January 30th, 2008 07:46 AM By WCG Staff
It is no secret that virtually all organizations encounter some level of internal power struggle among the executives for power and influence. In most cases, such struggle is most obvious in budgeting issues as well as distribution of resources. Though one may argue that such internal competition may aid better performance of the participant, the real influence and impact of such internal competition may be felt by frontline employees as well as third party vendors.
Essentially there is no valid argument to limit healthy and measured internal competition; however, the impact of negative competition may influence the frontline workers negatively by forcing them to consciously or unconsciously take sides or even worse by aiding to fuel negative competition. Similarly, the third party vendors may find themselves in the middle of divisional or departmental competition which may either force them take sides or cancel their contract and involvement to preserve their own reputation.
In this particular entry we will discuss the evaluation of key personnel. Clearly, the impact on human capital will raise the question as how to regulate such internal conflicts. The most obvious step is the evaluation of talent and competency. Though traditionally, executive team members enjoy a uniform attendance in all vital meetings, it may not be a good idea to have them attend all meetings. The most obvious terminology would be information isolation or otherwise known as compartmentalization of information. It is important to point out that this concept should by no means confuse or cause difficulties in sharing of information with all stakeholders.
Compartmentalization in this particular context should be viewed as sharing information with those that need the particular set of data and information to make a solid business judgment. For instance, having the company mid management attend shareholder meetings or having an accountant join a meeting on strategic long term planning, would be a great mistake. Granted that feedback from every part of the organization can help in improvements, it is important to differentiate between getting feedbacks and having random mid managers attending strategic meetings.
Certainly, there are exceptions that verify the rule. There are also certainly instances that require having the greatest possible internal feedback. However, in terms of not taking a road which would alienate extremely valuable human capital, it is increasingly important to keep non qualified and less relevant management personnel out of such strategic meetings.
In the coming days and weeks we will discuss strategic methodology to determine how to devise standard operating procedures that would assist in eliminating guess work in minimizing internal and external threats because of managerial infighting.
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January 18th, 2008 15:28 PM By WCG Staff
A while back we start talking about fundamental steps to hire management personal. This particular entry will be mainly about evaluating credentials of potential management employees.
The fist most common process is to evaluate the educational background. This is not the same as examination and evaluation of basic academic career rather than the evaluation of educational ventures since the professional life of the individual. It is no secret that there is no shortage in finding well educated individuals. It is substantially more difficult to find an individual which has continued a dedicated path of farther education which may include single or combination courses, professional certificates, external or internal conferences, as well as additional degrees in their entirety.
The second most common process is the evaluation of the career track. This is not the same as reading and checking a resume that has a lot of current buzz words, empty titles and bogus achievements. Nor is this the same as evaluating a prospect based on the company name in their resume. This is more about reading between the lines.
The third most common process is the reference check. The traditional process entails contacting former employers to get a first hand evaluation. It can occur by any means including email and phone conversation. Nevertheless, as a matter of standard operating procedure, such feed back or evaluation should be taken at face value because of its inherently flawed assumptions.
The fourth most common process is comparative in nature. In its basic form, the evaluation entity will cross compare the most viable applicant against internal and external standards as well as against the other applicants. This particular methodology may or may not be viable because of variations in qualifications of applicants as well as their respective background.
Note of cautious – the above named procedures are inherently centralistic and general in nature. Individual businesses and organizations will have to conduct their own customized standard operating procedures to harvest the greatest effectiveness and efficiency in their hiring procedures. Nevertheless, hiring a management expert is one of the rather intriguing part of human resources, yet the greatest danger and impact is within those small organizations which do not have dedicated human resource departments.
In the coming days and weeks we will continue to discuss the procedures which would benefit small and mid size organizations without dedicated human resource department.
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January 17th, 2008 15:33 PM By WCG Staff
It is safe to assume that virtually all businesses require goods or services from third party vendors. Nevertheless, it is rather a neglected issue. In terms of internal and external management of those vendors many attempts have left a real approach in the air. The existing software and hardware that allows for more effective management of those external vendors are shy in flexibility and adaptability.
