of the plan.
Organizational analysis
Organizational analysis starts with an examination of the activities carried out to establish what work is done and what needs to be done to achieve the objectives of the organization or organizational unit. The analysis should cover what is and is not being done, who is doing it and where, and how much is being done. An answer is necessary to the key questions: Are all the activities required properly catered for? and Are there any unnecessary activities being carried out, ie those that do not need to be done at all or those that could be conducted more economically and efciently by outsourcing to external contractors or providers?. Next, the structure is analysed to determine how activities are grouped together and the number of levels in the hierarchy. Attention would be paid to such issues as the logic of the way in which activities are grouped and decentralized, the span of control of managers (the number of separate functions or people they are directly responsible for), any overlap between functions or gaps leading to the neglect of certain activities, the existence of unnecessary activities or layers of management, and the extent to which jobs are designed in ways that will maximize motivation and engagement. There are no absolute standards against which an organization structure can be judged. Every organization is and should be different. There is never one right way of organizing anything and there are no absolute principles that govern organizational choice. Never follow fashion. Always do what is right in the context in which the organization exists. The fashion for delayering organizations had much to commend it but it could go too far, leaving units and individuals adrift without any clear guidance on where they t into the structure and how they should work with one another, and denuding the organization of key middle managers.
Organizational diagnosis
The aim of the diagnosis is to establish the reasons for any structural problems. The diagnosis should be made on the basis of the initial analysis. The organizational guidelines set out in the following section can be used to identify causes and therefore indicate possible solutions.
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Organizational guidelines
There are a number of organizational guidelines that are worth bearing in mind. But they are not absolutes. Their relevance is contingent on the circumstances. The days have long gone when the classical principles of organization (line of command, span of control, etc) as formulated by Urwick (1947) and others were seen as the only basis for organizational design. These principles do, however, persist in the minds of many managers. Some time ago, Tom Lupton (1975) pointed out that: The attraction of the classical design from the point of view of top management is that it seems to offer control. Managers like to think they are rational and this has all the appearance of a rational approach. But without falling into the trap of believing that classical design works as it is supposed to do, the following guidelines are worth bearing in mind at all stages in an organization study and can help in the diagnosis of problems. Allocation of work. The work that has to be done should be dened and allocated to functions, units, departments, work teams, project groups and individual positions. Related activities should be grouped together. There will be a choice between dividing work by product, process, market or geographical area. Differentiation and integration. As Lawrence and Lorsch (1969) emphasized, it is necessary to differentiate between the different activities that have to be carried out, but it is equally necessary to ensure that these activities are integrated so that everyone in the organization is working towards the same goals. Teamwork. Jobs should be dened and roles described in ways that facilitate and underline the importance of teamwork. Areas where cooperation is required should be highlighted. The organization should be designed and operated in such a way as to facilitate cooperation across departmental or functional boundaries. Wherever possible, self-managing teams and autonomous work groups should be set up and given the maximum amount of responsibility to run their own affairs, including planning, budgeting and exercising quality control. Networking should be encouraged in the sense of people communicating openly and informally with one another as the need arises. It is recognized that these informal processes can be more productive than rigidly working through channels as set out in the organization chart. As the highly original and inuential thinker about management Mary Parker Follett (1924) stressed, the primary task of management is to arrange the situation so that people cooperate of their own accord. Flexibility. The organization structure should be exible enough to respond quickly to change, challenge and uncertainty. Flexibility should be enhanced by the creation of core groups and by using part-time, temporary and contract workers to handle extra demands. At top management level and elsewhere, a collegiate approach to team operation should be considered in which people share responsibility and are expected to work with their colleagues in areas outside their primary function or skill.
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Role clarication. People should be clear about their roles as individuals and as members of a team. They should know what they will be held accountable for and be given every opportunity to use their abilities in achieving objectives that they have agreed and are committed to. Role proles should be used to dene key result areas but should not act as straitjackets, restricting initiative and unduly limiting responsibility. Decentralization. Authority to make decisions should be delegated as close to the scene of action as possible. Prot centres should be set up as strategic business units that operate close to their markets and with a considerable degree of autonomy. A multiproduct or multi-market business should develop a federal organization with each federated entity running its own affairs, although they will be linked together by the overall business strategy. De-layering. Organizations should be attened by stripping out superuous layers of management and supervision in order to promote exibility, facilitate swifter communication, increase responsiveness, enable people to be given more responsibility as individuals or teams, and reduce costs.
Job design
The aim of job design is to ensure so far as possible that motivation is achieved through the work itself, ie intrinsic motivation. Three characteristics have been distinguished by Lawler (1969) as being required in jobs if they are to be intrinsically motivating: 1. Feedback individuals must receive meaningful feedback about their performance, preferably by evaluating their own performance and dening the feedback. This implies that they should ideally work on a complete product, or a signicant part of it that can be seen as a whole. 2. Use of abilities the job must be perceived by individuals as requiring them to use abilities they value in order to perform the job effectively. 3. Self-control individuals must feel that they have a high degree of self-control over setting their own goals and over dening the paths to these goals. A useful perspective on the factors affecting job design and motivation is provided by Hackman and Oldhams (1974) job characteristics model. They suggest that the critical psychological states of experienced meaningfulness of work, experienced responsibility for outcomes of work and knowledge of the actual outcomes of work strongly inuence motivation, job satisfaction and performance. The six characteristics identied by their research were: variety, autonomy, required interaction, optional interaction, knowledge and skill required, and responsibility.
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References
Follett, M P (1924) Creative Experience, Longmans Green, New York Hackman, J R and Oldham, G R (1974) Motivation through the design of work: test of a theory, Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance, 16 (2), pp 25079 Lawler, E E (1969) Job design and employee motivation, Personnel Psychology, 22, pp 42635 Lawrence, P R and Lorsch, J W (1969) Developing Organizations, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA Lupton, T (1975) Best t in the design of organizations, Personnel Review, 4 (1), pp 1522 Urwick, L F (1947) Dynamic Administration, Pitman, London
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14
Organization Development
For a large organization to be effective, it must be simple. For a large organization to be simple, its people must have self-condence and intellectual selfassurance. Jack Welch, as reported by N Tichy and R Charan (1991) in Managing People and Organizations, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA
Organization development (OD) is about taking systematic steps to improve organizational capability. It is concerned with process and people how things get done by those who work in the organization. In this chapter: (1) organization development is dened; (2) organization development strategies are examined; (3) consideration is given to the assumptions and values of OD; and (4) OD activities are described. Processes associated with OD for managing change and organizational transformation are dealt with in Chapter 16.
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OD is based on behavioural science concepts, but during the 1980s and 1990s the focus shifted to a number of other approaches. Some of these, such as organizational transformation, resemble OD. Others, such as change management, are built on some of the basic ideas developed by writers on organization development and OD practitioners. Yet other approaches, such as high-performance work systems, total quality management and performance management, can be described as holistic processes that attempt to improve overall organizational effectiveness from a particular perspective. More recently, as noted by Cummins and Worley (2005), the practice of OD has gone far beyond its humanistic origins by incorporating concepts from organization strategy that complement the early emphasis on social processes.
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The work team, especially at the informal level, has great signicance for feelings of satisfaction and the dynamics of such teams have a powerful effect on the behaviour of their members. OD programmes aim to improve the quality of working life of all members of the organization. Organizations can be more effective if they learn to diagnose their own strengths and weaknesses. However, managers often do not know what is wrong and need special help in diagnosing problems, although the outside process consultant ensures that decision-making remains in the hands of the client. The implementation of strategy involves paying close attention to the people processes involved and the management of change.
Survey feedback
This is a variety of action research in which data are collected about the system and then fed back to groups to analyse and interpret as the basis for preparing action plans. The techniques of survey feedback include the use of attitude surveys and workshops to feed back results and discuss implications.
Interventions
The term intervention in OD refers to core structured activities involving clients and consultants. The activities can take the form of action research, survey feedback or any of those mentioned in the following sections.
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Process consultation
As described by Schein (1969), this involves helping clients to generate and analyse information that they can understand and, following a diagnosis, act upon. The information will relate to organizational processes such as inter-group relations, interpersonal relations and communications. The job of the process consultant was dened by Schein as being to help the organization to solve its own problems by making it aware of organizational processes, of the consequences of these processes, and of the mechanisms by which they can be changed.
Group dynamics
Group dynamics (a term coined by Lewin, 1951) are the processes that take place in groups that determine how they act and react in different circumstances. Team-building interventions can deal with permanent work teams or those set up to deal with projects or to solve particular problems. Interventions are directed towards an analysis of the effectiveness of team processes such as problem-solving, decision-making and interpersonal relationships, a diagnosis and discussion of the issues, and joint consideration of the actions required to improve effectiveness.
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4. Create the strategy, gain commitment and support for it and plan its implementation. 5. Implement the strategic change plan, drawing on knowledge of motivation, group dynamics and change processes, dealing with issues such as alignment, adaptability, teamwork and organizational and individual learning. 6. Allocate resources, provide feedback and solve problems as they arise.
References
Beer, M (1980) Organization Change and Development: A systems view, Goodyear, Santa Monica, CA Blake, R, Shepart, H and Mouton, J (1964) Breakthrough in Organizational Development, Harvard Business Review, 42, pp 23758 Cummins, T G and Worley, C G (2005) Organization Development and Change, South Western, Mason, Ohio Lewin, K (1951) Field Theory in Social Science, Harper & Row, New York Schein, E H (1969) Process Consultation: Its role in organizational development, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA Worley, C G, Hitchin, D and Ross, W (1996) Integrated Strategic Change: How organization development builds competitive advantage, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA
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Delivering Change
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15
The Process of Change
Everything ows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing is xed. Heraclitus, 513 BC
Change, it is often said, is the only thing that remains constant in organizations. As A P Sloan wrote in My Years with General Motors (1967): The circumstances of an everchanging market and an ever-changing product are capable of breaking any business organization if that organization is unprepared for change. This chapter is concerned with an initial analysis of the process of change, covering the types of change, how change happens, the concepts of equilibrium, stability and disequilibrium and how organizations grow and change (organizational dynamics). Approaches to managing change and models of change are covered in Chapter 16.
Types of change
There are seven types of change: incremental, transformational, strategic, organizational, systems and processes, cultural, and behavioural.
Incremental change
Incremental change is gradual change. It takes place in small steps. At the strategic level James Quinn (1980) coined the phrase logical incrementalism to describe how organizations develop their change strategies. He suggested that organizations go through an iterative process that leads to incremental commitments that enable the enterprise to experiment with, and learn about, an otherwise unknowable future. He observed that:
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Top managers seeking change often consciously create forums and allow slack time for their organizations to talk though threatening issues, work out the implications of new solutions, or gain an improved information base that will permit new options to be evaluated objectively in comparison with more familiar alternatives. In many cases strategic concepts which are strongly resisted gain acceptance and support simply by the passage of time.
Incremental change takes place at the operational as distinct from the strategic level. Continuous improvement as discussed in Chapter 19 is not about making sudden quantum leaps in response to crisis situations; it is about adopting a steady, step-by-step approach to improving the ways in which the organization goes about doing things. Innovations can be tried and tested and the people affected by them can progressively get used to new processes, systems or procedures without being startled and upset by a sudden, unexpected and dramatic change.
Transformational change
Transformation, according to Websters Dictionary, is: A change in the shape, structure, nature of something. Transformational change is the process of ensuring that an organization can develop and implement major change programmes so that it responds strategically to new demands and continues to function effectively in the dynamic environment in which it operates. Organizational transformation may involve radical changes to the structure, culture and processes of the organization. This may be in response to competitive pressures, mergers, acquisitions, investments, disinvestments, changes in technology, product lines, markets, cost reduction exercises and decisions to downsize or outsource work. Transformational change may be forced on an organization by investors or government decisions. It may be initiated by a new chief executive and top management team with a remit to turn round the business. As Jack Welch said when CEO of General Electric: Shun the incremental: go for the leap. He also stated that: We want to be a company that is constantly renewing itself, shedding the past, adapting to change. A distinction can be made between rst-order and second-order transformational development. First-order development is concerned with changes to the ways in which particular parts of the organization function. Second-order change aims to make an impact on the whole organization.
Strategic change
Strategic change is concerned with broad, long-term and organization-wide issues. It is about moving to a future state that has been dened generally in terms of strategic vision and scope. It will cover the purpose and mission of the organization, its corporate philosophy on such
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matters as growth, quality, innovation and values concerning people (employees and customers), and the technologies employed. This overall denition leads to specications of competitive positioning and strategic goals for achieving competitive advantage and for product-market development. These goals are supported by policies concerning marketing, sales, customer service, product and process development, and human resource management. Strategic change takes place within the contexts of the external competitive, economic and social environment and the organizations internal resources, capabilities, culture, structure and systems. Its successful implementation requires thorough analysis of these factors in the formulation and planning stages.
