Defining Issues & Priorities

Ensure that the key issues facing business have been realistically defined in light of the current and rapidly changing business environment. There is nothing new about this requirement, but the fact is that very few management teams actually take the time and apply the discipline necessary to objectively define and prioritize the key issues that can make or break their business. The issues of inferior quality, higher cost products, lower productivity, and nonresponsive service plague manufacturers for the better part of the recent past. Many companies in industries such as steel, automotive, machine tool, textile, farm and construction equipment suffer badly as a result. Only few companies address these issues in effective ways. Most are unable to clearly identify the key issues, set priorities, and develop the necessary business plans to overcome the underlying problems.

While the specific issues vary for different companies and industries, the management mindset should not vary. To deal effectively with an increasingly turbulent environment, priorities must be set so the business can survive unexpected blows, adapt to sudden dropping changes, and then capitalize on smaller windows of opportunity that develop and close much more quickly than they have in the past.

Many progressive managers kick off their planning process with a session aimed specifically at getting agreement on key issues and priorities. Accepting these priorities require a shift in the way most managers think and act, such as:

• Liquidity becomes a more important objective, often more important than reported earnings. It provides the flexibility to deal more effectively with unexpected events than is possible when everything is tied up in fixed and slow moving assets.
• Productivity gains per dollar of capital and per employee must be achieved annually. These reductions must exceed inflation and achieve demonstrably lower costs.
• Innovation must never stop. Demonstrable product and process improvements must be achieved year after year.
• All cycle and response times must be continuously reduced.
• A “frightened” sense of urgency must be the way of life in all parts of the 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 visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Managing Technology

A significant organizational challenge confronting managers today is the set of issues involving the management of technology. Technology is the mechanical and intellectual processes the organization uses to transform inputs (raw materials, parts, cash, facilities, people) into products or services. Managing technology is essentially a reactive process. Whenever a supplier came up with a new piece of equipment to replace an old one, the organization buys it and trains its workers in how to use it.

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.

Tapping Unutilized Resources

Throughout the world are resources waiting to be discovered for demands that exist. They may consist of oil, ore, unused equipment, sunken treasure, unemployed labor, or even products that have not been presented effectively or refined. The traditional independent mining prospector is a type of entrepreneur who makes a career of seeking and exploiting such resources. Others discover unused resources with profit potential almost by accident.

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.

Promoting Sales

First stage marketing strategies should focus on sales promotions that will attract immediate customers and selling methods that will ensure repeat business. First stage companies can also benefit from sales and promotion activities, but with a focus on short term rather than long term benefits. Ideas include:

1. Invite a local newspaper to write an article on some unique aspect of the company.
2. Invite television reporters to cover a special event sponsored by the company (fund raising drive, a banquet honoring an employee, or the introduction of snappy new product).
3. Start a charity book collection drive at local schools.
4. Sponsor a young people’s athletic team.
5. Sponsor a civic band or float in a local parade.
6. Donate materials, space, or services to community theater groups.
7. Sponsor a paper, glass, aluminum, or plastic recycling drive.
8. Get behind a social cause.
9. Donate used computers, office equipment, etc., to local schools, hospitals, or welfare agencies.

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.

Determining Training Needs

When a supervisor sees evidence of inadequate job performance, assuming the individual is making a satisfactory effort, attention should be given to raising the worker’s skill level. When a supervisor is confronted with a drop in productivity, it may suggest that skills need to be fine-tuned. Of course it would be related to other factors, too—lack of resources or equipment malfunctions. That’s why it’s imperative to pinpoint the problem precisely.

In addition to the productivity measures, high rejection rate or unusual rate of wastage may indicate a need for employee training. A rise in the number of  accidents reported can also suggest some type of retraining is necessary. Furthermore, the changes that are being imposed on workers as a result of a job redesign or a technological breakthrough demand training.

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.

Off-the-Job Training

Off-the-job training covers a number of techniques—classroom lectures, films, demonstrations, case studies and other simulation exercises, and programmed instruction. The facilities needed for  each technique vary from a small, makeshift classroom to an elaborate development center with large lecture halls, supplemented by small conference rooms with sophisticated instructional technological equipment.

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.

Service Culture

Any policy, procedure, aspect, action, or inaction of an organization contributes to the service culture. This includes employee appearance, the way employees interact with customers, and their knowledge, skill and attitude levels. It also encompasses the physical appearance of the organization’s facility, equipment, and any other aspect of  the organization with which the customer comes into contact.

Service culture has following elements:

• Service philosophy:  Direction or vision of the organization that gives you day-to-day interactions with the customer.
• Employee roles and expectations: Specific communications or measures that indicate what is expected of you in customer interactions and define how your performance will be evaluated.
• Policies and procedures: Guidelines that define how various situations or transactions will be handled. These can help or hinder service delivery depending on your flexibility in interpreting and applying them.
• Management support: Availability of management to answer questions and assist you in customer interactions, when necessary.
• Motivators and rewards: Monetary, material items or feedback that prompts you to continue to deliver service and perform at a high level.
• Training: Instruction or information provided through a variety of techniques that teach knowledge or skills, or attempt to influence your attitude toward excellent service delivery

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.

A Good Schedule

If you have the right equipment and the right employees, at the right place, at the right time, at the right cost, you have the perfect business schedule. If you’re like most businesses, you can probably improve your schedule, improvements that reach all the way to the bottom line. And unlike adding employees, materials, or capital equipment, better scheduling is a cost-free way to improve profitability. A good schedule can save you millions. A bad schedule will cost you 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.

Information-based Management

Successful organizations have sophisticated communications equipment that will make it possible to adapt quickly to ever changing wants and needs. It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of information management in today’s organizations. Today 35 percent of all personal computers sold are laptop models that are more powerful than most business computers. Now these portable computers are being linked fax machines and cellular phones to send messages to anyone, anywhere, any time. Successful organizations emphasize the need for managing information flows between businesses and their employees, businesses and their customers, and so on.

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.

Forces in the Environments

Environment is the sum of all the forces surrounding and influencing the life and development of the firm. The forces themselves can be classified as external or internal. Management has no direct control over them, though it can exert influences. The external forces are commonly called uncontrollable forces and consist of the following:

1. Competitive: kinds and numbers of competitors, their locations, and their activities.
2. Distributive: national and international agencies available for distributing goods and services.
3. Economic: variables (such as GNP, unit labor cost, and personal consumption expenditure) that influence a firm’s ability to do business.
4. Socio-economic: characteristics and distribution of the human population.
5. Financial: variables such as interest rates, inflation rates, and taxation.
6. Legal: the many kinds of foreign and domestic laws by which international firms must operate.
7. Physical: elements of nature such as topography, climate, and natural resources.
8. Political: elements of nations’ political climates such as nationalism, forms of government, and international organizations.
9. Socio-cultural: elements of culture (such as attitudes, beliefs, and opinions) important to international businesspeople.
10. Labor: consumption, skills, and attitudes of labor.
11. Technological: the technical skills and equipment that affects how resources are converted to products.

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.