In United States Congress after the hearing about problem of railway transportation expenses, Emerson published his " principle of 12 letters efficiency".
Harrington Emerson proposed 12 principles of efficiency:
The concept of Action-Centred Leadership was created by leadership management guru John Adair whilst lecturing at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and remains his best known work.
The Action-Centred Leadership model uses three circles to link the three key elements of leadership, the task needs, the team needs, and the individual needs, in a simple but effective tool for leadership development.
Responsibilities to the team include:
Responsibilities to the individual include:
Often a leader will be operating in just one or two of the areas, the three circle model helps leaders plot exactly where they are and help develop their own leadership skills to take advantage more fully of the resources available from a whole team to get the task done.
Chris Argyris and Donald Schön (1978) defined organizational learning as: "the detection and correction of error". Fiol and Lyles later define learning as "the process of improving actions through better knowledge and understanding" (1985).
Dodgson describes organizational learning as "the way firms build, supplement, and organize knowledge and routines around their activities and within their cultures and adapt and develop organizational efficiency by improving the use of the broad skills of their workforces" (1993). Huber states that learning occurs in an organization "if through its processing of information, the range of its [organization's] potential behaviors is changed" (1991).
A "learning organization" is a firm that purposefully constructs structures and strategies so as to enhance and maximize Organizational Learning (Dodgson, 1993). The concept of a learning organization has become popular since organizations want to be more adaptable to change.
Learning is a dynamic concept and it emphasizes the continually changing nature of organizations. The focus is gradually shifting from individual learning to organizational learning. Just as learning is essential for the growth of individuals, it is equally important for organizations.
Since individuals form the bulk of the organization, they must establish the necessary forms and processes to enable organizational learning in order to facilitate change.
Organizational learning is more than the sum of the parts of individual learning (Dodgson, 1993; Fiol & Lyles, 1985). An organization does not lose out on its learning abilities when members leave the organization. Organizational learning contributes to organizational memory. Thus, learning systems not only influence immediate members but also future members due to the accumulation of histories, experiences, norms, and stories.
Creating a learning organization is only half the solution to a challenging problem (Prahalad & Hamel, 1994). Equally important is the creation of an unlearning organization which essentially means that the organization must forget some of its past. Thus, learning occurs amidst such conflicting factors (Dodgson, 1993).
Autocratic Leadership
Democratic Leadership
In the democratic style, the leader involves the people in the decision-making, although the process for the final decision may vary from the leader having the final say to them facilitating consensus in the group.Laissez-Faire
The laissez-faire style is to minimize the leader's involvement in decision-making, and hence allowing people to make their own decisions, although they may still be responsible for the outcome.Discussion about Lewin's Leadership Styles
In Lewin et al's experiments, he discovered that the most effective style was Democratic. Excessive autocratic styles led to revolution, whilst under a Laissez-faire approach, people were not coherent in their work and did not put in the energy that they did when being actively led.Dr Meredith Belbin - Team Roles
Learning & growth: includes training, learning, corporate culture and attitudes, self growth. Individuals are the main repository of knowledge of an organisation and the critical resource. Communication among workers is key, as is avoiding brain drain.
Customer: Indicators on customer satisfaction and tools to improve and monitor customer relations are critical
Financial: Timely and accurate financial data is still a key to manage the business. Data should be centralised and of fast and easy access, but financial data should not be the only indicator, thus the original intention of the word “balanced”.
The Balanced Scorecard automates and centralizes the issuance and tracking of objectives, targets, measures and initiatives.
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) began as a concept for measuring whether the smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger-scale objectives in terms of vision and strategy. It was developed and first used at Analog Devices in 1987.
By focusing not only on financial outcomes but also on the human issues, the Balanced Scorecard helps provide a more comprehensive view of a business, which in turn helps organizations act in their best long-term interests.
The strategic management system helps managers focus on performance metrics while balancing financial objectives with customer, process and employee perspectives. Measures are often indicators of future performance. In 1992, Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton began publicizing the Balanced Scorecard through a series of journal articles. In 1996, they published the book The Balanced Scorecard.
Bricks-and-clicks is a business model by which a company integrates both offline (bricks) and online (clicks) presences. It is also known as click-and-mortar or clicks-and-bricks, as well as bricks, clicks and flips, flips referring to catalogs.
