EXECUSCOPE                                      November 1991

 

 

Guarantee Successful Change

 

The biggest barrier to change is employee resistance, according to top Fortune 500 managers. The runner up is the corporate culture's failure to support a change, they say. Here are five steps to help you overcome these barriers and achieve successful reorganization:

   1. Make sure all decision-makers agree on goals and strategy. Clear leadership is vital to support gathering.

   2. Decide what kinds of skills and corporate culture are essential for carrying out the strategy.     

   3. Determine the gaps between goals and reality.

   4. Make a plan to correct two or three of the largest gaps. Include small steps as indicators of progress.

   5. Set key success criteria and measure the outcome.

   Genuine commitment to change, a culture that supports innovation, and effective communication aids successful reorganization.--Creative Management, June 1991, p. 2. 

 

 

Blame the Right Culprit

 

The conventional wisdom that American managers are obsessed with short-term profits is a fantasy. This fantasy distracts business people and policy-makers from the real competitive need: improving productivity.

   Two marketing professors find no hard evidence to support the widespread belief that shortsightedness is causing America's business woes. They analyzed 20 years of financial data from 7,000 large U.S. firms. They reasoned that if firms are focusing more on short-term profits, these profits should be increasing. They found, however, that the proportion of firms increasing their profits remained stable. The researchers concluded that to increase profitability, firms need to be even more oriented to the short term. They need to focus on the immediate problem of productivity instead of gazing down the road.--Business Horizons, May-June 1991, p. 10.

 

 

The New Management Wave

 

From American Express to Ford, dozens of firms are switching to self-managing work teams. Small to medium-sized firms are expected to follow the lead of the big firms and government agencies already committed to teams.

   Although this management innovation varies in style and name, it usually results in a greater number of employees reporting to one manager. Typically, self-managed work groups of about 15 people make decisions without an on-site supervisor. Eliminating one layer means that a supervisor manages 70 to 80 workers. This new breed of first line supervisor acts as a facilitator, information manager, and administrative liaison.

   Several factors have contributed to this trend:

   * Dissatisfaction with the old division of labor

   * The shift from a production-centered to a service economy, with professionals who expect to be consulted

   * An employee-centered approach to customer service

   * The switch in marketing from individual salespeople and purchasing agents to team selling and buying

   * Worker empowerment as a management philosophy.--The George Odiorne Letter, July 5, 1991, p. 1.

 

Page 2

  

Checklist for the Model Boss

 

Are you new to management? Do you want to be a better boss? Here are some tips from Stewart Libes, president of Accountants on Call:

   * Listen. Many workers complain bosses don't listen to their concerns.

   * Make risk-taking safe. When you encourage risks, ideas will surface.

   * Be honest. One deception can completely destroy your credibility.

   * Say thanks. Express your appreciation for a job well done.

   * Challenge employees. When workers are bored, production drops.

   * Be flexible. Workers greatly appreciate flexible scheduling.

   * Talk straight. Use clear, precise, nontechnical language.

   * Criticize correctly. Chastise employees promptly and privately.

   * Communicate. Don't let the rumor mill spread all the news.

   * Ask advice. Asking employees for suggestions makes them feel important. * Be consistent. Inconsistency generates anger and disappointment.

   * Be impartial. Playing favorites kills morale and hurts productivity.

   * Be a mentor. Show an interest in the careers of promising employees.

   * Say no when necessary. Be firm and fair, and explain your decision fully.--Human Resources Update, July 10, 1991.

 

 

Temper Tantrums Can Be Costly

 

Do you tend to flare up when things go wrong? Watch out. A superior's angry outbursts can be damaging. Statements made in anger can make subordinates resentful and unwilling to cooperate. Workers may side with the victim.    Resentment erodes support for the supervisor's leadership and for department goals. Bad feelings can grow and eventually cause communication breakdowns. Furthermore, a supervisor with a reputation as a screamer may find that soon employees respond only to anger.

