I believe
“In every society some men are born to rule,
And some to advise…
A new environment of business has been emerging over the last decade of the 20th century and it has been accelerating in the 21st century, stimulated by a new economy, new technologies and new understanding about business processes. In today’s interconnected, technology driven world, selling typically takes place in physical, virtual and remote places. It’s now more important than ever that selling environments make the paradigm shift towards 21st century successful business.
There’s low-tech. And there’s high-tech. And then there’s real-tech - businesses that earn a crust by taking ideas from labs and turning them into incredible, world-beating products and services.
“There is one key ingredient that separates the great salespeople from the good ones: the ability to build relationships.
By Jason Karem, sales manager
We know that it costs, on average, six to ten times more to get a new customer than to keep an old customer. Yet most fortune 500 companies lose 50 percent of their customers in five years. Furthermore, the average company communicates only four times per year with current customers and six times per year with prospects. Most people think this the common sense, and it really is, but the problem is that managers get caught between two places: they are so either desperate for business that they become manipulate and pushy, or they are doing so well that they become complacent. Both are dangerous state of mind. When they fail you tend to blame external factors. It must be the competition, the economy, or the weather; people rarely look inward for faults. Then the simple solution seems to be to pour more and info selling and advertising. The reverse is true for managers who are succeeding. No matter which situation you are in, the same arguments exists. To make money you have to have sales that outweigh your expenditures. To have success in the long term, you have to continue either bring in new customers or keep your old customers, or preferably both.
The quality movement has taken business, industry, government and education to new levels of performance and awareness. Once they were accepted as tools that could improve profitability, quality teachings and practices have shown us that believing in separation can be a dangerous thing. Separation from the customer and the awareness of customer needs is disastrous. Believing that the marketing department is separate from new product design and engineering has driven companies out of business. When labor and management see themselves on different sides of the fence with antagonistic interests, both sides inevitably lose. With the quality movement emphasizing cooperation with suppliers, consultation with customers, breaking down barriers between departments, and participative management by employees, it has ushered in a new awareness and a new style which has forever changed the way we know that business must be done.
Quality thinking has paved the way to systems thinking. Concurrent engineering, customer focus groups that included designers before the design have all been major quality contributions. Seeing this kind of interconnectivity and interdependence has turned many business around in the last decade of the 20th century. But for success in the 21st century, for organizations to actually thrive in the new millennium, it will be up to the quality movement to provide leadership once again for making the next crucial steps.
Leaving the rigid metaphor of the machine behind, what can we learn from this new metaphor from the natural world? Organizations which will survive and thrive in the 21st century will have many of the same characteristics as organisms which survive and thrive. What are these, and what will they look like in organizations?
We can do this in a number of ways. We must align the policies and practices of our organization so that people and processes operate for the survival and benefit of the whole organization. Viewing departments as "cost centers" or "profit centers" ignores the actual role the department ought to play in the success of the whole organization, just as requiring the liver to have as much muscle as the stomach. Common practices and policies which seem sensible and effective can also backfire. For instance, the practice of rewarding salespeople on a commission basis can lead in many directions. It might cause salespeople to sell customers more expensive equipment than they need--in the short term--and ruin a company's mid-range product development, as it has for at least one prominent computer corporation. On the other hand, at a prominent copier manufacturer, the policy led salespeople to supply equipment which was less than the customer needed, but seemed to meet competitors prices. Either of these situations lead to customer dissatisfaction and net losses for the company.
"measure what should be measured, not just what can be measured"--and we would like to add "or what HAS BEEN measured in the past." Measuring the wrong thing is often worse than no measurement at all. It shown us how misleading "productivity" measures can be, especially when workers are building up excess inventory just to keep busy.
Organizations must nurture adaptivity not "adaptedness". Past success is a poor predictor of future performance in a changing world. Most Fortune 500 companies are out of business in five to ten years. Using our organism metaphor, we could say that "knowledge and memory" is usually found in the experience of individuals and teams in the organization. "Thinking" corresponds to coordinating memories and experiences among different parts of the organization -- usually known as team problem-solving and simultaneous engineering or concurrent design.
Currently, the most common forms of this sort of activity include profit-sharing, stock options, employee owned corporations, ESOPs, employee benefits packages and voluntary service to local communities. Many areas have cooperative programs with schools and community colleges. We will be called to go much further. The economy is rapidly becoming truly global. The ability to share wealth and improve the standard of living around the world, and benefit as an international community will be a great challenge. Our stability and survival depends on it.
The lesson of the current era is that "Everything is connected to everything else." To survive in this environment with these realizations we need to see HOW things are connected and incorporate the values which support our survival. Success in the 21st Century is truly dependent upon implementation of a very old adage "what goes around, comes around." If we value that understanding, it will change the way we perform in society. So what does this mean for us and our performance in our organizations?
Those who have stirred the quality pot must keep stirring. Quality has served as our springboard into the new age but a great deal more thinking and effort will be required for 21st century success. The quality movement is in the position of being able to lead the charge, and is in a unique position of having the experience to perceive the nature of the changes which must happen. We cannot stop at "quality." We must enter the millennium ready for an even more complete transformation. And quality professionals must be ready to lead the way.
a. 21st Century HRM
B. 21st Century Leadership
c. Change Management
d. Competencies for Competitive Advantage
e. Competitive Advantage
f. Corporate Governance
g. Efficiency and Values
h. Targeting the Gap
I. Globalized Production
j. Information and Knowledge Entrepreneurs
k. Information and Knowledge Entrepreneurs
l. Power Principle
m. Reinventing the Corporation
o. Redesigning the Organization
p. Rethinking Processes
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