Organizational change
Organizational change deals with how organizations are structured and, in broad terms, how they function. It involves identifying the need to reconsider the formal structure of organizations, which Child (1977) has dened as comprising all the tangible and regularly occurring features which help to shape their members behaviour. Organizational change programmes address issues of centralization and decentralization, how the overall management task should be divided into separate activities, how these activities should be allocated to different parts of the organization, and how they should be directed, controlled, coordinated and integrated. They will be concerned with organizational process how the organization should function. This may mean trying to free up the ways things are done to ensure that there is more exibility in the system to enable the organization to respond and adapt to change.
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may therefore be as high if not higher than strategic or organizational change, and they have to be handled just as carefully. This is an area where getting change management processes right, as described in Chapter 16, is vital.
Cultural change
Cultural change aims to change the existing culture of an organization. Organizational or corporate culture is the system of values (what is regarded as important in organizational and individual behaviour) and accepted ways of behaviour (norms) that strongly inuence the way things are done around here. It is founded on well-established beliefs and assumptions. Organizational culture is signicant because it conveys a sense of identity and unity of purpose to members of an organization, facilitates the generation of commitment and helps to shape behaviour by providing guidance on what is expected. It can work for an organization by creating an environment that is conducive to high performance. It can work against an organization by encouraging unproductive behaviour. Strong cultures have more widely shared and more deeply held beliefs than weak ones. These will have been formed over a considerable period of time. Strong cultures are only appropriate if they promote desirable behaviour. If they dont, they are inappropriate and must be changed. A deeply rooted culture may be difcult to change old habits die hard. Deal and Kennedy (1982) said that there are only ve reasons to justify large-scale cultural change: 1. If the organization has strong values that do not t a changing environment. 2. If the industry is very competitive and moves with lightning speed. 3. If the organization is mediocre or worse. 4. If the company is about to join the ranks of the very largest companies. 5. If the company is small but growing rapidly. They say that if none of these reasons apply, dont do it. Their analysis of 10 cases of attempted cultural change indicated that it will cost between 5 and 10 per cent of what you already spend on the people whose behaviour is supposed to change, and even then you are likely to get only half the improvement you want. They warn that it costs a lot in effort and money and takes a long time. Cultural change may mean ensuring that the organization has what John Purcell and his colleagues at Bath University (2003) called the big idea. Their research established that this is what the most successful companies possess. They had a clear vision and a set of integrated values that were embedded, enduring, collective, measured and managed. They were concerned with sustaining performance and exibility.
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Cultural change involves developing a more appropriate set of the values that inuence behaviour and ensuring that people live the values. The problem is that there may be a large difference between the values espoused by an organization and the ways in which they are or are not applied values in use. Gratton and Hailey (1999) found through their research that there was generally a wide divergence between the rhetoric of managements about core values and the reality of their application the rhetoricreality gap. Managements may start off with good intentions but the realization of them theory in use is often very difcult. This arises because of contextual and process problems: other business priorities, short-termism, lack of support from line managers, an inadequate infrastructure of supporting processes, lack of resources, resistance to change, and a climate in which employees do not trust management, whatever they say. It is therefore advisable to be cautious about big bang cultural change projects. An incremental, gradualist approach that focuses on behavioural change (see the next section) may be more realistic. The aim is to close or at least reduce the rhetoricreality gap. If it is believed that a major cultural change programme is required it should not be too ambitious. However, it can be conducted systematically in the following sequence of activities: 1. Analysis of the current situation in terms of environment, strategy, performance, culture, structure, systems and processes, and the availability and quality of resources human, nancial and material. 2. Diagnosis of the causes of any problems identied by the analysis that will need to be overcome. 3. Action planning the preparation of plans to change or reinforce the culture and deal with the requirements and problems. Plans may deal with specically cultural matters such as creating and disseminating mission and value statements and ensuring that they are acted upon. Or they may be concerned with human capital factors such as the skills, behaviour, motivation and commitment of people. Alternatively, action plans may address issues concerning organizational processes such as the development of continuous improvement and total quality programmes, provisions for achieving higher standards of customer service, or performance management. 4. Implementation delivering the results required by the action plan.
Behavioural change
Behavioural change involves taking steps to encourage people to be more effective by shaping or modifying the ways in which they carry out their work. Organizations depend on people behaving in ways that will contribute to high performance and support core values. They must recognize that people at work often have discretion on the way they do their work and the amount of effort, care, innovation and productive behaviour they display. Expectations of what sort of discretionary behaviour is considered desirable need to be dened and encour-
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aged to attain behavioural commitment people directing their efforts to achieving organizational and role objectives. Behavioural expectations can be dened in the form of a set of values such as the core values of the Scottish Parliament: Integrity: We demonstrate high standards of honesty and reliability. Impartiality: We are fair and even-handed in dealing with members of the public and each other. Professionalism: We provide high-quality professional advice and support services. Client focus: We are responsive to the needs of members, the public and one another. Efciency: We use resources responsibly and cost-effectively. Mutual respect: We treat everyone with respect and courtesy and take full account of equal opportunities issues at all times.
Competency frameworks can also be developed, which dene behavioural requirements under such headings as: team working; leadership; developing others; quality focus; customer focus; results orientation; initiative; business awareness.
Behavioural change can be achieved by getting people involved in setting objectives, giving them more responsibility to manage their own jobs as individuals or as teams (empowerment), and providing for rewards to be clearly related to success in achieving agreed goals. The following sequence of behavioural modication steps as dened by Luthans and Kreitner (1975) can be adopted: 1. Identify the critical behaviour what people do or do not do that needs to be changed. 2. Measure the frequency obtain hard evidence that a real problem exists. 3. Carry out a functional analysis identify the stimuli that precede the behaviour and the consequences in the shape of reward or punishment that inuence the behaviour.
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4. Develop and implement an intervention strategy this may involve the use of positive or negative reinforcement to inuence behaviour (ie providing or withholding nancial or non-nancial rewards). 5. Evaluate the effects of the intervention what improvements, if any, happened, and if the interventions were unsuccessful, what needs to be done next? Organization development (OD) processes can also be used. These involve the planning and implementation of programmes designed to improve the effectiveness with which an organization functions and responds to change. Organization development is concerned with process, not structure or systems with the way things are done rather than what is done. Process refers to the ways in which people act and interact. It is about the roles they play on a continuing basis to deal with events and situations involving other people and to adapt to changing circumstances.
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progressively more traditionalist in its management style and culture. Such organizations are often characterized by management teams that have grown up and matured together and have not sought actively to bring in new blood or to challenge their established assumptions and practices. In the United Kingdom many older, larger organizations and much of the public sector have been through this stage and are emerging from it in varying ways. 4. Regeneration this stage follows the collapse of the old age organization. It may start with a merger or a management buyout or the replacement of most of the top managers. This enables it to pull together what is left, reorganize and head off in a new direction with renewed vigour. Organizations in this phase often have to operate in a constrained economic environment in the rst years. The phase has much in common with the start-up stage except that the organization is not operating in a green eld situation and may still have to tackle the remains of the past as well as the future. If regeneration fails the organization will not survive it will be taken over or wound up.
References
Child, J (1977) Organization: A guide to problems and practice, Harper & Row, London Deal, T and Kennedy, A (1982) Corporate Cultures, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA Gratton, L A and Hailey, V H (1999) The rhetoric and reality of new careers, in Strategic Human Resource Management, eds L Gratton et al, pp 79100, Oxford University Press, Oxford Kanter, R M (1984) The Change Masters, Allen & Unwin, London Luthans, F and Kreitner, R (1975) Organizational Behaviour Modication, Scott-Foresman, Glenview, Ill Pettigrew, A and Whipp, R (1991) Managing Change for Competitive Success, Blackwell, Oxford Purcell, J et al (2003) Understanding the People and Performance Link: Unlocking the black box, CIPD, London Quinn, J B (1980) Managing strategic change, Sloane Management Review, 11 (4/5), pp 330 Sloane, A P (1967) My Years with General Motors, Pan Books, London
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16
Change Management
See change as an opportunity. Remember that change is a necessary thread in the fabric of life. Jack Welch (2004) The Welch Way, McGraw-Hill, London
Change management is the process of ensuring that an organization is ready for change and takes action to ensure that change is accepted and implemented smoothly. This chapter covers: the various models for change; the steps to effective change; how people change; resistance to change; developing and embracing a change culture; identifying the need for change; the benets and risks of change; planning the change programme; requirements for success in managing change; transformational change; holding the gains.
Change models
A number of models have been developed to explain the process of change management and these are described and evaluated in the following section.
Kurt Lewin
The basic mechanisms for managing change as described by Kurt Lewin (1951) are as follows: Unfreezing altering the present stable equilibrium, which supports existing behaviours and attitudes. This process must take account of the inherent threats change presents to people and the need to motivate those affected to attain the natural state of equilibrium by accepting change. Changing developing new responses based on new information. Re-freezing stabilizing the change by introducing the new responses into the personalities of those concerned.
Richard Beckhard
Richard Beckhard (1969) explained that a change programme should incorporate the following processes: Setting goals and dening the future state or organizational conditions desired after the change. Diagnosing the present condition in relation to these goals. Dening the transition state activities and commitments required to meet the future state. Developing strategies and action plans for managing this transition in the light of an analysis of the factors likely to affect the introduction of change.
Keith Thurley
Keith Thurley (1979) described the following ve approaches to managing change: 1. Directive the imposition of change in crisis situations or when other methods have failed. This is done by the exercise of managerial power without consultation. 2. Bargained this approach recognizes that power is shared between the employer and the employed and that change requires negotiation, compromise and agreement before being implemented.
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3. Hearts and minds an all-embracing thrust to change the attitudes, values and beliefs of the whole workforce. This normative approach (ie one that starts from a denition of what management thinks is right or normal) seeks commitment and shared vision but does not necessarily include involvement or participation. 4. Analytical a theoretical approach to the change process using models of change such as those described previously. It proceeds sequentially from the analysis and diagnosis of the situation, through the setting of objectives, the design of the change process, the evaluation of the results and, nally, the determination of the objectives for the next stage in the change process. This is the rational and logical approach much favoured by consultants external and internal. But change seldom proceeds as smoothly as this model would suggest. Emotions, power politics and external pressures mean that the rational approach, although it might be the right way to start, is difcult to sustain. 5. Action-based this recognizes that the way managers behave in real life bears little resemblance to the analytical, theoretical model. The distinction between managerial thought and managerial action blurs in practice to the point of invisibility. What managers think is what they do. Real life therefore often results in a ready, aim, re approach to change management. This typical approach to change starts with a broad belief that some sort of problem exists, although it may not be well dened. The identication of possible solutions, often on a trial and error basis, leads to a clarication of the nature of the problem and a shared understanding of a possible optimal solution, or at least a framework within which solutions can be discovered.
Commentary
The least known of these models that produced by Professor Keith Thurley of the London School of Economics provides the best practical and realistic guidance on what change management is about. It is descriptive rather than analytical, as is the case with the Lewin and Beckhard models.
context, which imposes new roles, responsibilities and relationships on them. This creates a situation that in a sense forces new attitudes and behaviour on people. They prescribe six steps to effective change, which concentrate on what they call task alignment reorganizing employees roles, responsibilities and relationships to solve specic business problems in small units where goals and tasks can be clearly dened. The aim of following the overlapping steps is to build a self-reinforcing cycle of commitment, coordination and competence. The steps are: 1. Mobilize commitment to change through the joint analysis of problems. 2. Develop a shared vision of how to organize and manage to achieve goals such as competitiveness. 3. Foster consensus for the new vision, competence to enact it, and cohesion to move it along. 4. Spread revitalization to all departments without pushing it from the top dont force the issue, let each department nd its own way to the new organization. 5. Institutionalize revitalization through formal policies, systems and structures. 6. Monitor and adjust strategies in response to problems in the revitalization process. According to Beer and colleagues (1990), this approach is fundamental to the effective management of change. But account should be taken of the likelihood of resistance to change and what can be done about it.
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Resistance to change
Change management programmes have to take account of the fact that many people resist change. There are those who are stimulated by change and see it as a challenge and an opportunity. But they are in the minority. It is always easy for people to select any of the following 10 reasons for doing nothing: 1. It wont work. 2. Were already doing it. 3. Its been tried before without success. 4. Its not practical. 5. It wont solve the problem. 6. Its too risky. 7. Its based purely on theory. 8. It will cost too much. 9. It will antagonize the customers/management/union/workers/shareholders. 10. It will create more problems than it solves.
When we talk about resistance to change we tend to imply that management is always rational in changing its direction, and that employees are stupid, emotional or irrational in not responding in the way they should. But if an individual is going to be worse off, explicitly or implicitly, when the proposed changes have been made, any resistance is entirely rational in terms of his best interest. The interests of the organisation and the individual do not always coincide.
On the other side, it is necessary to answer the question: What are the benets in pay, status, job satisfaction and career prospects that are generated by the change, as well as the increase in performance? Resistance to change may never be overcome completely but it can be reduced through involvement and communications.