Essentially the most current issue with the existing tools is within it affordability for small business as well as the respective calculation of return on investment. Even without the financial aspects, most small and mid size businesses lack the internal expertise to deploy such technically demanding projects.
As in most other aspects of comparison between small and large businesses, the small business owners are rather disadvantaged in this particular sector as well. Yet the solution to third party vendor management is rather simple for small businesses.
The basic of B2B relationship stays virtually the same, whereby the only significant difference between small business and large business in terms of their respective relationship is leverage. The most obvious step to maintain a relationship between small businesses and their respective vendors is consistency. By maintaining consistency in terms of trust, projects, and orders, one can virtually eliminate the leverage factor.
However, the question of maintaining such relationship effectively and efficiently is directly connected to issues such as cost benefit analysis, time and cost factors, as well as reliability and dependency issues. Traditionally, the maintenance of such relationship can be managed internally. However, considering the current economy, globalization as well as technical development may increase the attractiveness of outsourcing to third party firms or management consulting firms.
In the coming days and weeks we will discuss the benefits and potential disadvantages of outsourcing vs. in house dealings.
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January 11th, 2008 10:07 AM By WCG Staff
Management by definition implies a set of skills that may or may not be all naturally acquired or learned. The fundamentals of an effective and efficient management personnel and individual managers are rather murky. Though generally certain set of education and experiences are required to groom a manager, the quantity and quality of those requirements are by no means really uniform.
The most basic requirements such as advanced educational degrees such as M.B.A. or Ph.D. coupled with years of experiences are simply not enough anymore. In the current global economy, virtually all upper management personnel come in contact with issues such as language and cultural issues, technological challenges, cross industrial expertise as well as geopolitical concerns.
This certainly does not mean that every manager or management expert has to be familiar with all potential challenges, rather than the ability to recognize the appropriate issues at hand that can be effectively and efficiently dealt with.
Additionally, such ability may also ease the complexity of implementing solutions such as hiring management experts or management consulting firms that can aid in resolving external and internal issues. Such simplification may also influence the bottom line by creating cost savings.
In the coming days and weeks, we will start a detailed discussion about the most basic and universal requirements for hiring a management employee and management experts.
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World Consulting Group — Your premier management consulting firm .
January 02nd, 2008 11:09 AM By WCG Staff
Vendor and customer relations
It is safe to assume that virtually all businesses require goods or services from third party vendors. Nevertheless, it is rather a neglected issue. In terms of internal and external management of those vendors many attempts have left a real approach in the air. The existing software and hardware that allows for more effective management of those external vendors are shy in flexibility and adaptability.
Essentially the most current issue with the existing tools is within it affordability for small business as well as the respective calculation of return on investment. Even without the financial aspects, most small and mid size businesses lack the internal expertise to deploy such technically demanding projects.
As in most other aspects of comparison between small and large businesses, the small business owners are rather disadvantaged in this particular sector as well. Yet the solution to third party vendor management is rather simple for small businesses.
The basic of B2B relationship stays virtually the same, whereby the only significant difference between small business and large business in terms of their respective relationship is leverage. The most obvious step to maintain a relationship between small businesses and their respective vendors is consistency. By maintaining consistency in terms of trust, projects, and orders, one can virtually eliminate the leverage factor.
However, the question of maintaining such relationship effectively and efficiently is directly connected to issues such as cost benefit analysis, time and cost factors, as well as reliability and dependency issues. Traditionally, the maintenance of such relationship can be managed internally. However, considering the current economy, globalization as well as technical development may increase the attractiveness of outsourcing to third party firms or management consulting firms.
In the coming days and weeks we will discuss the benefits and potential disadvantages of outsourcing vs. in house dealings.
Brought to you by:
World Consulting Group — Your premier management consulting firm .
