Tale of a Deliberate Planning Chaos Organization (DPCO)

Yes, by this time you'd have guessed it must a Paki governmental/private organization. You're always right!

Two SUs illustrate DPC ;)

Case Study: The Sui Gas Department - (whether govt. or private, I don't know) - always ends-up below budget. They always save around, say 20 crores given 80 crores as budgeted amount. Glorious! Well, may be not.

Solution: The reason why they always end-up below budget is because they always estimate well beyond what can possibly be required; and on the top of that, when they do stuff (nasty stuff), they follow the golden principle of deliberate planning chaos. Example, "Is this repair & maintenance  you're doing already planned in the budget?," asks a sane manager. "Budget mein tou nahi hota, magar yehaan tou aisay hee hota." ("It wasn't budgeted, it works that way [of jahalat, ignorance].") Nothing is planned, sab chalta hai (all non-sense works, they say).

(Appendix: You might be shocked to know that Pakistanis have consumed, thanks to MNAs etc., 60% of Sui gas reservoir, and above all, there's a misconception that Sui Gas field is something huge. Our professor completely denies that, b'cause it's not huge compared to the demand of it.)

A "classic" problem of services doing acquisition

My father is in a services industry business. What I can do here is perform a little brainstorming exercise with my deary readers. Here's a dilemma they face or problem, more appropriately, when acquiring "knowledge", "skills" by hiring or purchasing a company or consultants, especially when a company overtakes another through merger: The knowledge you think you're buying may walk out the door, in words of Davenport and L Prusak*. How fickle are human assets really :] How do we deal with this "classic" problem?

* See "Working Knowledge", by these authors.

Lessons In Entrepreneurship

You don't want to do things entrepreneurs must not do. Perhaps, more than this you don't want to fail. However, if this 'want' be replaced by 'fear, becoming "I don't fear failure", is an essential traits of entrepreneurs. In the following article-link you'll find why fearing not failure is an 'essential' mark of entrepreneurs, and those who do fear are not your peers. Here is the link. 

 Author* lost his major business, and his father told him:   

"You're fortunate to have failed. You now have the opportunity to learn how to turn bad luck into good luck. If you can do that, you'll have a life of more and more good luck."  

 Roberts teaches in this short article that there are three simple immutable things an entrepreneur must stick to:   1) Not to blame (you know it). 2) Make New partners (says, best when you're doomed and you hate them. He says there are good people in perilous moments). 3) Learn from your mistakes. 

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Notes:

* Website: richdad.com. Robert, author of the Rich Dad series of books, is an investor, entrepreneur and educator whose perspectives have changed the way people think about money and investing.

Reconsidering: A Viable Strategic Option

Reconsidering or revisions of implemented plans can be life-saving or life-taking in the hours crisis, especially. My aim is to create hope. Therefore, I will not be discussing 'negative'.

The lesson comes from Punjab Government's latest move. I've come to learn from a story in PAGE that Punjab Government has decided to 'abandon those development schemes falling under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2008-2009, that are not useful for the public and would prove mere wastage of provincial fund.'

This was decided in a senior level meeting between Chief Secretary of Punjab, its Finance Secretary and other top-level officials. However, they've proved more subtle as we expect them to be.

Government of Punjab has "...already utilised 24 percent of the ADP's total budget of Rs 160m in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2008-09," because of the finanical crisis in the country. And, guess what, now at this point in time Punjab Government's financial position is quite safe. Like an oasis in the middle of desert!

Peace Keeping by Delegation

Delegation By Authority

When I first came to know of possible conflicts that can happen while decision making in teams, I was elusive of any concrete solution. Some teams are stuck by dictator-by-default syndrome of CEO or team-leader, mentions an article in Harvard Busines Review. It has, to me, a good solution, namely, Delegation, though very indirectly!

Def: When managers get things done by 'transfering' a part of their authority through others, they're delegating by authority.
Now, what's precisely the use of it for a man who manages?
A handbook for managers states, "Delegating reponsibilities to others increases your available time to carry other important tasks." 'Willingness to delegate is a mark of leadership'. But its difficult a task to delegate. Therefore, here I'll summarise five of those behaviours which effective delegators use:

1. Review and Specify the Task and Objective:

Tell what is to be delegated. Without clarification of the task, which is to be delegated, doesn't make any sense. Moreover, delegation need not a lengthy written plan, as night fighter F-117 takes in its hardware before going on the mission. It means that you're are to specify details of task, deadline and resources. Since, it is a high-risk management, briefing is only essential.
It is much an intuitive approach or strategy. The delegator only mentions the intent of the mission, tell what results he wants and forget everything about it till the outcome comes out.

2. Selecting Appropriate Person:

Select appropriate man for the job who has previous expreince and availability. You can do so effectively by asking yourself questions before selecting the delegates: Who has the stomach for challenges? Who should not do? Does the task need previous experience? What interpersonal or intrapersonal qualities might be needed for the job? and so on and so forth.

3. Bound Your Employee, Bound the Delegation:

Specify employee's range of discretion or his freedom and power to decide. Its important. Because you, as a manager, don't want to or mean to be delegating whole of your authority. Specify the parameters, leave no doubts in letting the delegate know this.

4. Allow the employee to participate:

This point can help you to decide in best manner how much authority is to be delegated. You've selected an experienced and appropriate delegate and have called him to meeting. After going through step 1 and 3, discuss with him to check his understanding of the job and ensure commitment. Encourage him to feedback.

Be aware! Letting amployee decide how much authority he needs can present you with problems, like of 'self-interests, biases in evaluating their own abilities'.

5. Inform Others that Delegation has occurred:

Communicate throughout the organization that delegation has taken place. Issue all the parameters, tasks and objectives of the delegation especially to those, inside or outside the organization, who might be affected by the decisions of the delegate.