   Both superiors and subordinates tend to remember dramatic outbursts for a long time. In addition to embarrassing all parties involved, tantrums waste time and even money in undoing damage to property and feelings. Anger also wastes time better spent taking positive action. When tempers soar:

   * Channel irritations into solutions.

   * Work with the staff to resolve the problem.

   * Concentrate on performance, not on assigning blame or using employees as outlets for frustration.--Successful Supervisor, June 24, 1991, p. 1.

 

 

Time Off for New Parents

 

Most workers think traditional fringe benefits are fair even if they don't use them as much as the next person. They don't begrudge coworkers' use of sick time, funeral days, and health insurance. Feelings of fairness about parental leave, however, vary according to one's point of view.

   Workers who might directly benefit, parents, and women find parental leave policies fair, according to an Indiana University study. Employees with progressive attitudes about working women also are supportive.

   Even employees who won't benefit directly can be rallied to promote parental leave policies, the study concluded. Try these ways of overcoming resistance from employees who consider the benefit unfair:

   * Include parental leave in a cafeteria benefit plan. Other workers then feel they are being compensated in a different but equal way.

   * Explain the need for and benefits of parental leave. Workers tend to perceive actions as more fair when managers give extensive reasons for their decisions.--Behavioral Sciences, July 8, 1991, p. 2.

 

 

Tactful Criticism

 

Sooner or later every executive has to evaluate others. How can you criticize people in a way that will help rather than harm future relations?

   * Get to the point, but don't be curt, harsh, or short-tempered.

   * Criticize constructively in a style that avoids insult.

   * Stick to the performance facts. Avoid far-reaching criticism, however helpful you think it might be.

   * Balance criticism with praise, especially in formal reviews.

   * Let the person feel free to respond, but avoid starting an argument.

   * Try making criticisms early in the week and early in the day.

   * Keep your remarks behind closed doors. A person's self-esteem is doubly damaged when co-workers hear.--Foremanship, June 24, 1991.

 

 

Getting a Customer's Eye View

 

To Richard Haworth, office furniture means far more than desks and chairs. It means chairs with lower back support to cut down fatigue and back injuries. It means workstations designed to spread out stress so computer operators don't get carpal tunnel syndrome.

   As CEO and president, Haworth built his father's Michigan woodworking shop into a $600 million office furniture business. His key to success: learning from customers and treating them with a common vision. "We measure ourselves from the customer's perspective," he says.

   To get this perspective he advises, "Get eyeball-to-eyeball with customers as much as possible. It's particularly important now that so much of our contact is remote--by telephone, fax, and so on." Haworth Inc. holds "quality by design" conferences with eight customers, eight dealers, and 50 Haworth people. One session includes a cross section of these people. Other sessions are homogeneous groups. The company asks how it can do a better job in the next five years. Answers include specific suggestions, but remarks and side conversations also reveal what people think of the company.          Haworth gives 150 presentations a year to workers on the company's philosophy. At monthly President's Roundtables he also gives a business update, opens the meeting up to questions, then publishes the minutes for the whole company to read. The roundtables include 16 to 18 people picked either at random or by a category such as supervisors or single parents.

   Haworth explains, "If I lose contact with my customers and my people, I'll direct the company the wrong way."--Success, July/August 1991, p. 10.

  

 

  

 

Page 4

 

 

Make Your Dream Business a Reality

 

Do you dream about starting or expanding your own business? The odds of entrepreneurial success are tough. Only one out of 100 would-be entrepreneurs gets adequate funding. And 80 percent fold after three years due to poor financing, poor management, and poor marketing. Solid planning helps you succeed, according to Scott A. Clark, author of "Beating the Odds." Here are some highlights of his detailed system:

   * Figure out your personal goals. You have to know what you want from life before you can know what you want from a business.

   * Clarify your business goals. A list will undergird your business plan and help you express your aims to potential investors.

   * To find your niche, recognize an unmet need in the market and create a product to satisfy that need. During niche analysis, break down the market into smaller and smaller segments.