Involvement
Involvement in the change process gives people the chance to raise and resolve their concerns and make suggestions about the form of the change and how it should be introduced. The aim is to get ownership a feeling amongst people that the change is something that they are happy to live with because they have been involved in its planning and introduction it has become their change. Involvement is important because people are more likely to own something they helped to create.
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Communications should describe why change is necessary, what the changes will look like, how they will be achieved and how people will be affected by them. The aim is to ensure that unnecessary fears are allayed by keeping people informed using a variety of methods written communications, the intranet, videos and, best of all, face-to-face briengs and discussions.
organization wishes to take and the changes needed to follow that route. Strategic planning also facilitates the adaptation of the organization to environmental change, which can be manifested in such aspects as the companys position in the market (leading the market, maintaining or losing market share), competitors tactics, customer behaviour and government policies. Identifying this need means environmental tracking noting what is happening and what is likely to happen, exploring the implications and deciding how the issues should be addressed. Proposals for changes because of environmental factors are more likely to be accepted if it can be demonstrated that the changes must take place and are appropriate and relevant. The need for change may also emerge because of internal imperatives. This may be a proactive step arising from a review of areas for improvement. Or it may be a result of a systematic process of benchmarking nding out how other organizations are performing in certain areas when it becomes evident that the organization is falling behind in such areas as protability, productivity, cost management, quality or levels of customer service. Reactive or remedial change may be required to respond to internal problems, even crises. In this case the need for change is determined by events. A proactive approach to anticipating the need for change has not happened and something has to be done in a hurry (often a recipe for disaster). The identication process should generate hard evidence and data on the need for change. These are the most powerful tools for its achievement, although establishing the need for change is easier than deciding how to satisfy it.
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Risks of change
There is a downside to change. It can go wrong because it is inappropriate or badly managed. Change can upset well-established and effective practices. The premise for change may be that if something is new it must be better, and this is by no means inevitable. There is such a thing as change for changes sake. Organizations can adopt the latest fashions or fads without thinking through their value or relevance. Failed changes can create a climate in which people become suspicious of any new ideas and unwilling to adopt them.
Objectives
The goals to be achieved by the change should be discussed and agreed, wherever possible in quantied terms in the form of targets. If precise targets cannot be dened, then more generalized statements of the expected outcomes may have to be made, but these should be as specic as possible. It is often helpful to draw up success criteria so that everyone knows what they are striving to achieve and the extent to which the results have been achieved can be monitored and evaluated. A success criterion can be expressed in the form: This project (or aspect of the project) will be deemed to be successful if it delivers the following outcome It is important to involve as many people as possible in setting the objectives. This will increase their identication with the project and enhance their commitment.
Assessing which of the driving or restraining forces are critical. Taking steps both to increase the critical driving forces and to decrease the critical restraining forces.
An effective manager anticipates the need for change as opposed to reacting after the event to the emergency; diagnoses the nature of the change required and carefully considers a number of changes that might improve organizational functioning; and manages the change process over time so that it is effective and accepted as opposed to lurching from crisis to crisis.
Project teams or task forces can be set up to plan and implement change, the members of which would probably include managers and other people affected by the proposed change as well as specialists. Ultimately, however, someone has to be made accountable for the whole project. The task force can contribute to planning and decision-making but cannot assume the nal responsibility for making change happen. It is often useful to identify people in the organization who welcome the challenges and opportunities that change can provide and can become champions for change. They can act as change agents with the role of facilitating change by providing advice on its introduction and management to project teams or individuals. This role can also be fullled by management consultants, who have the advantage of being independent and should therefore be able to take a fresher and more objective point of view. Their ideas may be more acceptable because they should have expertise in the area in which change is to take place and, as consultants, are in the business of introducing change. But their position as outsiders may be a drawback. They may not appreciate the subtleties of the organizations culture and needs, they may try to impose their own preconceived ideas and nostrums, and their ideas may be rejected simply because they are perceived to be not one of us. Organizations sometimes use process consultants as change agents. The role of the process consultant as dened by Schein (1969) is to help the organization to solve its own problems by making it aware of organizational processes, or the consequences of those processes and of the mechanisms by which they can be changed. Processes such as inter-group or interpersonal relations and communications might be covered. Process consulting is one of the approaches that may be used in organization development (OD) programmes in which interventions are made to increase the effectiveness of organizational processes. However, the massive and all-
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embracing OD programmes of the 1970s and 1980s have now largely been replaced by interventions that focus on more specic processes such as strategic management, total quality management, performance management or customer relations management.
Project planning
Project planning: identies all the activities in the project and the order in which they have to be done the aim is to break the change programme down into actionable segments for which people can be held accountable; estimates the time for each activity, the total length of the project and the time when each activity must be nished; nds out how much exibility there is in the timing of activities and which activities are critical to the completion time; estimates costs and schedules activities so that overall cost is minimized; allocates and schedules resources; anticipates problems and takes the actions required to avoid them.
It is necessary to focus on short-term goals as well as longer-term deliverables. An incremental approach may well get better results in the long run than a big bang approach. However, although exible responses to new situations are important, it is necessary not to lose sight of long term goals. Success in change management often depends on a climate in which innovation is fostered. As Drucker (1985) pointed out: change always provides the opportunity for the new and the different. He went on to comment that: Systematic innovation therefore consists in the purposeful and organized search for changes, and in the systematic analysis of the opportunities such changes make for economic or social innovation and that successful innovations exploit change. But innovation involves risk and successful innovators dene risks and conne them. Ultimately successful change depends upon successful people management. It is necessary to understand and show empathy with peoples needs, feelings and motivation.
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Change will always involve failure as well as success. The failures must be expected and learnt from. It is easier to change behaviour by changing processes, structure and systems than to change attitudes or the corporate culture. A coalition of support is needed to achieve change. There are always people in organizations who can act as champions of change. They will welcome the challenges and opportunities that change can provide. They are the ones to be chosen as change agents. The inept management of change will guarantee that it will be resisted. Every effort must be made to protect the interests of those affected by change.
Organizational transformation
Organizational transformation is dened by Cummins and Worley (2005) as A process of radically altering the organizations strategic direction, including fundamental changes in structures, processes and behaviours. Transformation involves what is called second-order or gamma change, involving discontinuous shifts in strategy, structure, processes or culture. Transformation is required when: signicant changes occur in the competitive, technological, social or legal environment; major changes take place to the product life cycle, requiring different product development and marketing strategies; major changes take place in top management; a nancial crisis or large downturn occurs; an acquisition or merger takes place.
Transformation strategies
Transformation strategies are usually driven by senior management and line managers with the support of HR rather than OD specialists. The key roles of management as dened by Tushman et al (1988) are envisioning, energizing and enabling. Organizational transformation strategic plans may involve radical changes to the structure, culture and processes of the organization the way it looks at the world. They may involve planning and implementing signicant and far-reaching developments in corporate structures and organization-wide processes. The change is neither incremental (bit by bit) nor transactional (concerned solely with systems and procedures). Transactional change, according to
Pascale (1990) is merely concerned with the alteration of ways in which the organization does business and people interact with one another on a day-to-day basis and is effective when what you want is more of what youve already got. He advocates a discontinuous improvement in capability and this he describes as transformation.
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Transformation capability
The development and implementation of transformation strategies requires special capabilities. As Gratton (2000) points out:
Transformation capability depends in part on the ability to create and embed processes which link business strategy to the behaviours and performance of individuals and teams. These clusters of processes link vertically (to create alignment with short-term business needs), horizontally (to create cohesion), and temporally (to transform to meet future business needs).
References
Bandura, A (1977) Social Learning Theory, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ Beckhard, R (1969) Organization Development: Strategy and models, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA Beckhard, R (1989) A model for the executive management of transformational change, in Human Resource Strategies, ed G Salaman, pp 8396, Sage, London Beer, M, Eisenstat, R and Spector, B (1990) Why change programs dont produce change, Harvard Business Review, NovemberDecember, pp 15866 Burns, J M (1978) Leadership, Harper & Row, New York Cummins, T G and Worley, C G (2005) Organization Development and Change, South Western, Mason, OH Drucker, P (1985) Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Heinemann, London Gratton, L A (2000) Real step change, People Management, 16 March, pp 2730 Kotter, J J (1995) A 20% solution: Using rapid re-design to build tomorrows organization today, Wiley, New York Lewin, K (1951) Field Theory in Social Science, Harper & Row, New York Nadler, D A (1993) Concepts for the management of organizational change, in Managing Change, 2nd edn, ed C Mabey and W Mayon-White, pp 8598, Chapman/Open University, London Pascale, R (1990) Managing on the Edge, Viking, London Pettigrew, A and Whipp, R (1991) Managing Change for Competitive Success, Blackwell, Oxford Pugh, D (1993) Understanding and managing organizational change, in Managing Change, 2nd edn, ed C Mabey and W Mayon-White, pp 20814, Chapman/Open University, London Schein, E H (1969) Process Consultation: Its role in organization development, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA Thurley, K (1979) Supervision: A Reappraisal, Heinemann, London Tushman, M, Newman, W and Nadler, D (1988) Executive leadership and organizational evolution: managing incremental and discontinuous change, in Corporate Transformation: Revitalizing organizations for a competitive world, ed R Kilmann and T Covin, pp 10230, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA Woodward, J (1968) Resistance to change, Management International Review, 8, pp 7893
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Part V
Enhancing Customer Relations
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The Essence of Customer Relations
The elite customer service companies: design the right offers and experiences for the right customers; deliver these propositions by focusing the whole company on them; develop their capabilities creating new capabilities, establishing direct accountabilities and constant renewal. Allen, J, Reichheld, F F and Hamilton, B (2005) Tuning in to the voice of your customer, Harvard Management Update, October
Customer relations is concerned with all aspects of the ways in which an organization provides goods and services to its external customers and looks after its internal customers. Its essence is the development of a customer-centric culture as explained in the rst section of this chapter. Within that culture the aim is to develop good relationships with customers and provide for high levels of customer service and satisfaction, as described in the next two sections of the chapter. More detailed consideration is given to practical approaches to customer service in Chapter 18.
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processes, systems and routines all the time, to search for incremental improvements, even to think of radically different ways of delivering service enhancements to the customer. As reported by Sarah Cook and Colin Bates (2002), organizations such as Virgin and US retailer Nordstorm have created a customer-orientated culture by developing strong brands with powerful brand promises:
Through listening to customer needs and via consultation with employees, they have been able to identify brand values which form the backbone of how they do business with the customer and how employees are managedThe inside out concept starts at the top of the organization. Employees look to the top team to model the desired behaviours Organizations such as Barclays and AT&T have developed leadership behaviours and core competencies which directly reect brand values. These in turn are linked to customer needs. How you lead is how you serve.
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publishes a book of great service stories to help people understand how far they can go to help a customer. Lands End says that what front-line staff do has a far greater impact on customers than what the executive team does, which is why every staff member, including the managing director, works in a front-line job for four hours a week for the busy six weeks before Christmas. This reminds everyone of the importance of the front-line jobs and demonstrates to front-line staff that everyone else understands and values what they do. Lands End believes that where jobs are repetitive or less challenging, it is particularly important to provide some challenge and fun. And if it isnt possible to give people a choice as to the type of work they do, they can be given a choice as to how they do it. So, for example, in the Lands End call centre, unlike many others, good performance is not primarily measured by the number of calls, call duration or the amount of time a person is available to take a call. If a customer wants a service assistant to go to the distribution centre, pick the item they want to buy, call them back and describe the feel of the garment, then that is what the assistant does. The company invests more heavily in staff training and giving people more responsibility than in putting in controls.
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Michael Porter believes that service and the value provided to the customer are integral and key parts of the chain, leading to competitive advantage. Customer relationship marketing involves the provision of service support activities that will be perceived by the customer as being of unique value, thus extending the offer beyond the customers expectations and contributing to a shift in the customers perception of the organization. Service support includes such activities as pre-sale information, objective advice, care and attention during the sales negotiation, nancing options, and after sales support in the form of warranties, accessories, repair centres and help lines. The development of customer relationship management requires the alignment of the three activities of marketing, customer service and quality. The starting point is to chart the service delivery system and to identify critical service issues by research and analysis of customer wants, needs and reactions, as described in the next section. Service standards are then set for each part of the system, especially the encounter points the critical events in the system when the customer comes face to face with the service process. Monitoring systems are developed, which check how well the service standards are being achieved and programmes are established for maintaining continuing good relationships with customers on the basis of this control information. Above all, customer relationship marketing has to focus on the organizations staff in all functions product development, operations, distribution and support services, as well as sales and marketing. Their responsibility for building and maintaining good relationships with customers should be constantly emphasized and supported by training and the performance management and reward systems.