One example of the bricks-and-clicks model is when a chain of stores allows the user to order products online, but lets them pick up their order at a local store. Conversely, a furniture store may have displays at a local store from which a customer can order an item electronically for delivery to their home.
The bricks and clicks model has typically been used by traditional retailers who have extensive logistics and supply chains. Part of the reason for its success is that it is far easier for a traditional retailer to establish an online presence than it is for a start-up company to employ a successful pure "dot com" strategy, or for an online retailer to establish a traditional presence (including a strong brand)."On the other hand, an online-only service can remain a best-in-class operation because its executives focus on just the online business." It has been argued that a bricks-and-clicks business model is more difficult to implement than an online-only model.
In the future, the bricks-and-clicks may be more successful, but in 2010 some online-only businesses grew at a staggering 30%, while some bricks-and-clicks businesses grew at a paltry 3%.
The key factor for a bricks-and-clicks business model to be successful "will, to a large extent, be determined by a company’s ability to manage the trade-offs between separation and integration" of their retail and online businesses.
Benchmarking is a systematic comparison of organizational processes and performance to create new standards or to improve processes. Benchmarking models are used to determining how well a business unit, division, organization or corporation is performing compared with other similar organizations.
A Benchmark is often used for improving communication, professionalizing the organization / processes or for budgetary reasons. Traditionally, performance measures have been compared with previous measures from the same organization at different times. Although this can be a good indication of the rate of improvement within the organization, it could be that although the organization is improving, the competition is improving faster.
Processes of power are pervasive, complex, and often disguised in our society.
The Bases of Social Power of French and Raven is a theory that identifies five (six) bases or sources of social (organizational) power:
The Five Bases of Social Power theory starts from the premise that power and influence involve relations between at least two agents, and theorizes that the reaction of the recipient agent is the more useful focus for explaining the phenomena of social influence and power.
French and Raven examined the effect of power derived from the various bases of attraction (the recipient's sentiment towards the agent who uses power) and resistance to the use of power.
They conclude that the use of power from the various bases has different consequences.
For example, coercive power typically decreases attraction and causes high resistance, whereas reward power increases attraction and creates minimal levels of resistance.
French and Raven also concluded that "the more legitimate the coercion [is perceived to be], the less it ill produce resistance and decreased attention".
The last attribute (Simultaneous loose-tight Properties) is a summary of the other 7, according to Peters and Waterman.
"Simultaneous loose-tight properties is in essence the coexistence of firm central direction and maximum individual autonomy... Organizations that live by the loose-tight principle are on the one hand rigidly controlled, yet at the same time allow (indeed, insist on) autonomy, entrepreneurship, and innovation from the rank and file".
The Kaizen method of continuous incremental improvements is an originally Japanese management concept for incremental (gradual, continuous) change (improvement). K. is actually a way of life philosophy, assuming that every aspect of our life deserves to be constantly improved.
The Kaizen philosophy lies behind many Japanese management concepts such as Total Quality Control, Quality Control circles, small group activities, labor relations. Key elements of Kaizen are quality, effort, involvement of all employees, willingness to change, and communication.
When to apply the Kaizen philosophy?
Although it is difficult to give generic advice it is clear that it fits well in incremental change situations that require long-term change and in collective cultures. More individual cultures that are more focused on short-term success are often more conducive to concepts such as Business Process Reengineering.
When Kaizen is compared to BPR is it clear the K. philosophy is more people-oriented, more easy to implement, requires long-term discipline. BPR on the other hand is harder, technology-oriented, enables radical change but requires major change management skills.The Business Process Reengineering method (BPR) is defined by Hammer and Champy as 'the fundamental reconsideration and radical redesign of organizational processes, in order to achieve drastic improvement of current performance in cost, service and speed'.
Value creation for the customer is the leading factor for BPR and information technology often plays an important enabling role.
Davenport (1992) prescribes a five-step approach to the Business Process Reengineering model:
1. Develop the business vision and process objectives: The BPR method is driven by a business vision which implies specific business objectives such as cost reduction, time reduction, output quality improvement.
