Reforming Personnel Policies

If women are to be treated equally in the workplace, all jobs and occupations must be open to them so that they may compete on the same terms as all others. A company’s recruiters need to seek qualified workers and not assume that women are unqualified. Rates of pay and benefits need to be matched to the work to be done not to the gender of the jobholder. Pay rises for doing a current job well, along with promotions to more attractive jobs, also require equal treatment. Job assignments should be made on the basis of skills, experience, competence, capability, and reliability—in other words, proven ability to get the job done, not whether women have traditionally worked at one task rather than another.

Career ladders, whether short ones going only a few steps or longer ones leading into the higher reaches of corporate authority, should be placed so that both men and  women can climb them as high as their abilities can carry them.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Corporate Governance

Corporate governance refers to the overall control of a company’s actions. Several key stakeholder groups are involved in governing the corporation.

• Managers occupy a strategic position because of their knowledge and day-to-day decision making.
• The board of directors exercises formal legal authority over company policy.
• Stockholders, whether individuals or institutions, have a vital stake in the company.
• Employees, particularly those represented by unions or who own stock in the company, can affect some policies.
• Government is involved through the laws and regulations.
• Creditors who hold corporate debt may also influence a company’s policies.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Trademark

A trademark is a brand that has been given exclusive legal protection for both the brand name and the pictorial design. People are often impressed by certain brand names, even though they say they know there is no difference between brands in a given product category. For example, when someone who says that all aspirin is alike asks for an aspirin, put two bottles in front of him—one with Excedrin label and one labeled with an unknown brand. See which one he chooses. Most people choose the brand name even when they say there is no difference.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

The Constraints of Techno-stress

More than at any time in the history of our species, we are facing exploding levels of computerization and complication in our lives. Some of this seems beyond human control; for example, never being able to get through on the fax number because the system is programmed to the wrong mode. Offended by such a machine, many people naturally demand some satisfaction. Often a harmless oath, perhaps accompanied by a stiff thump, will satisfy our base urge for revenge.

On occasion, sterner punishments have been meted out. Childish retaliations against technology are doomed, and are wasteful of our limited time on this planet.

Of course, a lot of the techno-stress we encounter is self-inflicted by our unbridled love of gadget. With an array of office machines and household tools that would make the original James Bond seem a technological peasant, the average worker has invited a host of unnecessary mechanical inconveniences and breakdowns into his or her life to add to the overall levels of techno-stress.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Good Human Relations’ Spin-off

Most organizations and their managers realize the importance of maintaining good human relations. A climate of openness and trust can stimulate performance and foster loyalty. This kind of atmosphere can only have a positive effect on human relations.

Although many managers get a lift from knowing that they’re treating their workers right, there are practical benefits as well. When workers are satisfied with the interpersonal component of their jobs, they are usually more productive. They are also less likely to resign or to file a complaint with the personnel office, the union, or some other agency—both actions that could create additional expense and effort for the company.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

The Challenges of Global Business

Many past political barriers to trade have fallen or been minimized, expanding and operating new market opportunities. Managers who can meet the challenges of creating and implementing effective and sensitive business strategies for the global marketplace can help lead their companies to success. Multinational corporations, such as, General Electric and Ford, which derive a substantial portion of their revenues from international business, depend on savvy managers who can adapt to different cultures. Lucent Technologies has invested more than $24 million in a design center in China in an effort to aid in China’s modernization of its infrastructure and telecommunications technology. The income potential from Lucent, which manufactures, designs, and delivers products for networking, communications systems, software, data networking systems, business telephone systems, and microelectronics components, is enormous. Small businesses, too, can succeed in foreign markets when their managers have carefully studied those markets and prepared and implemented appropriate strategies. Being globally aware is therefore an important quality for today’s managers and will become a critical attribute for managers of the 21^st century.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Product Knowledge

You have to be expert before you even start your business. The old saying, “We learn by our mistakes” will not do your business reputation any good if it applies to your lack of expertise. You have to know your products or service inside out. You may love a business for the product lines, but will your customers love the products too? When problems arise with a product, or when a customer asks technical questions, are you knowledgeable enough to resolve these problems and answer their questions competently and confidently?