CRM systems
CRM (customer relationship management) systems are used by businesses to manage the information they gather on their customers and so enhance the quality of their customer relationships. Their main purposes are rst to improve the speed and efciency with which customer queries are addressed and resolved, and secondly to analyse customer data to predict their behaviour, nd ways to make them more protable and ensure that customer loyalty is enhanced. CRM is sometimes described as one-to-one marketing because it enables businesses to focus on meeting the needs of individual customers who can be differentiated according to their buying habits and offered a personalized service. Customers are always a moving target and CRM systems can keep track of them. Much of the thinking behind CRM is based on the 20/80 rule that the top 20 per cent of an organizations customers account for 80 per cent of its revenues. A CRM system contains a database that provides the company with the means to target advertising and mailshots because a better understanding has been achieved of the buying habits and wants of individual customers. Telesales can be facilitated by providing the telesales team
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with immediate access to customer information. Queries and complaints can be handled more easily from the online customer database. A CRM system is based on a number of software applications. It starts with an integrated front-ofce system. This is used by the people in immediate contact with customers, ie those in sales, marketing and customer service (helpline) teams. Customer information can be viewed on screen and relevant data can be captured for future reference. In addition, the system can provide a data warehouse and data mining tools. Customer information obtained at the front-line level is fed into the data warehouse. There, the information is used to identify customer behaviour, and from that behaviour, product and service conguration, sales and marketing strategies and loyalty schemes can be devised and directed to specic customers. A complete CRM system contains four distinct sub-processes that feed into each other in a loop: 1. Data gathering customer data is gathered and organized by segment. Data on customer purchasing patterns and complaints is particularly important. 2. Data analysis and value identication the segmented data are analysed to provide information on customer motivations and behaviour. 3. Value delivery the new insights obtained by the analysis are used to indicate where changes to the marketing mix (product, price, promotion and place) are required. 4. Monitoring, feedback and control ensuring that the changes are viable and make overall strategic sense.
Customer service
Good customer relations largely depend on good customer service all the activities carried out by organizations that meet customer needs and expectations. It is concerned with both external customers who purchase goods or services and internal customers within an organization who rely on the services provided by others to carry out their work. Customer needs will be expressed in terms of the types of products or services they want. Expectations will consist of what customers believe to be a satisfactory level of quality and reliable service in terms of providing what they want (service delivery), attention to their needs, value for money, speed in dealing satisfactorily with orders, enquiries and requests, level of support and after-sales service, and willingness to listen to complaints and respond to them. An external customer who makes a purchase enters into a relationship with the supplier or provider, who is obliged to meet the customers expectations if they want to create a satised customer. External customers can be distinguished from: (1) users, who simply take advantage of a service that is available to them, eg the National Health Service; (2) clients with whom
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suppliers, eg management consultants, enter into a duciary relationship for the provision of paid advice or other services; and (3) payers who, for example, are members of an accounts payable department and arrange the payment, eventually, for something another person has purchased. Users and clients expect good service and should be provided with the same level of service as other customers. Payers need to be treated with courtesy even if an invoice from a supplier has not been paid for three months or more (it may not be their fault). Internal customers also have relationships with their colleagues that involve expectations about levels of service. Customer service is concerned with both product (what the customer actually gets) and process (the way in which the service is delivered). These two facets of customer service are closely interlinked. Customer satisfaction is only attained if they are both attended to. It is not enough simply to offer what the organization believes to be good products or services to external customers. An organization will only succeed if its products or services meet consumer or user requirements. These may be expressed as service standards or targets in public sector or not-for-prot organizations, or quality, value for money and service level expectations in private sector companies. If these are not met, a public or not-for-prot sector organization will be deemed to have failed in achieving its purposes, with adverse consequences for its future. In the private sector, poor levels of customer service will result in inability to attract and, importantly, retain customers, and thus falling sales and therefore protability, again with undesirable consequences for the management and staff of such organizations.
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repeat sales through increased customer loyalty; better opportunities for communicating effectively with customers to increase sales; more scope to identify the potential for increasing revenue from existing customers; increased revenue and prot through targeting sales to customer needs; more revenue due to the ability of sales staff to concentrate on calling on higher-revenue prospects; better and more efcient arrangements for service delivery and therefore lower staff and administration costs.
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developing customer service skills and inuencing the behaviour of staff to customers; setting up customer service centres and websites; providing after-sales service help, advice, repair and maintenance; dealing with customer queries and complaints; measuring the effectiveness of customer service and taking remedial action when necessary.
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but hate endless delays in getting through listening to The Four Seasons and to seemingly insincere assurances that their custom is valued. They like to talk to human beings who will respond to their query or complaint. Courtesy customers require politeness, respect, consideration and friendliness from the people they contact over the counter, in a call centre or when faced with a service problem. Communication it is essential to keep customers informed in language they can understand about the product or service and how they can make quick and easy contact if they have a problem. It should be obvious that when they make contact they are listened to so that their specic query is dealt with quickly. Credibility customers are more likely to be satised if they nd as a result of their experiences that the supplier or provider is trustworthy, believable and honest. This is based on the knowledge and courtesy displayed by staff and their ability to inspire trust and condence. Security customers want to be condent that the product or service will be safe. Tangibles physical facilities, equipment and staff appearance.
References
Cook, S and Bates, C (2002) How to create a customer orientated culture, Customer Management, 10 (2), pp 3032 e-Reward (2004) Research Report on Lands End, e-Reward, Stockport Johns, E, Wirtz, J and Johnston, R (2003) Singapore Airlines and the service template, Customer Management, May/June, pp 3841, and September/October, pp 3841
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Levitt, T (1983) The Marketing Imagination, The Free Press, New York Porter, M (1980) Competitive Strategy, The Free Press, New York Stone, M (1997) Evaluating the protability of customer service, in The Gower Handbook of Customer Service, ed P Marley, pp 316, Gower, Aldershot
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Delivering High Levels of Customer Service
To achieve world-class customer service a business must: 1. Deliver what it promises. 2. Provide a personal touch. 3. Go the extra mile if it has to. 4. Resolve problems well. Ted Johns, Chairman, Institute of Customer Service
High levels of customer service are achieved and maintained by developing and implementing a customer service strategy, building a customer-centric culture, dening the attitudes, skills and behaviours in relation to customers required by staff, and ensuring that employees adopt those attitudes, possess the necessary skills and behave appropriately when in contact with customers. The Institute of Customer Service (ICS) model for world class service (Figure 18.1) provides a comprehensive basis for the development and implementation of customer service strategies and processes. A systematic approach is required to ensure the delivery of high standards of customer service for external customers. Fundamentally, as described in the last chapter, this means that the organization has to pay close attention to customer relationship management creating and maintaining good relationships with customers in order to ensure that they will continue to want the goods or services provided by the organization because their expectations have been met. It is not enough for a commercial company to obtain customers, they must be retained as well by establishing a continuing relationship that satises their needs and thus contributes to business success. This attitude to customer service is just as important in organizations in the public sector
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Figure 18.1 The ICS model for world class service such as local authorities and NHS Trusts, where they are expected to achieve dened customer service standards. Not-for-prot organizations such as housing associations and charities are equally concerned with meeting the needs of their customers or clients, for example when they contract with an international or public sector organization to provide certain services. The approach outlined above is the basis for the other customer service activities discussed in this chapter, namely: developing a customer service strategy; assessing customer needs and expectations; identifying target customers; communicating the availability and benets of goods and services; measuring customer satisfaction and entering into dialogues with customers; developing products and services that will meet customer needs and increase or at least maintain customer satisfaction; providing the required infrastructure for customer service; evaluating models of customer service; setting standards for customer service; monitoring the delivery of those standards;
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taking whatever steps are required to build customer satisfaction and therefore to keep customers; developing customer service skills and appropriate behaviours.
The actions necessary to meet the needs of internal customers are also examined in this chapter.
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Marketing research
Marketing research provides information on consumer tastes, preferences and buying habits. Importantly, it can identify consumer beliefs, opinions and attitudes not only about products and services but also about the level and type of customer service provided.
Sampling
Sampling involves the analysis of attitudes, opinions and facts about products or services planned or on offer from a representative sample of people in the total population. The typical technique is random sampling, which means picking the people from whom information is to be obtained on the basis that every individual has an equal chance of being selected.
Interviewing
Face-to-face interviews enable direct contact to be made with potential users to nd out who is most likely to want to buy the product. Interviews can be structured (ie the interviewer has to cover predetermined areas) or unstructured (ie in-depth interviews that aim to obtain information on feelings and attitudes).
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Panels
Panels measure the consumer behaviour of a representative sample of individuals or households over extended periods. The two basic methods are home audits, in which levels of household stocks of specied products are checked, and diaries, in which panel members record all purchases made.
Communicating to customers
It is necessary to inform customers of what is on offer and how it will satisfy their needs.
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Customer questionnaires
Customer questionnaires are a commonly used method of measuring satisfaction. Answers are often obtained just after the service has taken place, for example staying in a hotel or purchasing a car. Customers are asked to assess the service provided on a rating scale covering such aspects as helpfulness, courtesy, meeting needs, delivering as promised and the overall quality of the services provided. The questionnaires are analysed, the analysis is fed back to staff, and steps are taken to deal with any problems. Customer questionnaires provide immediate reactions but they may only be completed by an unrepresentative sample of customers, for example those who were highly satised or dissatised.
Customer surveys
Customer surveys, often conducted by specialized consumer research rms, cover a much wider and more balanced sample of customers. They can be carried out by means of face-to-face interviews, postal questionnaires or through the internet. Surveys will ask questions or get customers to respond on a scale (eg fully agree, generally agree, disagree) to statements such as: Staff are polite. Staff are helpful. Customer requests are dealt with politely and promptly. Staff do not provide individual attention. You have to wait ages to get through to someone in the company by telephone. Staff return your calls quickly.
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Customer surveys are best conducted regularly in order to analyse trends. Results should be fed back to staff so that action can be taken. But surveys, like questionnaires, cover only shoppers who buy, and therefore they do not identify any aspects of customer service that put customers off.
Employee feedback
Employees can be encouraged to feed back to management and each other anything they have learnt about customer concerns and attitudes.
Popularity of measures
A survey conducted by CRL Solutions (Measuring Customer Satisfaction: The Views of Customer Service Professionals, 2002) established that enquiries and complaints data were the most popular method of measuring customer satisfaction, followed by telephone surveys, employee feedback and mail surveys.
Use of measures
Measures are only useful if they lead to action. That is why any data collected must be distributed to management and all staff concerned with customer service, which might mean every employee. Processes need to be established to allow people to learn from the data and do something about it. These might consist of regular meetings to review customer service issues or improvement groups (groups set up to deliver continuous improvement programmes, see Chapter 19).
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Measures should be used to identify customers at risk. It is also desirable to segment customers according to their value to the organization. An important aim of customer satisfaction surveys should be to maximize the satisfaction and loyalty of those customers making the most signicant contribution to protability. It is advisable to record trends so that improvements or declines in satisfaction can be noted, allowing improvements to be maintained and declines arrested.
In each case, it is necessary to ensure that the arrangements are customer friendly and provide the basis for achieving high standards of customer service.
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Call centres
Call centres use specially trained staff to handle sales, enquiries and orders by telephone. They usually focus more on gaining new customers than on services for existing customers.
Websites
Websites are used by many companies (eg Amazon) to enhance customer service. They are also useful sources of data on customers as part of a CRM system.
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promise so that they can appear to over-achieve. A service level agreement denes the nature of the service(s) provided, the volumes and quality to be achieved by each of the services, and the response times to be achieved by the providers when their services are requested. Service level agreements are most commonly found in the public sector but they are equally applicable elsewhere. They can operate between providers and either external or internal customers.
Telesales
Businesses selling products such as double glazing often rely to a large extent on doing so by means of unsolicited telephone calls. The proportion of sales in relation to calls made by this direct approach may appear to be small, but as long as well-trained, highly motivated and persistent staff are used, this method pays off.
Accounts management
Businesses with customers who buy heavily and continuously from them may appoint accounts managers whose job is to nurse customers and ensure that their needs are met and any problems are resolved swiftly. Accounts managers monitor sales and levels of service and take action if sales decline or levels of service show signs of slipping.
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The standards form the basis for guidelines to staff on what they should achieve and for monitoring service levels. The areas covered can include: Order processing speed of response and delivery of products ordered by customers, including replacement parts and requests for service. Response rates can be measured by recording the proportion of letters or calls answered in a dened number of hours or days, and delivery standards can be expressed as the time taken between taking the order and delivery. Standards can also be set for the backlog of unprocessed orders at the end of a day or week (ideally none, but a small incidence of backlog orders may be allowed in peak periods, eg before Christmas) or when order fullment is highly complex. Quality of relationships with customers how customers should be approached and responded to; how complaints should be dealt with; the information that should be provided in response to enquiries; and the levels of service to be achieved in terms of reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, understanding customers and dealing with difcult customers. Complaints assessed by reference to the number of complaints as a proportion of total orders, the backlog of complaints, the proportion of complaints dealt with satisfactorily when rst raised and the quality of response to complaints. Service and call centres assessed through call pick-up rates (proportion of calls answered in so many seconds or within a certain number of rings), lost call rates (proportion of in-bound calls lost), proportion of problems resolved at rst contact, backlogs (number of orders, enquiries or complaints outstanding at the end of a day or week), and quality of response to enquiries or complaints.
