Business reviews should be conducted with the timeline presented and repeated here. Quarterly reviews are most common unless some major unplanned events are having negative impacts on the company performance. The quarterly reviews will focus on the business performance related to the income statement, or profit and loss statement. Balance sheets and cash flow data [...]
Continue reading → An industrial products company recently established customer response as a key company objective for the business year. Several different departments were involved with this objective, and it was established as a priority in the functional plans. The company objective was for 95% on-time deliveries. In one of the subplant units, a manager reviewed the VOC feedback [...]
Continue reading → A management system is a powerful tool because it provides the visibility and opportunity to control the essential components of meeting objectives. This system will assist in ensuring that the function and supporting departments meet their commitments to the company. Purposes of a Management System The purposes of a management system include: Provides controls and [...]
Continue reading → Information management and information technology are increasingly significant and continue to make tremendous changes in the way organizations conduct business. The management of planning information will contribute greatly to the accuracy of the plans and to accelerating decision making in an organization. In many organizations, the finance function has taken the responsibility for collecting planning [...]
Continue reading → Considering that the cultural and communication frameworks have been established, there is a high readiness factor for the deployment of the company business strategies and aligning those in the functional plans. The business cascade is an effective way to engage and mobilize the workforce to complete these plans so that their individual performance can be [...]
Continue reading → One of the most important aspects of execution of business strategies and plans is the communication system in place to facilitate the planning, actions, and reporting of progress during the business year. The effectiveness of communication will enable more accurate data gathering and allow for more timely decisions. This will be especially effective in times of change when swift [...]
Continue reading → German-born psychologist Kurt Lewin was one of the first researchers to study group dynamics and organizational development. In managing change, Lewin classified the change process into three steps: unfreezing, moving, and refreezing. In applying this model to shifting a business culture, we can use the present stage, the transition stage, and the desired stage. Consider that [...]
Continue reading → An example of a culture shift occurred with the deregulation in industries such as utilities and telecommunications. With the onset of deregulation, the operating environments changed to ones in which customers had choices of suppliers and fixed prices for services were being phased out. The mandates for change were not an option. For some companies, it meant [...]
Continue reading → The Driving Forces Wheel was used by Black and Decker North American Power Tools in the mid-1990s as a vehicle to focus attention on the key drivers of the business and to rally all company managers to communicate with their employees about the direction of the company and engage them in more detailed planning around [...]
Continue reading → Using the templates below, the Balanced Scorecard can be created using the strategies and metrics/measurements identified. These are examples and should limit the use of other relevant information. Two templates are presented to import your planning information. Template #1 focuses on the four most common elements found in a Balanced Scorecard. As this template is [...]
Continue reading → The Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award Program was created in 1987 and is supported by the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award Foundation. Although its main purpose is to foster the improvement of quality, costs, and productivity, the systems perspective looks at the key components necessary to run a successful business. Many companies have used the Malcolm Baldrige [...]
Continue reading → The overall process is called strategic management. In this planning and management process, it can be considered a hierarchy of ideas that emanates from the top but is interactive to reach its final state. Strategic planning and strategy formulation is the process used to develop supporting analyses (external environment, competitive, SWOT, etc.), communicate and implement [...]
Continue reading → One of the most important aspects of execution of business strategies and plans is the communication system in place to facilitate the planning, actions, and reporting of progress during the business year. The effectiveness of communication will enable more accurate data gathering and allow for more timely decisions. This will be especially effective in times [...]
Continue reading → The following box outlines an approach for mapping organizational strategies with the organization’s cultural atrributes. An nual Business Strategies Launch new products ahead of the competition Increase market share Improve product and service quality Initiate cost reduction programs Organizational Strategies Flat structures Focused decision making (at lowest possible level) Team-based environment (cross-business and cross-functional) Implications [...]
Continue reading → One way to think about culture is that it’s “the way people behave.” A company culture can be considered the sum total of these behaviors. Organizations have unique cultures that are expressed in the way people talk, think, and act. Culture is a product of company history, policies, and beliefs, both stated and unstated; it [...]
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