   * Test your ideas by interviewing key customers. Try getting orders at a trade show using brochures and a prototype. Know your market.

   * To attract money, you need a first-rate management team. Venture capitalists feel the team is three times as important as the product.

   * Ask for twice as much money as you think you'll need. Nothing ever goes as planned, and it's harder to raise money the second time around.

   * Watch out for trick questions from potential investors. Seemingly trivial questions may test your loyalty to your idea or your management team.--Soundview Executive Book Summaries, Vol. 13, No. 7, p. 1.

 

 

FORECASTS         Page 2

 

 

A bullet train will link Texas' largest cities by 1999 if financing problems can be solved. The train would link Dallas-Fort Worth Air­port with Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. The consortium in charge hopes to issue high-quality, tax-ex­empt bonds. Flori­da will soon build­ a high-speed rail system be­tween the Orlando airport and the Inter­nation­al Drive area near Disney World. The sys­tem, scheduled to open in 1995, will use mag­netic levi­ta­tion tech­nology. More states may fol­low suit if legisla­tors allow federal highway funds to be used for high-speed rail rights-of-way.

 

Learn new job skills on your own time if you want to stay ahead. The American Society for Training and Development says 42 percent of the workforce needs skills training. If current practices con­tinue, however, that training will not take place on the job, says the society. It advises workers to learn new skills from books and college courses.

 

Fill up with ethanol, methanol, or gaso­line in your 1995 automobile and a com­puter will adjust the engine appropri­ately. By then, alternative-fuel cars will probably get tax breaks and be re­quired in smoggy areas. Natu­ral gas vehi­cles will be used for gov­ernment and business fleets. These fleets may con­vert to electric cars by the year 2000, but they'll cost a lot to operate unless there's a tech­nology break­throu­gh.

 

 

FINDINGS                             Page 3

 

Travel Trivia

 

Feel like you're always on the go? No wonder. The average business traveler will have covered enough miles by the age of 80 to make six trips around the world. Do you like to take home those little bottles of shampoo? So do six out of 10 other hotel guests. Most guests pass up the stationery, however. The aver­age business profes­sional spends 15 nights a year away from home. Most trav­el by car; only 18 per­cent fly. Tuesday is the most dangerous day to drive.

 

 

Pay-For-Performance

 

Compensation for executives in higher-performing compa­nies is more linked to performance than in lower-performing companies. Executives in higher-perform­ing companies have highly leveraged in­centive formulas that offer greater com­pensation opportunities. They also have higher long-term reward targets, accord­ing to a survey by the American Compen­sa­tion Association.

 

 

Fostering Diversity

 

Almost three out of four companies are concerned about workforce diversity, according to a Hudson Institute survey. Most (55 percent) worry about motivating di­verse groups. Some 40 per­cent think problems might result from different values and cultural norms. To meet the problems, 42 percent are ex­plicitly re­cruiting minor­ities.

 

 

On-Site Health Care

 

Firms that provide medical care at job locations or in company-run clinics have lower health care costs. They also lose less worker time to doctor visits. Some com­panies nego­tiate contracts with inde­pen­dent medical services that visit plants and offices. Some 17 percent of firms surveyed maintain a medical facil­ity in at least one corporate location.

 

 

BRIEFS                               Page 4

 

 

HR managers tend to be stronger in lead­ership and communication skills than non-HR managers. They are weaker, howev­er, in numerical skills, problem analy­sis, and strategic thinking. A recent study found that 25 percent of HR manag­ers had social sci­ence backgrounds. Only two percent had technical training.

 

Complete job satisfaction is un­necessary for 73 percent of the stu­dents in a Univer­sity of North Caro­lina busi­ness school class. Half want "big bucks"; money does­n't matter for three percent.

 

Keep your computer virus-free by testing software before you install it on your hard-disk drive. Also check programs downloaded from public bulletin boards. Make program backups so you'll have clean copies in case of infection.