One way to increase your product knowledge is to contact the manufacturers or local distributor. They are usually happy to send you product information and answer your questions. Some of the questions you should research about your product lines (or service) are these:

• How long have these products been on the market?
• Are they seasonal, and when do most sell?
• How often are these products upgraded or changed?
• Could you be caught unexpectedly with obsolete inventory?
• What do the manufacturers’ warranties cover?
• Are replacement parts readily available?
• Are the products competitively priced?
• Are buying trends increasing or decreasing?
• Are the products high, medium, or low in quality?
• How do the products compare to the competition?
• What are groups do these products appeal to?
• What is the life expectancy of the products?
• Could the products become obsolete due to changing technology?

After these questions are answered, you may find that the business is not viable after all. The product pricing may be too high compared to the competition, or you may discover that over the previous five years, overall demand for the products is declining due to technological changes and shifts in consumer buying trends. In another five years, the demand could become substantially less. The products may appear high in quality on sight, but you may discover that they are poorly made and not something that you would feel confident selling. Perhaps the manufacturer’s guarantees are inadequate, or replacement parts are priced exorbitantly and hard to secure.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Scientific Method and Marketing Research

Scientific method is a decision-making approach that focuses on being objective and orderly in testing ideas before accepting them. With the scientific method, managers don’t just assume that their intuition is correct. Instead, they use their intuition and observations to develop hypotheses—educated guesses about the relationships between things or about what will happen in the future. Then they test their hypotheses before making final decisions.

A manager who relies only on intuition might introduce a new product without testing consumer response. But a manager who uses the scientific method might say, “I think (hypotheses) that consumers currently using the most popular brand will prefer our new product. Let’s run some consumer tests. If at least 60 percent of the consumers prefer our product, we can introduce it in a regional test market. If it doesn’t pass the consumer test there, we can make some changes and try again.”

The scientific method focuses an orderly research process. Some managers don’t carefully specify what information they need. They blindly move ahead—hoping that research will provide “the answer.” Other managers may have a clearly defined problem or question but lose their way after that. These hit-or-miss approaches waste both time and money.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Becoming Process-Centered

Your organization is probably divided into separate departments, such as R&D, sales, IT, and accounts. These departments don’t work independently, but should all cooperate to achieve the organization’s goals. To help with this, many organizations have become ‘process-centered.’

A process-centered organization removes the internal divisions and focuses everybody’s attention on the process of satisfying customer demand. Process centering means that all people in the company recognize and focus on their processes. When an order comes to a traditional organization, everyone does their separate part of the process and seems to work in isolation – sales collect orders, manufacturing makes goods, warehousing adjusts the stocks, transport delivers the goods, accounts sends out the invoices. The problem is that no one looks after the whole process, integrates different operations, or even makes sure that customers actually get their products.

In a process-centered organization, everyone has the overriding purpose of contributing to a process that leads to satisfied customers. Everyone works as part of a team, with:

• The single purpose of satisfying customer demand;
• Concentration on the whole process of delivering products;
• Expansion of traditional roles, with empowered employees making decisions and dealing with all types of customer issues;
• Responsibility for all aspects of the process;
• Access to all types of information throughout the organization;
• A matrix or cross-functional management structure;
• A team leader who has overall responsibility for the success of the process.

This emphasis on the whole process of satisfying customers has many implications. One is that your organization becomes more flexible to customer needs. Traditional organizations imagine that operations are smoothest when customers are kept at a distance, if customers become involved they try to expedite their order, change designs, demands difficult adjustments to the products, ask for detailed progress reports and generally get in the way. A process-centered organization welcomes customer involvement, forms partnerships, increases satisfaction with products and gains a huge competitive advantage.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Economies of Scale

You get economies of scale when the unit cost falls as the number of units made increases. There are three reasons for the lower unit costs:

• Fixed costs are spread over a larger number of units;
• You can use more efficient processes, perhaps including more automation;
• More experience with the product raises efficiency.

Economies of scale encourage you to concentrate operations and make as many units as possible in the same facilities. Another benefit from larger operations comes from the ‘learning curve.’ The more often you repeat something, the easier it becomes.

Obviously, you can’t expand facilities for ever, and there is no point in having more capacity than likely demand. More realistically, if you expand beyond a certain size the organization gets too complex – making communications, support functions and management more difficult. Beyond this point you get dis-economies of scale. You can see these in many large organizations, such as governments, which aim for the efficiencies that come from centralization, but actually get bogged down in bureaucracy and red tape.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.