A Key Insight For Business Management Strategy
One of the greatest tragedies of modern management is the belief that strategy is long-term and tactics are short-term. Truth is, strategy exists at ever level of the organization and must be considered with every action and option chosen by the company.
According to Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints (TOC), ‘strategy’ means: “an answer to the question ‘what for?’” (objective, purpose). This couples with the TOC explanation of ‘tactics’, which are: “an answer to the question ‘how?’” (process, actions).
This impacts on management in a big way. Mark Parker Follett (1868-1933) defined management as ‘the art of getting things done through people’. How succinct.
And since nothing happens without people at ever level, strategy must be considered by every member of an organization to understand and fulfil the purpose and required outcome of their function. This empowers the organization towards greater effectiveness, efficiency and innovation.
This adjustment in perspective (that strategic management does not only apply to long-term or top-level goals and decisions) produces a more mature, natural and dynamic approach to management. Yet a lot of management continues simply to just try and wing it – massaged by academic management models, egged on by ego… always under the bias and preferences of senior management.
Opportunistic managers seeking quick gains for their own honor can sink the long-term competitiveness of the company and stifle much needed disruptive innovations under the pretence of seeking efficiencies to save money.
But that old paradigm is losing it’s shine. Six years of research by Collins and Porras discovered the key principles behind 19 successful companies:
Each of those companies supported an ideology that encourages staff to build a company that lasts. In Built To Last (1994) they showed how “short term profit goals, cost cutting, and restructuring will not stimulate dedicated employees to build a great company that will endure.”
The most comprehensive set of management tools for achieving this new paradigm can be found in the theory of constraints body of knowledge. TOC works on both effectiveness and efficiency depending on where the greatest determined leverage point is found for progress. And all staff are involved.
According to Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints (TOC), ‘strategy’ means: “an answer to the question ‘what for?’” (objective, purpose). This couples with the TOC explanation of ‘tactics’, which are: “an answer to the question ‘how?’” (process, actions).
This impacts on management in a big way. Mark Parker Follett (1868-1933) defined management as ‘the art of getting things done through people’. How succinct.
And since nothing happens without people at ever level, strategy must be considered by every member of an organization to understand and fulfil the purpose and required outcome of their function. This empowers the organization towards greater effectiveness, efficiency and innovation.
This adjustment in perspective (that strategic management does not only apply to long-term or top-level goals and decisions) produces a more mature, natural and dynamic approach to management. Yet a lot of management continues simply to just try and wing it – massaged by academic management models, egged on by ego… always under the bias and preferences of senior management.
Opportunistic managers seeking quick gains for their own honor can sink the long-term competitiveness of the company and stifle much needed disruptive innovations under the pretence of seeking efficiencies to save money.
But that old paradigm is losing it’s shine. Six years of research by Collins and Porras discovered the key principles behind 19 successful companies:
Each of those companies supported an ideology that encourages staff to build a company that lasts. In Built To Last (1994) they showed how “short term profit goals, cost cutting, and restructuring will not stimulate dedicated employees to build a great company that will endure.”
The most comprehensive set of management tools for achieving this new paradigm can be found in the theory of constraints body of knowledge. TOC works on both effectiveness and efficiency depending on where the greatest determined leverage point is found for progress. And all staff are involved.
