Are companies optimizing response time or only maximizing workload ?

July 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Time is key to performance. It’s a well known fact. But while industrial companies have been taking it into account for ages, inventing just in time, it seems that non industrial companies have still some things to learn.

Of course, everybody wll tell me that time is a priority. And everything is done in order employees won’t loose even the smallest piece of time. No time to have a rest, to take two minutes to think, to look around or, even, to help a colleague looking for any key information you have. Everything is made to be sure people will really work every minute they are in the office. They are even been given more work than can be done, just to be sure not a second will be lost.

But is it the right solution ? I won’t tackle the myth of “presenteeism” which is an actual issue. It will come later…

Though I’m not very far from doing so : managers want to see busy people without wondering if they are really efficient. They think a full time working employee is productive. Sure he is if you only consider time. But what’s about results ? I’m not that sure.

What matters is not working a lot but doing one’s job quickly. It changes everything. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Knowledge & Information management, Management & HR Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Next Step in Open Innovation

June 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Distributed innovation, collaboration with clients and partners are becoming central in companies’ strategic reflexion.

To learn more about this subject I often discuss here, it’s at McKinsey’s.

Filed Under: Innovation, Management & HR, strategy Tagged With: , , , , ,

The organizational challenges of global trends: A McKinsey Global Survey

January 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment

This survey is not free but very intersting to understand manager’s concerns.

  • The respondents say that intensifying competition for talent, shifting centers of economic activity, and increased technological connectivity are the most important trends for their companies. Moving quickly and dealing with regional diversity are two of the most common concerns.
  • Two-thirds of the executives say that their companies aren’t sure of the right organizational response to emerging global trends—but the vast majority believe that responding effectively is critical for competitive advantage.

    • I don’t  know if enteprise 2.0 is coming, if tools will precede organizational transformation, and even if people really know how important tools will be to help them in the transformation process…but they’re sure they have to manage and share information and interactions differently…

    Filed Under: Management & HR Tagged With: , , ,

    Reinventing management according to McKinsey

    December 23, 2007 By 3 Comments

    After having published some studies about the “soft ROI” of organizational performance and informal networks, McKinsey brought out something very interesting about the need of reinventing management.

    Before going into the document, a few things about all those relevant analysis from McKinsey :

    - McKinsey treats a lot of problematics in direct relationship with enterprise 2.0…without mentioning this concept. It’s the very evidence that, regardless of tools, people who work and think hard on those topics are heading in the right direction.

    - The future of enterprise is not enterprise 2.0 (if you consider that enterprise 2.0 is only about using web 2.0 tools within the company) but a company that decides to really face its challenges and adopt the right kind of organization will found in 2.0 tools what’s needed to power it.

    - At the end it backs me up in my idea : everything starts with a strategic goal, then with organization, then with management and process, and at the end you have to provide the needed tools. Tools don’t make the enterprise but serve it.

    So let’s have a closer look…

    [Read more...]

    Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Innovation, Management & HR Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

    Harnessing the power of informal networks

    October 22, 2007 By 1 Comment

    In the neverending debate about knowing if a “soft ROI” is a real ROI or not, it seems that we can now rely on McKinsey. In fact a lot of people know that a soft ROI is a real ROI…but since their hierarchy doesn’t tell them so they refuse to take it into account in their decisions. And since everybody is waiting for his manager to shift the paradigm, the message has to come from the very top of the company.

    And since the very top of the company nearly often trust McKinsey, I’m glad they published  a study called “Harnessing the Power of your informal employees nertwork” .

    If McKinsey says that informal / tacit interactions has a real business value it will help a lot of people to be confortable with the notion of soft ROI, won’t it ?

    Filed Under: Management & HR, Web & Usages Tagged With: , , , , , ,

    A McKinsey survey about web 2.0 in business

    March 23, 2007 By 2 Comments

    image-4.pngIt’s definetively the hot topic of the moment. One more survey about web 2.0 in business. It’s from McKinsey and it’s freely available here (just have to register). It’s rather short and I let you discover what it says. There’s only one point I’d like to focus on.

    The surveys shows that enterprises who invested in web 2.0 tools are satisfied by the ROI they get. But it also highlights that early adopters are much more satisfied than late adopters…satisfaction increasing with time.

    Something like the long tail…

    According to me it’s only one more proof that tools aren’t everything and that they take place in a specific human and organisational context. Early adopters had the time to adapt themselves and adopt new practices which are consitent considering what those tools make possible.

    The more time goes by, the biggest benefits are…because things and people change around the tool.

    I don’t think this survey will bring anything new to people who are focused on the subject, but it’s clearly one more signal for executives to jump on the train before it’s too late.

    PS : I realize I forgot to talk about a former Deloitte survey on this blog. I encourage you to read it as I consider it as a very good strategical approach to what are the reasons to switch to enterprise 2.0. Download it here : us_consulting_hc_connect_talentmgmt2.pdf. It’s one of the best surveys I’ve ever seen on this topic.

    Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Intranets and digital workplace, Management & HR, Web & Usages Tagged With: , , , , , ,

    A company is made of people and processes

    December 11, 2006 By Leave a Comment

    images-3.jpegWe have to agree that processes have been the priority for a long time, at a point that everyone kows what he has to don how to do it. We don’t know if the individual has developped a belonging feeling toward the company, one thing we’re sure of is that he can’t ignore his a part of a (or several) workflows.

    Have we been so far in that direction we would have taken from teams their biggest strenght : being a team and being able to be beter that the sum of individuals which compose it?

    It’s a more and more popular idea and, most of all, it is the main point of a McKinsey report which says that the next revolution will concern interactions.

    Here is their introduction:

    The next revolution in interactions

  • As more 21st-century companies come to specialize in core activities and outsource the rest, they have greater need for workers who can interact with other companies, their customers, and their suppliers.
  • Thus the traditional organization, where a few top managers coordinate the pyramid below them, is being upended.
  • Raising the productivity of employees whose jobs can’t be automated is the next great performance challenge—and the stakes are high.
  • Companies that get it right will build complex talent-based competitive advantages that competitors won’t be able to duplicate easily—if at all.

    • Some things that must be obvious for everyone but that don’t seem to be.

    Hoping more and more managers will be aware of that…

    Filed Under: Management & HR Tagged With: , ,
    Newer Posts »