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Mystery shopping
Mystery shopping enables the quality of customer service to be assessed at the critical point at which customers come into contact with sales staff in a retail or service outlet or over the telephone. People (usually from market research rms) are sent into a retail outlet to observe how they were treated. Or they may make a telephone enquiry. They then record their observations of how well or badly they were handled against a set of basic standards covering such aspects of service as friendly reception, paying attention to the shoppers wants, helpfulness, knowledge of the product, willingness to listen and respond to the customers requests and queries, and avoiding pressurized sales techniques.
Internal customers
An internal customer is anyone who makes use of the outputs or services provided by other departments or individuals in the organization. This means everyone all employees are customers of other employees and they all provide services to other employees. Some departments such as IT, HR and facilities management exist primarily to provide professional or technical services directly to other departments. Some departments exist to produce outputs upon which other departments rely to achieve their objectives. Research and development has to deliver products that can be promoted and sold by marketing and sales departments. Production or operating departments exist to deliver the products or services that are required by sales to meet customer demands. Marketing and sales departments produce the information on forecast demand that enables production and operating departments to plan their activities. J M Juran (1989), the quality guru, has stated that: meeting the needs of internal customers is a prerequisite for meeting the needs of external customers. If, for example, marketing gets its sales forecasts wrong or manufacturing fails to meet the requirements specied by sales, then
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it is the level of service to external customers that suffers and this has a negative impact on satisfaction and loyalty. The basic approach to creating high standards of service for internal customers is to dene how the different parts of the organization interrelate and spell out who serves whom and who receives service from whom. It is then necessary to ensure that all the parties concerned know how important service to internal customers is and what is expected of them from their internal customers. This can be dened formally as a service level agreement. For example, an agreement for an HR department could set out standards under the following headings: level of response to requests for help or guidance in areas such as recruitment, training, handling disciplinary cases and grievances, and health and safety; the time taken to prepare and agree role proles, ll vacancies or conduct a job evaluation exercise; the quality of candidates submitted for appointments; the proportion of discipline or grievance issues settled at the rst time HR is involved; the number of appeals (successful and unsuccessful) against job grading decisions; the results of evaluations of training carried out by participants in training programmes; the outcomes of employee attitude surveys.
Attitudes
Customer service excellence is achieved by people whose attitudes can be summed up in the phrase put the customer rst. They must believe that they exist because customers exist and that being responsive to customer needs and expectations is a vital part of their role.
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Skills
The main skills required are: interpersonal skills ability to relate well to people during person-to-person contacts; listening skills ability to pay attention to people, absorb what they are saying and react appropriately; communication skills ability to explain matters to customers clearly and with conviction and to handle telephone conversations; complaints handling skills ability to deal with complaints and handle angry customers.
Knowledge
Knowledge will be required of the product or service offered by the organization. This could be quite advanced knowledge enabling individuals to identify and deal with faulty equipment or provide technical advice. It will also be necessary to understand the customer service systems and procedures used in the organization.
Behaviours
The following are examples of the sort of behaviours typically required of anyone involved in customer service: Be helpful, polite, friendly and positive with customers. When dealing with customers, smile, make eye contact and look and sound enthusiastic. Speak clearly. Show personal interest. Show sympathy with customers making complaints listen to what the customer has to say, establish the facts, agree what needs to be done, and keep the customer informed. Provide information immediately or let customers know when they can expect it. Keep promises. Answer telephones promptly. Reply to e-mails, voicemail messages and letters quickly. Concentrate on the needs of customers, not on what is easiest to sell.
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According to OConnor (2003) the top 10 behaviours are: 1. Takes time to understand the specic needs, requirements and any current pressures the customer may be under. 2. Shows an immediate understanding of the problem and the possible consequences. 3. Demonstrates empathy. 4. Generates a range of solutions to address a difculty. 5. Uses organizational policy to guide the solutions rather than to act as blocks, or worse, reasons not to assist the customer. 6. Takes decisions quickly. 7. Is honest about the situation and what the organization can do to help. 8. Looks for ways to delight the customer. 9. Demonstrates an understanding of the commercial implications of decisions taken. 10. Seeks the appropriate guidance where required and does this efciently, retaining ownership of the customer.
Competencies
Organizations with competency frameworks frequently use customer service as one of the headings. An analysis carried out by Rankin (2002) of the core competency frameworks of 40 employers showed that the second equal most common heading was Customer Focus, used in 65 per cent of the organizations surveyed. Dening competency levels for customer service is a good way of expressing the values and requirements of the organization for customer care. It provides the basis for recruitment, training and development programmes, and performance management and recognition and reward schemes. Two examples are given below.
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Britannic Assurance
Level 2
Offer exible service, taking time to build a rapport and assess customer needs. Present a range of alternative options to your customers. Put yourself in the customers shoes.
Level 3
Are always prepared to go the extra mile to deliver the highest quality service, on time, every time. Identify customer needs beyond those expressly stated. Establish a personal relationship based on understanding their personality and individual traits. Offer a commitment to customer service excellence and can spot when things are going off track.
Level 4
Identify new and emerging areas of service and seize on these as opportunities. Conceive schemes which are mutually benecial to the customer and other stakeholders. Act as the customers champion, constantly driving the business forward in delivering service. Persuade others to see things from a customers point of view.
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Peabody Trust
Manage Customer Service Provide high levels of service to internal and external customers in accordance with exacting standards Level Standard Positive behavioural indicators Meets expressed needs of customers. Negative behavioural indicators Has no appreciation of customer needs or pressures. Doesnt listen to customers. Unaware of customer needs. Passes enquiries when they should have taken action themselves. Fails to respond to customer requests or queries. Does not deliver the standards of service customers have the right to expect. Customer enquiries and complaints are not attended to swiftly. Gets negative feedback from customers.
Handles customer queries effectively and knows where to channel queries in the organization. Understands customer problems. Identies potential opportunities to help customers. Asks customers how services could be improved. Builds collaborative relationships with customers. Establishes high levels of trust amongst customers as witnessed by customer feedback.
Contribute to the development of customer service standards in the department and play an active part in achieving them. Contribute to the development of customer services in the function and play an active part in achieving them.
Develops extensive Too little concerned with customer networks. setting and monitoring Sets standards of cuscustomer service. tomer service and ensures they are met.
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Manage Customer Service Provide high levels of service to internal and external customers in accordance with exacting standards Level 6 Standard Lead and promote a culture which recognizes the importance of meeting the needs of both internal and external customers in key aspects of the Trusts operations. Positive behavioural indicators Actively involved in promoting high levels of customer service across the organization. Continuously monitors customer service levels and takes swift corrective action when necessary. Negative behavioural indicators Takes a narrow view of customer service. Not concerned with wider issues.
Recruitment
At the recruitment stage the aim should be to obtain people with the right attitudes to customer service who are potentially likely to behave effectively in delivering customer services. The role specication should indicate what attitudes and competencies are required and the interview plan should set out what evidence will be sought on behavioural patterns. This can form the basis for a behavioural-based, structured interview in which candidates are asked to tell the interviewer how they would behave in situations that have been identied as critical to successful performance with regard to customer contacts, for example how they would deal with an angry customer, internal or external. Businesses such as Selfridges use psychological tests to provide additional information.
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Key purpose
Deliver continuous improvement in service to achieve customer satisfaction. Maintain reliable customer service. Maintain records relating to customer service. Organize own work pattern in response to the needs of customers. Work with others to benet the customer. Communicate with customers. Select information for communication to customers. Improve the ow of information between the organization and customers. Adapt methods of communication to the customer. Develop positive working relationships with customers. Respond to the needs and feelings expressed by the customer. Present positive personal image to the customer.
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Balance the needs of customers and the organization. Solve problems on behalf of customers. Identify and interpret problems affecting customers. Generate solutions on behalf of customers. Take action to deliver solutions. Initiate and evaluate change to improve service to customers. Obtain and use feedback from customers. Propose improvements in service delivery based on feedback from customers. Initiate change in response to customer requirements.
Performance management
Competency frameworks such as those illustrated in the last section can be used as the basis for performance management processes. Dialogues between managers or team leaders and their staff can take place that achieve understanding of customer service performance expectations and how they can be met. Periodical reviews take place (not just once a year) that refer to agreed expectations and how individuals have actually performed. The dialogue in review meetings covers any changes in behaviour required and how those changes should be achieved by individuals with the support of their manager.
Reward
Rewards are used to recognize and motivate appropriate behaviour. They can be nancial (some form of performance or contribution pay) or non-nancial (some form of recognition). Formal recognition programmes can be more effective than awarding pay increases or bonuses. Programmes can provide for applause, which publicly recognizes exceptional performance in house journals, the intranet or notice boards. This can include naming people as employee of the month, or more comprehensibly, highlighting what they have actually done to achieve such recognition. Recognition programmes can include various forms of gifts, certicates, badges and appearance at presentations.
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References
Johnston, R (2002) Why service excellence = reputation = increased prots, Customer Management, 10 (2), pp 811 Juran, J M (1989) Juran on Leadership for Quality, The Free Press, New York OConnor, Z (2003) The human touch, Topics, ER Consultants, pp 810 Rankin, N (2002) Raising performance through people: the ninth competency survey, Competency & Emotional Intelligence, January, pp 221
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Part VI
Enabling Continuous Improvement
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Continuous Improvement
Develop programmes for continuous improvement of costs, quality, productivity and service. William Deming (1986) Out of the Crisis, MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Boston, MA
The notion of continuous improvement is based on the Japanese concept of kaizen, which is a composite of the word kai (meaning change) and zen (meaning good or for the better). The kaizen management style relies on a foundation of gradual change, building up a culture of quality awareness and constant learning. This chapter starts by examining the nature of continuous improvement and continues by dealing in turn with its requirements, framework and programmes. The chapter ends with examples of approaches to continuous improvement.
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products or services should be provided and, importantly, where the levels of customer service and satisfaction need to be enhanced. Continuous the search for improvement is never-ending; it is not a one-off campaign to deal with isolated problems. Incremental continuous improvement is not about making sudden quantum leaps in response to crisis situations; it is about adopting a steady, step-by-step approach to improving the ways in which the organization goes about doing things. Innovation continuous improvement is concerned with developing new ideas and approaches to deal with new and sometimes old problems and requirements.
Continuous improvement is closely associated with quality control and assurance, as described in the next chapter, but these are concerned more with prevention and cure than positive incremental improvements. However, the concept of continuous improvement is fundamental to the philosophy of total quality management, as also described in the next chapter. Although continuous improvement is essentially incremental it can result in organizational transformation. This is the process of ensuring that the organization can develop and implement major change programmes that will ensure that it responds strategically to new demands and continues to function in the dynamic atmosphere in which it operates.
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Never-ending or continuous improvement is probably the most powerful concept to guide management. It is a term not well understood in many organisations, although that must begin to change if those organisations are to survive. To maintain a wave of interest in quality, it is necessary to develop generations of managers who not only understand but are dedicated to the pursuit of never-ending improvement in meeting external and internal customer needs.
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Leadership
Top management provides the leadership and direction and ensures that their vision for continuous improvement is conveyed to everyone in the organization. They communicate the values underpinning continuous improvement as set out in the next section and see that people live those values. Middle management and supervision support the concept of continuous improvement and are actively engaged in the programmes and processes involved.
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Trusting people management must trust employees to act independently and employees must trust management not to exploit their ideas to their detriment. This trust must be earned. Management must deliver their promises and employees, with guidance, encouragement and help, must show that they can be trusted to get on with it. Cooperation Oakland (1998) has stated that in an environment of cooperation a greater variety of complex problems can be tackled, which are beyond the capability of any one individual or department. Processes and problems are exposed to a greater diversity of knowledge, skill and experience and are addressed more efciently; this is particularly important when the problem extends across departmental boundaries. Openness progress is more likely to be made if information is shared, opinions are voiced without fear or favour and people are honest with one another.
Structure
The organizational structure should support continuous improvement values. A rigid functional organization is likely to prevent this happening. A more exible, team-based structure is likely to foster cooperation and ensure that the collective wisdom of a number of people is brought to bear on problems. These can be permanent teams within departments or, usefully, cross-functional teams. Groups can be assembled that are dedicated to reviewing the scope for improvements and making specic recommendations on what needs to be done. Extended teams can be set up that include customers and suppliers. Diverse contacts outside a persons own group can enhance innovation and the generation of ideas.
Process
Process is concerned with the way things get done around here. It refers to how effort is directed and coordinated, how planning and control take place, how decisions are made and how inuence is exercised. If they function effectively, all these processes can contribute to the achievement of continuous improvement.
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High-performance culture
A high-performance culture is conducive to continuous improvement. The characteristics of such a culture were described in Chapter 6.
Take steps to improve task performance. Improve work methods to achieve higher levels of efciency. Ensure that quality considerations are given proper attention. Develop new procedures and systems for carrying out work. Identify areas for improvement and take action to achieve improvement plans. Give close and continuous attention to the delivery of high-quality services.