2. Identify the business processes to be redesigned: most firms use the 'High- Impact' approach which focuses on the most important processes or those that conflict most with the business vision. Lesser number of firms use the 'Exhaustive approach' that attempts to identify all the processes within an organization and then prioritize them in order of redesign urgency.
3. Understand and measure the existing processes: for avoiding the repeating of old mistakes and for providing a baseline for future improvements.
4. Identify IT levers: awareness of IT capabilities can and should influence BPR.
5. Design and build a prototype of the new process: the actual design should not be viewed as the end of the BPR process. Rather, it should be viewed as a prototype, with successive iterations. The metaphor of prototype aligns the Business Process Reengineering approach with quick delivery of results, and the involvement and satisfaction of customers.
As a 6th step of the BPR method some mention to adapt the organizational structure and governance model towards the newly designed primary process.
When should BPR be used?
Although it is difficult to give generic advice on this, some factors that can be considered are:
- is the competition outperforming the company by factors?
- are there many conflicts in the organization?
- is there an extremely high frequency of meetings?
- excessive use of non-structured communication? (memos, emails, etc)
- is a more continuous approach of incremental improvements not possible? (see: Kaizen).
When Kaizen is compared to the BPR method is it clear the Kaizen philosophy is more people-oriented, more easy to implement, requires long-term discipline.
The Business Process Reengineering approach on the other hand is harder, technology-oriented, enables radical change but requires major change management skills.
The 7-S framework of McKinsey is a Value Based Management (VBM) model that describes how one can holistically and effectively organize a company.
Together these factors determine the way in which a corporation operates.
Shared Value
The interconnecting center of McKinsey's model is: Shared Values. What does the organization stands for and what it believes in. Central beliefs and attitudes.
Strategy
Plans for the allocation of a firms scarce resources, over time, to reach identified goals. Environment, competition, customers.
Structure
The way the organization's units relate to each other: centralized, functional divisions (top-down); decentralized (the trend in larger organizations); matrix, network, holding, etc.
System
The procedures, processes and routines that characterize how important work is to be done: financial systems; hiring, promotion and performance appraisal systems; information systems.
Staff
Numbers and types of personnel within the organization.
Style
Cultural style of the organization and how key managers behave in achieving the organization’s goals. Management Styles.
Skill
Distinctive capabilities of personnel or of the organization as a whole. Core Competences.
The Deming cycle, or PDSA cycle, is a continuous quality improvement model consisting of a logical sequence of four repetitive steps for continuous improvement and learning: Plan, Do, Study (Check) and Act.
The PDCA cycle is also known as the Deming Cycle, or as the Deming Wheel or as the Continuous Improvement Spiral. It originated in the 1920s with the eminent statistics expert Mr. Walter A. Shewhart, who introduced the concept of PLAN, DO and SEE.
The late Total Quality Management (TQM) guru and renowned statistician Edwards Deming modified the Shewart cycle as: PLAN, DO, STUDY, and ACT.
Along with the other well-known American quality guru-Joseph Juran, Edwards Deming went to Japan as part of the occupation forces of the allies after World War II. Deming taught a lot of Quality Improvement methods to the Japanese, including the usage of statistics and the PLAN, DO, STUDY, ACT cycle.
At all levels of the organization we:
Frequently, a particular project will define sub-objectives, run thorough the PDCA cycle one or more times to accomplish the sub-objective, then define the next objective and go through the cycle again. Thus, many projects end up "turning the wheel" many times before completion. In ongoing management activities, we find a similar use of the cycle.
What we are trying to avoid by using the PDCA discipline is the "Ready, Fire, Aim" fallacy where people jump to the solution without identifying the problem and assessing if their proposed solution fixes it, or even results in another problem. The Act step makes sure we don't have to fix it again in a couple of years.
Blue Sky is one of the approaches for identifying planning issues and is helpful to begin the planning process by formulating a vision of an ideal future, unconstrained by current conditions. This is basically the "Blue-Sky" approach to planning.
Under this approach, citizens engage in a creative "visioning process" through which they attempt to produce mental images and rich verbal descriptions of what they would ideally like their community to be.
Formulation of this "vision" then sets the basic framework that defines the issues that the planning process seeks to address.
Vision-oriented planning can be effective when there is general agreement about what makes a community special, and about what the community should look like in the future.
