Perfect
Much of systematic management is concerned
with the control and improvement of the business in an inevitable
and incremental process. It is about identifying gaps between
what exists and what is needed, and closing them.
The gaps that arise might drive radical solutions
where they are large enough, but as the company improves this
may become less likely, and it is possible that the company becomes
complacent.
The concept of 'Perfect' is about maintaining
a passion for identifying the best and pursuing it. It is about
creating tensions which drive the organisation to its creative
best. It is about developing a strategy for excellence which
focuses the creativity of its people in the areas where there
is most leverage, whilst maintaining enough stability to ensure
that the lever has a fulcrum.
The essence of the five preceding
aspects have been about introducing and cultivating a framework
for a professional management approach. Unfortunately it is work
that can never be finished. There will always be scope for:
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gaining a deeper, more fundamental agreement on purpose (which will inevitably develop with time) |
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refining philosophy to establish more efficient behaviours and standards, and better symbiosis of behaviours between people |
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enhancing the people asset |
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developing more effective, efficient aligned processes |
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improving the accuracy and scope for prediction. |
Fortunately,
the whole thing doesn't have to take place at once (in fact doing
so would be an impossibility).
There are benefits to be gained by each improvement
in each area providing they are undertaken in a measured manner
at a rate which the organisation can sustain and absorb.
Perfect is the concept of developing a clear
strategy of staged improvement, aligned to the business need
and balanced to ensure healthy growth in the adoption of professional
management.
The
concepts of a systematic approach to management cover a lot of
ground, a potentially daunting amount of ground, and that in
itself can be a barrier to accepting and adopting the need to
improve all of these areas, despite the logic of it. But seeing
clearly the journey that can be taken in no way diminishes the
roads already travelled. If you accept the scope for improvement
your profits won't suddenly slump, your people resign and your
share price dip. Acceptance is of the opportunity, not of the
deficit. You are where you are.
Knowing where you could be is not a threat, unless you close your mind to it. These aspects of systematic management are important, and if your management process isn't developing or controlling these things, what is?
To understand more about 'Perfect':
| Exploration | provides an understanding of the principles that underpin this aspect of the management process |
| Evaluation | provides a simple scale by which you might reflect on your own organisation's progress in this area |
| Tools | provides a brief overview of some of the approaches that are available to support further development |
Return to 'Systematic Management'
© Tesseract Management Systems Ltd 2003
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Case studies of success
Managing by Design
- a handbook of
Systematic Mgt.
(purchase on line)
Transforming performance through QFD
(insight)
Testimonials on systematic management
(for Perfect)
Principles
Self-Evaluation
Tools