Continually strives to improve Not interested in task performance. doing anything Makes suggestions to manager different. on better ways of carrying out the work.
Prepared to try doing things differently. Aware of quality standards and takes steps to ensure service delivery.
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Table 19.1 continued Manage Continuous Improvement Constantly seeks ways of improving the quality of services, the relevance and appeal of these services to the needs of customers/clients, and the effectiveness of support and operational systems Level Standard Positive behavioural indicators Negative behavioural indicators Doesnt try anything that hasnt been done before.
Set targets for improvement. Deliver and implement programmes for introducing change. Contribute to the development of quality assurance and control processes and ensure they are implemented. Develop and oversee the implementation of quality assurance and control processes. Develop and monitor continuous improvement programmes and stimulate action as required. Contribute to the successful outcomes of the management of change. Contribute to the development of a culture which encourages innovation and continuous improvement. Manage major change programmes in areas of responsibility.
Encourages the development of new ideas and methods, especially those to do with the provision of quality services. Conscious of the factors that enable change to take place smoothly. Discusses ideas with colleagues and customers and formulates view on how to improve services and processes. Understands the need to seek ideas from outside own experience. Takes action to ensure that change is accepted and implemented. Continually seeks to improve. Generates different options and assesses the risks and implications of pursuing them.
Follows previous practices without considering whether there is any need for change.
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Table 19.1 continued Manage Continuous Improvement Constantly seeks ways of improving the quality of services, the relevance and appeal of these services to the needs of customers/clients, and the effectiveness of support and operational systems Level Standard Positive behavioural indicators Negative behavioural indicators Accepts the status quo. Risk averse.
Lead the development of a culture which encourages innovation and continuous improvement. Manage major change programmes affecting the Trust as a whole.
Challenges people and inbuilt prejudices. Is prepared to take risks and challenge assumptions.
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they are going to grant them greater responsibility and authority. Empowered employees, similarly, have to trust those in senior positions not to take advantage of employees ideas to cut jobs. Information is a key component of the creation of greater trust (CIRCA, 1998). 4. Process: The processes used in continuous improvement include individual problemseeking activities, problem-solving groups, suggestion schemes and company-wide campaigns to promote continuous improvement. Continuous improvement does not simply happen by itself. It has to be encouraged and facilitated by management action. 5. Tools: Continuous improvement is enhanced by the use of the various problem-solving tools available for individuals and groups. These include Pareto diagrams and cause and effect diagrams, as described later in this chapter, and various statistical tools such as control charts and scatter diagrams. Benchmarking is another important tool used to establish standards for continuous improvement. Groups can use brainstorming techniques to develop ideas.
The approach to continuous improvement programmes starts with a strategy that forms the basis for the development of an infrastructure of teams, processes and systems and for the conduct of the work of continuously reviewing and improving processes and systems and the ways in which they are managed.
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(2) determine the effects of current practices; (3) identify problems and their causes; (4) decide on actions; (5) prepare a programme for implementation; and (6) dene resources required, including the infrastructure.
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done now it cant wait. Empowerment is highly desirable but there will be occasions when management has to take the lead and make the decisions.
Problem-solving
Problem-solving is carried out in ten steps: 1. Dene the situation establish what has gone wrong or is about to go wrong. 2. Specify objectives dene what is to be achieved. 3. Develop hypotheses develop ideas about what has caused the problem. 4. Get the facts nd out what has actually happened and contrast this with an assessment of what ought to have happened. 5. Analyse the facts determine what is relevant and what is irrelevant and diagnose the likely causes of the problem. 6. Identify possible courses of action spell out what each involves. 7. Evaluate alternative courses of action assess the extent to which they are likely to achieve the objectives, the cost of implementation, any practical difculties that might emerge and the possible reactions of stakeholders. 8. Weigh and decide determine which alternative is likely to result in the most practical and acceptable solution to the problem.
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9. Plan implementation timetable, project management resources required. 10. Implement monitor progress and evaluate success.
staff attitude
materials
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restaurant skills
facilities
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Pareto charts
Pareto charts are used to focus on key problems. They are based on Paretos Law. Pareto, an Italian economist, observed that 20 per cent of the population owned 80 per cent of the wealth. In the 1940s Dr Joseph Juran recognized a universal principle that he called the vital few and trivial many. This principle that 20 per cent of something produces 80 per cent of the results became generally known as Paretos Law. In his original work, Juran noted that 20 per cent of the defects caused 80 per cent of the problems. Many investigations have revealed that this law applies more generally; for example 80 per cent of stock comes from 20 per cent of
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suppliers, 80 per cent of sales come from 20 per cent of sales staff. It is also sometimes argued that 20 per cent of an organizations staff will produce 80 per cent of its problems, but it works the other way round too, ie another 20 per cent of staff will produce 80 per cent of added value. The principle has also been applied to the process of management, suggesting that people should identify the 20 per cent of the important things they do during a day and concentrate more on these than the remaining 80 per cent. The problem is that of identifying the vital 20 per cent, and Pareto charts are used for this purpose. They illustrate the relative importance of problems by showing their frequency or size in a descending bar graph, as illustrated in Figure 19.2. They are constructed by listing the problems and then assessing how signicant they are in relation to one another.
50 percentage of problems 40 30 20 10 0
slow service
mistakes on bill
rude waiter
limited menu
cost of wine
food
cause of problems
Brainstorming
Brainstorming gets a group to generate as many ideas as possible without pausing to evaluate them. The rationale for the process is that people are more likely to come up with ideas if they are not subjected to criticism or even ridicule. Any idea goes and no one is allowed to comment on what others say. The aim is to produce as many ideas as possible. The majority (possibly 80 per cent) are likely to be useless, but some possible ideas (20 per cent perhaps) will emerge. Evaluation of the ideas only takes place after the session has nished and no one gets the credit for any accepted ideas or the blame for any of those rejected.
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Benchmarking
Benchmarking involves identifying good practice in other organizations, comparing these practices with practices within the benchmarkers own organization, and drawing conclusions on the lessons learnt from good practice elsewhere that can be applied within the organization. The comparisons concentrate on the areas for improvement that have been identied and the aim is to learn as much as possible about how other organizations have tackled similar problems, bearing in mind that what works well in one organization does not necessarily work well in another.
These broad areas may be dened more closely in terms of specic targets for such requirements as reducing errors, speeding up processes or responding to customer complaints. 4. Plan the project this involves planning: fact collection and analysis; diagnosis of the causes of problems; development of solutions; implementation of the changes; and review of the results.
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5. Fact collection and analysis the aim is to understand the process or system, which means getting the facts about how it works (or does not work). The questions asked at this stage include: What does the process do?, What are the stages of the process?, What are the inputs and outputs of the process?, Who are the suppliers and customers (internal and external) of the process?, Are there any problems with the process? Use is made of ow charts, which provide a picture of the process by tracing each of its stages and their interconnections. 6. Dene the problem on the basis of the analysis, describe what the problem is and what impact it makes. Use Pareto charts to describe the relative signicance of the problems so that attention can be focused on them during the diagnostic stage. 7. Diagnose causes use problem-solving techniques and cause and effect diagrams to establish the cause or causes of the problems. 8. Develop solutions ideas are generated for solutions by studying the facts and the diagnosis and by investigating alternative ways of doing things based on the groups experience supplemented by specic enquiries and reading the appropriate literature. Critical evaluation techniques are used to identify solutions. The group may decide at this stage to benchmark, ie nd out how other organizations are tackling the problem (problems are seldom unique). 9. Implement the solution the Plan-Do-Check-Act sequence described earlier in this chapter is adopted to implement the selected solution. Dene exactly what changes need to be introduced, the sequence of activities required to make them, the responsibilities for implementation, the resources required and the timetable. 10. Monitor review and evaluate the impact of the changes, answering the following questions: Were the expected benets achieved? If not, what needs to be done about it? What lessons can be learnt? How can we ensure that the improvements are maintained (hold the gains)?
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Indifference or hostility to continuous improvement changes from staff can be countered by recognizing that it is a situation that requires systematic change management approaches, including communication, involvement and training. These are considered in Chapter 16.
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Local authorities
Merthyr Tydl County Borough Council has set up a continuous improvement programme to achieve excellence by encouraging staff to make improvement suggestions. There are about 50 teams working to suggest and create improvements. One of the four key corporate priorities at North Somerset Council is to ensure that the customer is at the heart of the Councils approach to service delivery. The aim is to improve the Audit Commissions Performance Assessment. Indicators have been developed such as the proportion of people who say that they received friendly and polite service when they approached the Council, the percentage of telephone calls answered within 15 seconds, the number of people who think the Council keeps them well informed, and the percentage of invoices that were paid promptly.
Service Serco
As one of the worlds leading service companies, Serco has dened its approach to continuous improvement as follows:
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Competitive pressure creates a continuous challenge to generate fresh ideas to win and retain contracts. The challenge is to create an environment and culture that recognise the need for continual improvement and innovation in the way we develop our service throughout the life cycle of each contract. The following elements drive continuous improvement: Strategic planning the contract development plan, cost reduction strategy and procurement strategy. Service management manage customer expectations (demand) and the delivery process (service), improve user interface and communications, introduce better nancial control. Operational delivery introduce and monitor systems that dene service requirements such as service level agreements, produce performance standards and measurements for incorporation into contracts and in service appraisals and continued development of procedural and operating manuals.
External benchmarking is used to gain understanding of how Serco is performing in different areas in comparison to other operations. Internally, the Serco Best Practice Centre has been set up to evaluate the needs of the business, design tools and processes to improve effectiveness, and provide training. It is also responsible for identifying the intellectual property in the organization, capturing that knowledge and using it in the business.
References
Bessant, J et al (1994) Rediscovering continuous improvement, Technovation, 14 (3), pp 1729 The Continuous Improvement Research for Competitive Advantage (CIRCA) Unit (1998) The Framework for Continuous Improvement, Brighton University, Brighton Deming, W E (1986) Out of the Crisis, MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Boston, MA Industrial Relations Services (1997) Variety through continuous improvement, IRS Employment Trends, 624, pp 8-16 Juran, J M (ed) (1988) Quality Control Handbook, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead Oakland, J S (1998) Total Quality Management: The route to improving performance, ButterworthHeinemann, Oxford
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20
Quality Management
Build quality into the product. William Deming (1986) Out of the Crisis, MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Boston, MA
Continuous improvement as described in Chapter 19 is closely associated with quality management. They both aim to deliver excellence to the customer by attaining highquality standards. The difference is that quality management as discussed in this chapter is concerned more with the assurance and control of quality rather than the achievement of incremental improvements by developing new approaches to managing processes and systems. This chapter starts by dening the concepts of quality and quality management and describing the contribution of the quality gurus to it. It continues with a description of the main approaches to quality management (quality assurance, quality control, total quality management and Six Sigma), the use of quality standards, and quality management issues.
Quality dened
There are two views of quality: the traditional internal view, which indicates that a product that meets the standards of the organization should meet the needs of customers, and the more acceptable, current external view that it is customers who decide when a product meets their expectations. These broad descriptions of quality can be expanded as indicated below. Quality can be dened and assessed in the following terms:
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innate excellence; convenience of use; performance; reliability; value for money; level of customer service; tness for purpose; attractive appearance or style; durability; conformance to design specications; uniformity, with small variability.
These characteristics refer to two aspects of product quality: designed quality, which sets the quality that a product is designed to have; and achieved quality, which shows how closely a product comes to meeting the designed quality standard.
W Edwards Deming
Deming (1986) emphasized the importance of customers, the signicance of continuous improvement and the fact that quality is determined by the system. He believed that customer
satisfaction is created by a combination of responsiveness to customers views and needs and continuous improvement of products, services and operational systems. He summarized his views in 14 principles: 1. Create constancy of purpose towards product quality. 2. Refuse to accept customary levels of mistakes, delays, defects and errors. 3. Stop depending on mass inspection and build quality into the product in the rst place. 4. Stop awarding business on the basis of price only reduce the number of suppliers and insist on meaningful measures of quality. 5. Develop programmes for continuous improvement of costs, quality, productivity and service. 6. Institute training for all employees. 7. Focus supervision on helping employees to do a better job. 8. Drive out fear by encouraging two-way communication. 9. Break down barriers between departments and encourage problem-solving through teamwork. 10. Eliminate numerical goals, posters and slogans that demand improvement without saying how it should be achieved. 11. Eliminate arbitrary quotas that interfere with quality. 12. Remove barriers that stop people having pride in their work. 13. Institute vigorous programmes of lifelong education, training and self-improvement. 14. Put everyone to work on implementing these 14 points. Deming suggested that managers are in control of the organization and are responsible for its performance. The quality process is in two parts: the system, over which managers have control and which contributes 80 per cent of the variation in quality, and the workers, who are under their own control and who contribute 20 per cent of the variation in quality. Major variations in quality therefore come from managers improving the system rather than workers improving their performance.
