are there examples of large companies that have swung themselves through the proverbial 180 degrees
My old company, Guinness, did. But I don't want to get too personal on this. However the Total Quality Management (TQM) movement was all about this. In my work I came across numerous examples but again I can't be too specific - but seriously, I'm surprised you should ask. Companies are doing this all the time, and those that don't, don't survive. This is part of my gripe with the public sector in Ireland - they have no concept of ongoing improvements in efficiency/productivity/value for money as the norm.
Computerisation/process redesign should be revolutionising all larger organisations. If you can't do what you did last year faster, cheaper, better - and have created new ideas for new products/processes as well you simply shouldn't be in business. You are simply a time serving placeholder and adding no value as manager whatsoever. If that is the case you should get off your employees backs and let them do the job better without you. notes from no w here
If you can't do what you did last year faster, cheaper, better - and have created new ideas for new products/processes as well you simply shouldn't be in business. You are simply a time serving placeholder and adding no value as manager whatsoever. If that is the case you should get off your employees backs and let them do the job better without you.
That's a very fine principle, and one I can entirely applaud. But (and you knew there'd be a "but") at the same time it is arguably what's at the root of many problems with our management culture. If management is always supposed to make the organisation change for the better or be considered redundant, and if said management is flat out of ideas for how to do so, there'll be great pressure to simply make changes for the sake of making changes. That way the manager can hope to appear to be making improvements, and thus retain his job.
That's not how it's supposed to work, but managers are only human, after all.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
As an aside, I think this touches upon the previous discussion of management in the public sector - because from where I sit, it looks a lot like many public sector institutions don't have the mechanisms in place for booting the managers who oughta just stop wasting people's time and money. And, understandably, institutions will be more reluctant to embrace calls for a greater focus on management if they can't see a clear way to get rid of bad managers.
Kinda like the way easier firing promotes easier hiring, except that here it also applies to people with an MBA...