It can also work well in settings and communities where citizens are not afraid of change, where citizens are receptive to new ideas, and where there is a climate of respect for expression of divergent views.
Blue Ocean Strategy is a business strategy book that promotes a systematic approach "for making the competition irrelevant." The authors, W.Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, are professors of Strategy and Management at INSEAD ( is an international graduate business school and research institution with campuses in France and in Singapore).
A core idea is to create a leap in value for both the company and its buyers by breaking the differentiation/low cost trade-off and to align product value and profit propositions.
Blue Ocean Strategy is the result of a decade-long study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than 30 industries over a period of 120 years (1880-2000).
In addition to retrospective case studies, the book offers theoretical approaches and practical tools to create and capture "blue oceans" of uncontested market space ripe for growth.
Kim and Mauborgne argue that tomorrow’s leading companies will succeed not by battling competitors, but by creating these “blue oceans”.
This best seller sold more than a million copies in its first year of publication and is being published in 39 languages.
A quick snapshot of the concept is represented below:
For further details, visit the official website at http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/ or check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy/
IQ or EI?
According to some scientists, IQ by itself is NOT a very good predictor of job performance. Hunter and Hunter (1984) estimated that at best IQ accounts for about 25 percent of the variance. Sternberg (1996) has pointed out that studies vary and that 10 percent may be a more realistic estimate.
In some studies, IQ accounts for as little as 4 percent of the variance. In a recent meta-analysis examining the correlation and predictive validity of EI when compared to IQ or general mental ability, Van Rooy and Viswesvaran (2004) found IQ to be a better predictor of work and academic performance than EI.
However, when it comes to the question of whether a person will become a “star performer” (in the top ten percent, however such performance is appropriately assessed) within that role, or be an outstanding leader, IQ may be a less powerful predictor than emotional intelligence (Goleman 1998, 2001, 2002).
It is simply a diagram that shows the causes of a certain event. It was first used in the 1960s, and is considered one of the seven basic tools of quality management, along with the histogram, Pareto chart, check sheet, control chart, flowchart, and scatter diagram. See Quality Management Glossary.
It is known as a fishbone diagram because of its shape, similar to the side view of a fish skeleton.
Causes in the diagram are often based around a certain category or set of causes, such as the 6 M's, 8 P's or 4 S's described below. Cause-and-effect diagrams can reveal key relationships among various variables, and the possible causes provide additional insight into process behaviour.
Causes in a typical diagram are normally arranged into categories, the main ones of which are:
The 6 M's
Machine, Method, Materials, Measurement, Man and Mother Nature (Environment) (recommended for manufacturing industry).
Note: a more modern selection of categories used in manufacturing includes Equipment, Process, People, Materials, Environment, and Management.
The 8 P's
Price, Promotion, People, Processes, Place / Plant, Policies, Procedures & Product (or Service) (recommended for administration and service industry).
The 4 S's
Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, Skills (recommended for service industry).
It can also be used in connection with the Neuro-linguistic programming model of the Neurological Levels created by Robert Dilts: with Identity, Beliefs and Values, Capability, Behaviour, Environment.
A common use of the Ishikawa diagram is in product design, to identify desirable factors leading to an overall effect. Mazda Motors famously used an Ishikawa diagram in the development of the Miata sports car, where the required result was "Jinba Ittai" or "Horse and Rider as One". The main causes included such aspects as "touch" and "braking" with the lesser causes including highly granular factors such as "50/50 weight distribution" and "able to rest elbow on top of driver's door". Every factor identified in the diagram was included in the final design.
Appearance of Fishbone Diagrams
Most Fishbone diagrams have a box at the right hand side in which is written the effect that is to be examined. The main body of the diagram is a horizontal line from which stem the general causes, represented as "bones". These are drawn towards the left-hand side of the paper and are each labeled with the causes to be investigated, often brainstormed beforehand and based on the major causes listed above.
Off each of the large bones there may be smaller bones highlighting more specific aspects of a certain cause, and sometimes there may be a third level of bones or more. These can be found using the '5 Whys' technique.
When the most probable causes have been identified, they are written in the box along with the original effect. The more populated bones generally outline more influential factors, with the opposite applying to bones with fewer "branches". Further analysis of the diagram can be achieved with a Pareto chart.