J M Juran
Jurans main contribution to the philosophy of total quality was his concept of managerial breakthrough (Juran, 1988). In the traditional control situation, the typical managerial attitude is that the present level of performance is good enough or cannot be improved. The aim is therefore to perpetuate performance at that level. Management attempts simply to identify and eliminate short-term deviations from the usual performance.
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Juran stated that in the breakthrough situation management adapts a completely different attitude. The belief is held strongly that change is desirable and possible in all aspects of operation. It is up to managers to make the breakthrough. They must recognize and act on the need for what is, in effect, continuous improvement.
Philip B Crosby
Crosby (1978) emphasized that in discussing quality we are dealing with a people situation. He suggested ve factors that govern the management of quality: 1. Quality means conformance, not elegance. 2. There is no such thing as a quality problem. 3. There is no such thing as the economics of quality. It is always cheaper to do the job right rst time. 4. The only performance measurement is the cost of quality. 5. The only performance standard is zero defects.
Quality assurance
Quality assurance aims to build quality into the system. It is based on procedures designed to ensure that the activities carried out in the organization such as design, development, manufacturing and service delivery result in products, services or other outcomes that meet the requirements and needs of customers. The underpinning philosophy of quality assurance is that right methods will produce right results (quality products or services). Quality is also achieved by ensuring that individuals have the skills required to do their jobs. Careful selection, skills training and appropriate allocation of people to jobs are therefore important aspects of quality assurance. Job design is another key aspect of quality assurance. The jobs people do and the level of responsibility they are given must enable them to manage the quality of their outputs themselves without relying on other people, eg inspectors, to do it for them. As Maslow (1954) said: If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do and A job that isnt worth doing isnt worth doing well.
Quality control
Quality control involves the application of data collection and analysis to monitor and measure the extent to which quality assurance requirements have been met in terms of product or service performance and reliability. It can involve detailed procedural documentation that spells out how quality should be achieved and measured. The traditional approach to controlling quality is inspection. Control can be exercised more scientically by means of statistical techniques.
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Zero-defects programmes Zero-defects programmes aim to improve product quality beyond the level that might economically be achieved through statistical procedures. The ultimate aim is to eliminate defects so far as that is conceivably possible. The principal features of such programmes are: Agreement is reached with all concerned on the quality goals to be attained and the quality problems that prevent their achievement. The participation of all those involved in establishing and running the quality programme is organized. Clear targets are set against which improvements can be measured. Procedures are established for providing prompt feedback to employees on their quality achievements. Provision is made for rewards to be given for achieving high-quality standards. Employees are encouraged to make suggestions on causes of errors and remedies, and arrangements are made for ideas to be implemented jointly. Work is organized and jobs designed to facilitate all of the above.
Taguchi methodology This methodology was developed by the Japanese engineer Taguchi. Its main features are to: Push quality back to the design stage because quality control can never compensate for bad design. Emphasize design rather than inspection for control of production. Produce robust products with intrinsic quality and reliability characteristics. Prototype product designs and production processes. Concentrate on the practical engineering, not the statistical niceties of quality control theory.
TQM involves a change of focus from inspections at the end of a process to an emphasis at the planning stage on ensuring that the design allows high quality, and at the operations stage on ensuring that no defects are produced. During the process, operations departments take responsibility for their own quality. There is no separate inspections function. Each person is responsible for passing on units that are of perfect quality. This is quality at source, with job enlargement for operatives who are now responsible for both production and quality management and are rewarded accordingly. The steps for introducing TQM are: 1. Get top management commitment. This is a key feature of TQM. Managers have control of the organization and they must realize that TQM is not another fad that will disappear in a few months, but is a way of thinking that improves long-term performance. 2. Find out what customers really want. Without knowing exactly what customers want it is impossible to design products or offer services that satisfy them. This goes beyond simply asking for opinions, and gets customers involved in the process, perhaps discussing designs in focus groups. 3. Design products with quality in mind. Organizations must design products that are robust and satisfy both internal and external demands. 4. Design the process with quality in mind. The quality of the product depends on the process used to make it, so this must work effectively and efciently to produce perfect quality. 5. Build teams of empowered employees. Quality depends on everyone in the organization, so they should be recognized as the most valuable asset, with appropriate training and motivation. 6. Keep track of results. TQM looks for continuous improvement, with the adjustments to products having a cumulative effect over time. 7. Extend these ideas to suppliers and distributors. Organizations do work in isolation but are part of a supply chain, with the quality of the nal product depending on every link in the chain.
Six Sigma
The main cause of quality problems is variation. To improve quality, variation must be measured, reduced and eventually prevented. Six Sigma, a name coined by Motorola Inc, is a statistical approach to the measurement of variations that has been expanded holistically to cover all aspects of quality in an organization. The Greek letter sigma () is used as a symbol to denote the standard deviation or the measure of variation in a process. Statistically, six sigmas represent the range of values of a population with a normal distribution. Operations can be calibrated in terms of sigma level and the greater the number of sigmas, the fewer the defects.
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The aim is to achieve a quality level of six sigmas. Businesses that want to impress their customers label themselves as Six Sigma organizations. General Electric Co. has carried out an ambitious ve-year programme to promote the quest for six sigmas in all its business activities. The customer satisfaction objective is highly interdisciplinary, encompassing all activities in a modern enterprise. General Electric refers to Six Sigma as a product of learning. In a recent annual report the company stated that: We have invested more than a billion dollars in effort and the nancial returns have now entered the exponential phase. Six Sigma uses a range of quality management and statistical tools to construct a framework for process improvement. The aim is to achieve the sigma level of critical to quality performance measures that meet the needs of customers. This is done by following the sequence denemeasure-analyse-improve-control (DMAIC).
Commentary
Quality management must start with quality assurance, and statistical quality control techniques can be used to check on the standards achieved and indicate where action is required. But quality assurance and quality control methodologies are best carried out within a holistic framework TQM or Six Sigma. The problem with both these approaches is that they depend on strong top management, committed line managers and a continuing programme of communication, encouragement and training to achieve general commitment to the philosophies upon which these are based. This can be difcult to achieve, and if it is not, the impetus for total quality may not be sustainable.
Quality standards
Quality standards provide the basis for developing and measuring the effectiveness of a quality system. Their aim is to encourage organizations to think about their management processes and react to the changing demands placed upon them. The international standard ISO 9000 is the one most generally used. In addition an important quality standard has been produced by the European Foundation for Quality Management the EFQM model.
ISO 9000
The requirements of ISO 9000 are structured under four headings: management responsibility this includes particular responsibilities for ensuring continuous improvement, benchmarking and management review;
resource management this focuses on the effective use of resources, especially matching the skills of individuals to the demands of their jobs (the skill-based rather than procedural documentation approach); process management this includes a requirement for risk analysis, recognition of the interactions between departments (the internal customer chain), capacity to respond to changing customer expectations, formal and documented reviews of capabilities and a focus on the delivery and post-delivery activity (organizations are expected to deliver it right as well as make it right); measurement, analysis and improvement this requires an appropriate measurement system to be in place that captures the adherence, or otherwise, of the product to the standards specied.
Figure 20.1 The EFQM model The nine elements in the model are dened as follows: 1. Leadership how the behaviour and actions of the executive team and all other leaders inspire, support and promote a culture of total quality management. 2. Policy and strategy how the organization formulates, deploys and reviews its policy and strategy and turns it into plans and actions. 3. People management how the organization realizes the full potential of its people. 4. Resources how the organization manages resources effectively and efciently. 5. Processes how the organization identies, manages, reviews and improves its processes.
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6. Customer satisfaction what the organization is achieving in relation to the satisfaction of its external customers. 7. People satisfaction what the organization is achieving in relation to the satisfaction of its people. 8. Impact on society what the organization is achieving in satisfying the needs and the expectations of the local, national and international community at large. 9. Business results what the organization is achieving in relation to its planned business objectives and in satisfying the needs and expectations of everyone with a nancial interest or stake in the organization. Organizations that adopt the EFQM model accept the importance of performance measurement and work all the time to improve the usefulness of their measures, but they also recognize that simply measuring a problem does not improve it. Managers can often devolve their best energies to the analysis, leaving little left for the remedy. It is important to focus on both the enablers and the processes.
nothing to do with them. Others pay lip service to it but dont try very hard. Yet others resent the perceived bureaucracy of quality assurance and quality systems because they see them as taking up unnecessary time and interfering with their work. If interest is not maintained, momentum will cease. So what can be done about it? The rst step is to involve everyone from the start and keep them involved. Contributions to improving quality should be recognized and rewarded. Roles should be designed that emphasize responsibilities for quality and encourage people to be quality conscious. Competency frameworks should include quality and continuous improvement as a major heading, and performance management processes should ensure that the delivery of quality is specically reviewed and assessed. Induction courses should emphasize the importance of quality and continuous learning programmes should equip people with the skills needed to produce quality performance. Bureaucracy should be kept to a minimum. If there are designated quality assurance or quality control specialists they should act on the principle that their job is to help people to deliver quality, not to police their performance.
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References
Crosby, P B (1978) Quality is Free, McGraw-Hill, New York Deming, W E (1986) Out of the Crisis, MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Boston, MA Juran, J M (1988) Quality Control Handbook, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead Maslow, A (1954) Motivation and Personality, Harper & Row, New York
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Appendix
Alignment of Text with Managing for Results: CIPD Professional Standards
Professional standard A
Armstrongs Handbook of Management and Leadership has been aligned with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Developments Managing for Results Professional Standards. The page numbers below indicate where the subject is covered in the text.
