Customer Needs’ Gap

Not every customer has explicitly defined the gap between his or her present state and desired state. Defining the gap requires converting vaguely defined problems into clear statements of need. The more concrete and explicit the statement, the more likely is to recognize the need to take action.

Prepare for a customer call by speculating about the customer’s probable needs. You can often identify the general needs your potential customers may have before beginning formal discussions with them. This general understanding of problems can then be a springboard for a more detailed exploration of needs.

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, Lectures, Line of Sight

Political Aspects of Organizational Change

There is a large number of individuals who are undecided about change—they need to be influenced or persuaded to support the change. How can a manager motivate employees to change? Most of the change management literature overlooks the fact that people are largely motivated by self interest. In the 90s, popular writing in Change Management exhorted managers to develop ‘vision’ statements to appeal to people’s hearts. While there is some merit in this proposal, change managers who ignore people’s minds (and by that I mean self-interests) will find it quite difficult to garner support for their change efforts. Individuals are not solely drive by self-interests but these interests are important. In some instances, change may involve relinquishing one’s self-interest. The first thing people are likely to ask when informed about change is: what is in it for me?

There had to be a number of decisions to be made at every stage of the project involving large financial outlays—quickly and without political or bureaucratic interference. The decision-making process ensure this. Public support is critical for land acquisition and later for smooth execution. A number of contractors would be involved, and their effectiveness had to be ensured for the corporation to be effective. The community would be concerned about possible environmental degradation. Though the project would ultimately benefit the community, no cost could be unilaterally imposed on any stakeholder. The project owes its success to effectively managing such political aspects too.

If the organization’s change agenda matches self-interests of employees and other stakeholders, it has little problem in gathering support. On the other hand, if the change agenda requires employees to give up at least some of their interests, then mobilizing support is a more difficult task. More importantly, even if the change agenda is aligned with employees’ self-interests, they have to be convinced that participating in change will advance their self interests. Therefore, mobilising support is largely about influencing people to change despite—or because of—their self-interests. This aspect of influencing people’s self-interest is what makes change management ‘political’; it requires close attention to the science and art of persuasion. In other words, we need to understand the psychology of persuasion before we can devise effective ways of influencing people.

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, Line of Sight

Developing Global Competence

Although globalization encompasses everything from environmental scan, competitive strategy, teams and alliances, changes and chaos, and issues of personal effectiveness—all these items and how we deal with them can be traced back to our core set of values and beliefs. The trick is to map those well enougfh to be able to use a cultural intelligence system. To collect, analyze and apply complex information about differences in values and beliefs, you need to draw upon different cultural lenses. This will build up your capability to see yourself, others, and the world through a global perspective. Without this, you cannot grow a global mentality and the attitudes, skills, and knowledge it brings.

 

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, Line of Sight

Organization’s Infrastructure

An architect’s work requires more than site selection and structural design. A building also has an infrastructure, a complex and sometimes invisible web of systems that work together to make the building functional and livable. These include the electrical, plumbing, and air conditioning systems, as well as the essential channels for people movement and telecommunication hookup.

Infrastructure is not just an add-on. The development of new technologies that provide efficient solar heating also required architects to consider a new set of factors when siting a building. Just as the invention of the elevator paved the way for today’s concrete and steel skyscrapers, some new organizational concepts and technologies are needed to make horizontally oriented structures workable and vacuum free.

This exactly runs in pairs with organizational infrastructure needed to make the new corporation work. It has issues such as the hierarchy of reporting relations, the career structures they imply, and the middle managers who populate them, along with ways to rethink control and coordination so that new learning, rather than redesign compliance, is produced.

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 contact www.asifjmir.com

The kitsch of Duplication

To understand duplication, you need to grasp the process itself and ther context it happens within. Duplication is as simple. Duplication consists of copying or replicating the successful actions of another person. It is an age-old principle that finds a unique expression. Ten workers harvesting a field accomplish more than a single farmer. They can work faster and cover more ground. Likewise, ten achievers working together grow faster and expand across more territory than a single entrepreneur. By building an organization that duplicates your actions you magnify your own effectiveness exponentially.

Common sense tells us that that the smartest way to build a business . . . . . .

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 contact Asif J. Mir.

Knowledge Management

Knowledge is increasingly being recognized as an important resource and organizations are now taking steps to manage it. In addition, as the pressures for globalization increase, collaboration and co-operation are becoming more distributed and international. Knowledge sharing in a distributed international environment is becoming an essential part of Knowledge Management. I can help your organization create a knowledge hub by:

1. Creating a knowledge vision
2.  Developing a knowledge crew
3.  Building a high-density field of interaction at the front line
4. Initiating a dynamic new-product development process
5.  Adopting middle-up-down management model
6. Switching to a flexible organization
7. Constructing a knowledge network with the outside world

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations, makes them relevant, and suggests solutions for succes. For details please contact

Asif J. Mir

 

 

Prelude to 21st Century

New concepts, puzzling technological environment, which 21^st century has brought along as oddments of globalization and from which we just can’t afford to turn our back on. Through and through, we must have a nodding acquaintance about them before undertaking any marketing, manufacturing, HRM, supply chain, product, entrepreneurial, and investment choices. My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations, makes them relevant, and suggests solutions for succes. For details please contact Asif J. Mir

Business Process Reengineering

 Because the rate of change has increased for everyone, any organization can’t afford a slow change process. For rapid change and dramatic improvement Process Reengineering is downright apt. Process Reengineering assumes the current processes as irrelevant, enables to disassociate the organization from today’s redundant processes, and focuses on new ones. It is like projecting yourself into the future. Streamlining and improving business processes should be an essential part of management’s strategy for improving organizational performance. It eventually leads to predictable, high-velocity information flows, efficient processes and powerful procedures. This triggers off breakthrough performance in the form of dramatically reduced cycle times. I can reengineer (redesign) any administrative, bureaucratic or centralized function thereby process improvement as an inexorable necessity. My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations, makes them relevant, and suggests solutions for succes. For details please contact Asif J. Mir