6. Establish Feedback Channels & Monitor Progress:

The next logical step can be, in order to aviod any management problems, 'establishment of feedback channels on the regular basis'. You can do so by 'fixing official reporting schedule, if appropriate'. You should also encourage feedback. This essential for controlling and coordinating. Moreover, regular updates can help to evaluate performance, not only the basis of outcomes but also on the basis of the actions, which issued the results. After, evaluation and re-evaluation, if appropriate, 'apply lessons to future delegations'.

When Established Superiority Isn't everything !!

When Established Superiority Isn't everything !!

Posted By Muhammad Umer Toor, 21-Nov-2008.

Always keep in mind what first paragraph of page # 199, 227 (exhibit 8-7) of Management book [1] states, whenever you're in the business. Even when your organization is touching skies or, worst, in a downturn, and if you cease to bring innovation, cease to find new directions and so on and so fourth - this is a worst pitfall. Becoming best is one thing, and trudging along a constant line is not a safe strategy. Because, whenever you find that everything is going smooth, actually something is going wrong there. This happens mainly with those companies whose tasks demand optimum performance; when everything around them is changing without any notices. What I learnt from Stanely Hainsworth, 'former creative genius behind campaigns for Lego, Nike and Starbacks' [2], is that eternal reconstruction is the price of success for any brand. Editor at Entrepreneur magazine calls it as 'Survival of Fittest' [3]!

The basic idea behind finding new directions or cracking innovation, a necessity of established companies and else, is well explained by Hainsworth, and in his own words:

"Many [companies] wait until a crisis hits and then go through the cycle of
ahiring freeze, cost-cutting and
layoffs. [Refocus] while you're strong, while have the resources and before you
start cutting."[4]

This happens (-unexpected shocks-) mainly becuase of 'market-shifts', customer choices change (like our favorite ice-cream example!), and of course, due to dynamic enviornment, generally. [5] Doing something ahead of hard times isn't at all a weak idea. It's an expert view as well as well-researched thesis. (To quote you one more example). According to a research done [6] on the four common causes of growth stall, two majors reasons given for growth stalls confirm Hainsworth point of view.

One big reason, according to HBR [7], is that 'innocvation management breaks'. Second, because 'company lacks a strong talent bench'. [8]

Once, I asked a senior student of criminal psychology, "What is the remedy for a criminal-minded person?" And, his reply, which I found quite witty, was, "You shouldn't be criminal in the first place." 'That's the best strategy', he whispered to me without even whispering! And, business studies are no exceptions!

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Notes:

[1] Page 199 (Chapter # 7), Ist paragraph states the successful plans are not likely to work in changed situations. Whereas page 227 (exhibit 8-7) (Chapter # 8) urges the need for creating strategic flexibility, i.e, it consists of: monitoring and measuring results; gaining fresh perspectives and ideas outside organizations; sharing negative information and learning from the mistakes; while making strategic decisions, having multiple alternatives. (From: Management, 9th Ed., by S. P. Robbins& M. Coulter.)

[2] Quote from Entrepreneur, November 2008, article, INSGHIT "Survival of the Fittest,' by Lindsay Holloway.

[3] Quote from Entrepreneur, November 2008, article, INSGHIT "Survival of the Fittest,' by Lindsay Holloway, Pg. # 33.

[4] Quote from Entrepreneur, November 2008, article, INSGHIT "Survival of the Fittest,' by Lindsay Holloway, Pg. # 33.

[5] Quote from Entrepreneur, November 2008, article, INSGHIT "Survival of the Fittest,' by Lindsay Holloway, Pg. # 33.

[6] When Growth Stalls, by Mathhew S. Olson, Derek van Bever, and Seth Verry, HBR (Harvard Business Review), OnPoint, Fall 2008, Article Published Originally March 2008.

[7] Excerpt from HBR (Harvard Business Review), OnPoint, Fall 2008, When Growth Stalls, from Idea in Brief coulmn, Pg. # 33, Article Published Originally March 2008.

[8] It is further explained in the article, (OnPoint, Fall 2008, When Growth Stalls, from Idea in Brief coulmn, Pg. # 33, Article Published Originally March 2008) as:

"The firm has few executives and staff with strategy-execution capabilities."

How Cisco Uses Our Chapter 9 Pg # 241 to 'See the Future'*

Since when I started reading out carefully Harvard Business Review (HBR), I have come to respect my course management book (i.e, Management, 9th Ed., Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter). I have appreciated that this book summarizes or states, at least, all those principles on which all of today's successful organizations work and win.

Quoting a small example which I came across in this month's (Nov.) issue of HBR, will make you take my claim more seriously.

Cisco Systems are "the world's largest provider of internet networking." And, Cisco's new CEO John Chambers, who will begin his 14th year at Cisco in January, has always been good at listening. And, so has his company been such that - they have scored loads of capital, merely by listening to their clients and customers, as HBR puts it.

"Cisco is able to predict trends six to 8 years (remember budgeting, forecasting, or projecting is always futuristic) in the highly volatile technology market by recognizing early-warning signals its customers unwittingly give off**." This is what they call "market shifts." And, Chambers, Cisco's CEO, himself abandoned his own old 'command-and-control' style in decision making. (I will share more ideas on this topic in future posts, hopefully.)

Cisco was founded in 1984. It did went in a downturn (i.e, crisis). And it came out. Regained its superiority in Internet Communications Equipment providers. But. Only through seeing the future. And, it has been doing so for long only by listening to its customers.

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Notes:

* Harvard Business Review, November 2008. "The HBR Interview: John Chambers", Heading Topic & Pg. 241 of, Management, 9th Ed., Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter
** Harvard Business Review, November 2008. "The HBR Interview: John Chambers"