262 Appendix
1.14 Industrial and professional codes of practice, procedures, organizational and legal requirements. 1013 1.15 Developing self and others through the identication of individual potential, value, motivation, capabilities and capacity. 8687 1.16 Knowing how to give, receive and act on feedback. 10001 1.17 Methods of management development: self-development, executive coaching, mentoring, personal network, action learning sets. 102, 12122, 12426 1.18 Factors affecting added value contribution. 17 1.19 Signicance of strategic and visionary thinking. 1819 1.20 The pivotal contribution of the line/middle manager in promoting appropriate behaviours: role model, exemplar, guide, coach and mentor. 27, 29 1.21 Developing a shared vision and providing direction. 5657 1.22 Gaining support for the organizations vision and strategy. 57 1.23 Rening strategy and gaining support for plans. 16263 1.24 Inspiring and motivating others to make their full contribution. 8889 1.25 Self-management strategies and opportunities seeking out opportunities for development. 12627 1.26 Evaluating the impact of own performance. 127
2 Delivering change
Planning and monitoring a programme of change. 17879 Development and maintenance of organizational structures and systems. 15354 How organizations grow and change. 153 Elements leading to the successful implementation of change. 18687 Organizational dynamics. 17475 Comparative organization types and structures. 13441 Comparative organization functions. 13233, 134 Comparative organization cultures. 14344 Developing a change culture. 14344, 182 Fostering innovation and risk. 187 Assessing the organizations current position in the market. 183 Embracing a change culture. 183 Models and theories of change management. 17779 Corporate culture. 14144 Identifying the need for change. 18283 Proactive intervention. 185 Reactive/remedial recovery. 183 Equilibrium, disequilibrium and stability. 174 Making the business case for change; identifying the drivers, benets and risks. 18384 2.20 Realizing short-term gains as well as longer term deliverables. 187 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19
Appendix 263
2.21 Planning for change; identifying barriers and solutions. 18485 2.22 Communicating plans for change. 179, 18182 2.23 Promoting understanding and showing empathy with other needs, feelings and motivation. 187 2.24 Taking personal responsibility for making things happen. 4951 2.25 Agreeing goals and objectives. 4547 2.26 Monitoring and evaluating progress. 186 2.27 Ensuring exibility of response and making adjustments while not losing sight of long-term goals. 187
3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21
264 Appendix
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Further Reading
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Further Reading
269
Sayles, L (1964) Managerial Behavior, McGraw-Hill, New York Schein, E H (1969) Process Consultation: Its role in organization development, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA Silverman, D and Jones, J (1976) Organizational Work, Macmillan, London Sloan, A P (1986) My Years with General Motors, Pan Books, London Stevens, J (2005) High Performance Wales: Real experiences, real success, Wales Management Council, Cardiff Stewart, R (1967) Managers and Their Jobs, Macmillan, London Stewart, R et al (1980) The District Administrator in the National Health Service, Pitman, London Stogdill, R (1974) Handbook of Leadership: A survey of theory and research, Free Press, New York Stone, M (1997) Evaluating the protability of customer service, in The Gower Handbook of Customer Service, ed P Marley, pp 316, Gower, Aldershot Sung, J and Ashton, D (2005) High Performance Work Practices: Linking strategy and skills to performance outcomes, DTI in association with CIPD, [Online] http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/ Tamkin, P, Hirsh, W and Tyers, C (2003) Chore to Champion: The making of better people managers, Report 389, Institute of Employment Studies, Brighton Taylor, F W (1911) Principles of Scientic Management, Harper, New York Tennant, C, Warwood, S J and Chiang, M P P (2002) A continuous improvement process at Severn Water, The TQM magazine, 14 (5), pp 28492 Thompson, M and Heron, P (2005) Management capability and high performance work organization, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16 (6), pp 102948 Thurley, K (1979) Supervision: A reappraisal, Heinemann, London Tushman, M, Newman, W and Nadler, D (1988) Executive leadership and organizational evolution: managing incremental and discontinuous change, in Corporate Transformation: Revitalizing organizations for a competitive world, ed R Kilmann and T Covin, pp 10230, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA Tyson, S (1985) Is this the very model of a modern personnel manager? Personnel Management, 26, pp 3539 Ulrich, D (1998) A new mandate for human resources, Harvard Business Review, JanuaryFebruary, pp 12434 Urwick, L F (1947) Dynamic Administration, Pitman, London Varma, A et al (1999) High performance work systems: exciting discovery or passing fad? Human Resource Planning, 22 (1), pp 2637 Watson, G and Gallagher, K (2005) Managing for Results, CIPD, London Weber, M (1947) The Theory of Social and Economic Organizations, translated by A M Henderson and T Parsons, ed T Parsons, Free Press, New York Womack, J and Jones, D (1970) The Machine that Changed the World, Rawson, New York Woodward, J (1965) Industrial Organization, Oxford University Press, Oxford Woodward, J (1968) Resistance to change, Management International Review, 8, pp 7893 Worley, C G, Hitchin, D and Ross, W (1996) Integrated Strategic Change: How organization development builds competitive advantage, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA Zaleznik, A (2004) Manager and leaders: are they different? Harvard Business Review, January, pp 7481
270
Index
accident prevention 11718 accountability 15 accounts management 216 achievers 5152 action learning 12526 action research 161 activities 16 Adair, J 3334, 37 added value 17, 75 contribution of managers 17 Applebaum, E 62, 63 Argyris, C 132 Armitage, A 62 Artefacts 143 Atkinson, J 139 authority 15, 14849 Bandura, A 179 Barnard, C 132 Bartlett, C A 134 Bass, B M 32 Beckhard, R 177, 189 Beer, M 159,17879 behavioural change 17172 behavioural science 159 school 132 benchmarking 244 Bennis, W G 8, 37 Bessant, J 232 best t 63
best practice 6263 big idea, the 170 Birch, P 89 Blake, R 162 Blanchard, K H 78, 33 Boxall, P 5556 brainstorming 243 Britannic Assurance 222 British Computer Society 11 Buchanan, D A 133 budgetary control 7778 bureaucratic model of organization 132 Burns, J M 32 Burns, T 133 business case, making 7576 business-like, on being 7273 business partner 71 business plan 74 buying behaviour analysis 209 call centres 215, 217 Carlson, S 18, 2021 cause and effect diagrams change barriers to 18485 behavioural 17172 benets of 183 change culture 182 cultural 17071 drivers of 183
242
Index 271
how it happens 173 how people change 179 identifying need for 18283 incremental 16768 models 17778 resistance to change 18082 risks of 184 strategic 162163, 16869 to systems and processes 16970 transformational 168 types of 16773 change culture, development of 182 change management assessing barriers to change 18485 communicating plans for change 18182 dened 176 dening objectives of change 184 eld force analysis 18485 guidelines for 18788 holding the gains 173 identifying need for change 18283 involving people 181 monitoring and evaluating progress 186 planning the change programme 18486 project planning 186 responsibilities for 18586 steps to change 17879 change models 17778 charismatic leadership 32 Chartered Management Institute 1011 Child, J 134 classical school of organization 132 coaching 8991, 124 codes of practice 1012 communicating 24, 80-82 competencies (managerial) 2627 competency frameworks 172 conict 14950 consumer questionnaires 212 contingency school 133 contingent leadership 56
continuous improvement aims of 232 approaches to 239 barriers to 24546 conditions and behaviour required 23638 dened 23132 examples 246-48 framework for 23839 holding the gains 246 implications of 234 importance of 23232 and incremental change 168 infrastructure 24041 nature of 23133 programmes 24445 rationale for 233 requirements for 23436 strategy 240 techniques 24144 core-periphery organization 139 corporate culture, see organizational culture corporate governance 1213 cost-benet analysis 78 CRM systems 199200 Crosby, P B 232, 252 culture, see organizational culture Cummins, T G 159, 188 customer-centric culture 19597 customer dynamics 204 customer needs, assessment of 20810 customer questionnaires 212 customer relations 195 customer relationship management 198200 customer satisfaction dynamics of 204 elements of 20304 measurement of 21214 customer service activities 20203 aims of 20102 attitudes 219 behaviours 22021
272
Index
competencies 22124 dened 20001 developing attitudes, skills and behaviours 22426 infrastructure 214 models of 21416 nature and importance of 20001 priorities 202 service excellence 208 skills 220 standards 21618 strategy 206, 208 world class customer service examples 227 world class service 206, 207 customer service or contact centres 215 customers communicating on availability of goods or services 211 developing products and services to meet needs 214 helping to select the products or services they need 211 questionnaires 212 surveys 21213 target customers, identication of 21011 decentralization 157 decentralized organizations 13738 decision-making 9193 decisiveness 52, 9293 delayering 133, 157 delegating 9399 Deming W E 231, 232, 241, 25051 Digman, L A 57 discretionary behaviour 171 Drucker, P 43, 73, 9192, 103, 121, 187 effectiveness 73 efciency 7273 EFQM model of quality 25758 emotional intelligence 3839 exception report 87
facilitating 99100 Faulkner, D 57 Fayol, H 4, 18, 132 feedback 10001 Fiedler, F E 56 eld force analysis 18485 nancial budgeting 77 exible organizations 139 exibility 139, 156 focus groups 213 Follett, M P 9, 156 formal groups 145 fragmentary nature of managerial work 2425 French, J R 146 Furnham, A 141, 144 Ghoshal, S 134 Goleman, D 35, 38 Gratton, L 190 Grint, K 7, 39 group behaviour 145 group dynamics 162 group processes 14546 Gunter, B 141, 144 Hackman, J R 157 Hales, C P 16, 23, 25 Halpin, A W 15 Handy, C 36, 14344, 148,152 Harrison, R 143 Harvey-Jones, J 49 Hay McBer leadership styles 35 health and safety management accident prevention 11718 audits 11516 importance of 111 inspections 11617 policies 11112 purpose 110 responsibility for 11920 risk assessments 11214
Index 273
Heller, R 57, 97 Hersey, P 78, 33 Herzberg, F 132 high performance culture 60, 62, 144 high performance work systems (HPWS) components of 6263 dened 62 development of 6365 impact of 63 high performance working 61 holding the gains 173, 191, 246 House, R J 35 Huczynski, A A 133 human relations school 132 Hutchinson S 27, 29 improvement groups 240 incremental change 16768 industrial codes of practice 12 inuence, exerting 14748 informal groups 145 input-process model 16 Institute of Customer Service 206, 207 integrated strategic change 16263 interaction 146 inter-group conict 162 internal customers 21819 interventions 161 ISP 9000 25657 job characteristics model 157 job design 157 jobs 16 Johns, E 31, 95, 206 Johnson, G 57 Jones, D 140 Jones, J 16 Juran J M 231, 246, 25152 Kanter, R M 55, 173 Kelley, R E 39 key performance indicators (KPIs) 72
King, J 63 Kinnie, N 140 Kotter, J P 9, 146147 Kreitner, R 17273 Lands End 19697 Lawler, E E 157 Lawrence, P R 133, 156 leader-member exchange theory 67 leaders autocratic 34 behaviour of 3738 charismatic 32, 34 competencies 37 dened 31 democratic 34 and followers 39 good leaders 3638 and managers 89 qualities of 37 roles 3334 situational 33 transactional 32, 35 transformational 32, 34 leadership contingent leadership 56 dened 45 and emotional intelligence 3839 leader-member exchange theory 67 and management 710 path-goal model of 6 problem with the concept 7 signicance of 5 theories 57 leadership style 3436 lean organization 140 Lewin, K 162, 177, 184 Likert, R 132 line managers 27, 29 line and staff organizations 135 logical incrementalism 167 Lorsch, J W 133, 156
274
Index
Lupton, T 156 Luthans, F 17273 making things happen 4951 management dened 3, 43 by exception 97 inuences on 10 and leadership 710 making things happen 4951 processes of purpose 4 strategic 5556 style 34 value-added approach to 17 visionary 56 management by exception 97 management development, methods of 12326 management standards 1920 management style 3435, 143 managers added value contribution of 17 choice of work 23 the classical concept of managers 1718 as communicators 24 competencies 2627 described 15 effectiveness 25 fragmentary nature of managerial work 2425 how managers work 2025 line/middle managers, contribution of 27, 29, 29 nature of work 23 performance indicators 28 role of 15 role in different contexts 1617 skills of 26 as strategic thinkers 18 as visionary thinkers 19 what managers do 1718
managing individual performance 6668 managing team performance 6870 managing for performance 60 managing for results 3, 43 managing strategically 54 Marks, B 146 matrix organizations 138 Mayer, J D 38 Mayo, E 132 McClelland, D 51 Meindle, J R 7 mentor 82 mentoring 12425 Miller, E 132 Minzberg, H 4, 9, 2223, 24, 5758, 135, 139 motivating 8889 mystery shopping 218 Nadler, D A 181 Nanus, B 8 networking 102, 146 Nietzche, F 146 nominal group technique 243 norms 142 Oakland, J S 23233, 235 objective setting 45-47 occupational health programmes 11011, 11819 ofcial codes of practice 12 Oldham, G R 157 organizing 49 organization analysis 155 organization charts 13435 organization design 15354 organization development activities 16163 assumptions and values 16061 and change 173 dened 15960 strategies 160
Index 275
organization diagnosis 155 organization dynamics 17475 organization guidelines 15657 organization reviews 15455 organization structure 134 organization types centralized 13637 decentralized 13738 divisionalized 13738 exible organizations 139 lean organization 140 line and staff 135 matrix 138 the Mintzerg typology 135 process-based organization 14041 unitary 136 organizational change 169 organizational development, see organization development organizational culture1 4144, 17071 organizational policies 156 organizational transformation 18891 organizations 13233 organizing 153 Pareto charts 24243 Pascale, R 133, 189 path-goal model of leadership 6, 35 Peabody Trust 22324, 23638 Pedler, M 122 performance management 6668 performance review 6768 performance standards 48 personal development plans 123 personal objectives 46 persuading 14748 Pettigrew, A 173, 186 planning 4445 policies 156 politics 149 Porter, M 198 post-modern school 133
power 14647 preferred supplier status 216 presentations 8588 problem solving 103, 241 process 16, 133, 134, 190 process-based organization 14041 process consultation 162 processes changes to 16970 dened 105 management of 106 process management 106 professional codes of practice 1011 Pugh, D 181, 185 Purcell, J 2729, 5556, 170 quality assurance 252 quality control 25354 quality circles 24041 quality dened 24950 quality management approaches 25256 dened 250 issues 25860 quality standards 25658 Quinn, J B 16768 Redden, W J 73 report writing 8284 return on investment (ROI) 75, 76, 78 Revans, R W 125 Rice, A 132 risk assessments 11214 role ambiguity 16 role conict 16 role model 29 roles 16, 135 Salovey, P 38 Sayles, L 2324 Schein, E H 162 self-assessment 126
276
Index
self-development 12123 self-managed learning 122 self-management 12627 service level agreements 21516 shared vision 5657 Silverman, D 16 situational leaders 33 Six Sigma 25556 skills, managerial 26 Sloan, A P 137, 167 SMART objectives 47 stakeholders 58 Stalker, G 133 standing objectives 46 statistical quality control 253 Stevens, J 61 Stewart, R 4, 18, 21, 2324 strategic capability 5859 strategic change 16263, 16869 strategic management 5556 strategic planning 5758 strategic thinking 18 strategy 5455 stress, management of 119 Sung, J 62, 63 survey feedback 161 systems change to 16970 dened 105 management of 10506 systems management 10506 systems school 132 Taguchi methodology 254 targets 46, 4748 tasks 16 Taylor, F W 132 team performance management 6870
team-building 162 teams 141 teamwork 156 telesales 216 Thurley, K 17778 total quality control 25354 total quality management 25455 transactional leaders 32 transformational change 168, 18891 transformational leaders 32 Tushman, M 188 Tyson, S 71 Ulrich, D 71 unitary organization structures Urwick, L F 132, 156 value added 17 value chain 198 values 14142 Varma, A 63 visionary management 56 visionary thinking 19 Weber, M 32, 132 web sites 215 Welch, J 159, 176 Whipp, R 173, 186 Winer, B J 5 Wodehouse, P G 72 Womack, J 140 Woodward, J 133, 180 work objectives 45 working conditions 11011 Worley, C G 159, 162, 188 Zaleznik, A 8 zero defects programmes 254
136