Philosophy
The concept of Philosophy is about determining
exactly what the company values - what it pursues and endeavours
to attain. At a corporate level this is likely to be described
in terms of business and performance targets. In some cases these
will be financial, in others they may concern market strength
or output.
At a departmental level these may be
interpreted in terms of other, more specific targets, such as
delivery performance, efficiency, or customer satisfaction. At
an individual level these may break down further into competence
and behavioural targets.
A well executed Philosophy exists where the
targets at teach level are clear and unambiguous, where they
efficiently link from level to level, and perhaps most important
of all, where they live in the hearts and ambitions of the company's
people.
to clear targets for the improvement of all aspects of the
company's performance.
Most businesses are now very
familiar with setting objectives and business targets, and at
the top level of the company they are well understood and fairly
clear cut.
Unfortunately,
as they translate down through the organisation they become increasing
complex and conflictual. Personal aspirations and single mindedness
lead to sub-optimisation and failure - in short the behaviours
do not combine to reach the goals - what benefits a decision-maker
does not necessarily benefit the business and vice versa.
Peter Scott-Morgan called this “The
Unwritten Rules of the Game”, and it was well explored in
a paper by Nadler and Lawler which concluded “Organisations
get the behaviours they reward which are rarely those they desire”.
What actual behaviours do you reward? Do
you know?
Plainly, breaking down objectives into sub-objectives
and expecting them to build back up is not enough, and effective
management processes have to develop a more comprehensive picture
of what they value (standards and behaviours),
why and how.
Many companies are discovering the hard way
that it's not enough to say what is expected - people often can't
hear it over the cacophony of body language and hidden agendas.
But for efficiency it must be clear and uniform - the wasted
effort from silo mentality is increasingly clear.
Management is, above all else, the development
and harnessing of 
behaviours
to achieve standards. An effective management process is one
in which managers understand how and why it rewards certain behaviours,
and works to consciously adjust the company environment so that
it promotes the standards and behaviours that it needs. It does
not see setting standards as simply establishing objectives and
rules, but sees instead a complex interaction of management and
peer responses which need to be developed through careful and
pragmatic experimentation. One way to begin this is to ask at
a junior level of the company “What behaviours are likely
to get you promoted here? And what aren’t” Honest perceptions
will be of value to you in understanding your company philosophy,
as will be the events that shaped those perceptions. Try it with
someone you trust but don't challenge their answers - even challenges
are a factor in the value set of the company!
To understand more about 'Philosophy':
| 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 |
Move on to 'People'; Return to 'Systematic Management'
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