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United Kingdom, UK, United Kingdom, UK, United Kingdom, UK, United Kingdom, UK, United Kingdom, UK Business Processes, Business Process Management
Michael Hammer defines process as "an organized group of related activities that together create a result of value to customers.“ Each word in this definition is important: ØA process is a group of activities, not just one. Value is created not by single activities, but by the entire process in which all these tasks merge in a systematic way for a clear purpose. ØActivities are related and organized. They present a stream of relevant, interconnected activities that must be performed in the right way to produce the desired outcome. ØAll the activities in the process work together toward a common goal. People must all be aligned around a single purpose, instead of focusing on their individual tasks in isolation. ØProcess are not ends in themselves. They have a purpose, they create and deliver results that customers care about.
In far too many organizations, senior management's traditional functional mindset represents one of the most significant barriers to change. Indeed, there is reason to believe that the traditional functional paradigm has done more to impede customer focused, business performance improvement over the past two decades than almost any other factor. This way of thinking stands in the way of executives understanding and improving the flow of cross-functional activities which create enduring value for customers and shareholders. It promotes the type of thinking that impedes the effective deployment of enabling information technology. It promotes also 'silo behavior' and turf protection, and an undue pre-occupation with organization structure. This mindset contributes to the mistaken belief that if it was somehow possible to properly define the boxes on the organizational chart, and fill in the names of the "right" people in the key boxes - then the organization's performance will automatically improve. Yet, little is further from the truth. Further, it encourages a distorted view of performance measurement and executive rewards, shifting focus away from meaningful measures such as the timeliness and quality of services provided to customers, and towards less significant measures around functional departmental performance. It reinforces a task focus and traditional command and control behavior, where questions such as 'What is the scope of my responsibility?' and 'Who are the key subordinates who can help me look good?' are foremost and top of mind. Moreover, traditional functional thinking has also led to outdated management practices in the areas of goal setting and problem solving and it stifles innovation. So what to do? How can you transform the traditional functional mindset such that your organization is designed to make it easy for customers to do business with the company and easier for employees to better serve the company's customers? An effective way of transforming the traditional functional mindset is to embrace enterprise business process thinking and install enterprise business process management (EBPM) practices. What does this involve? Frankly, it requires a lot of very hard work, and concepts which will make some of your executives very, very uncomfortable. Why do it? Simply because the benefits of making this mental model transition are significant.
Cultural Intelligence, Managing Cultural Differences
Culture in general is concerned with beliefs and values on the basis of which people interpret experiences and behave, individually and in groups. Broadly and simply put, "culture" refers to a group or community with which you share common experiences that shape the way you understand the world. The same person, thus, can belong to several different cultures depending on his or her birthplace; nationality; ethnicity; family status; gender; age; language; education; physical condition; sexual orientation; religion; profession; place of work and its corporate culture. Culture is the "lens" through which you view the world. It is central to what you see, how you make sense of what you see, and how you express yourself.
Cultural differences in multicultural teams can create misunderstandings between team members before they have had a chance to establish any credibility with each other. Thus, building trust is a critical step in creation and development of such teams. As a manager of a multicultural team, you need to recognize that building trust between different people is a complex process, since each culture has its own way of building trust and its own interpretation of what trust is.
One advantage of cultural diversity is the potential for innovation arising from the presence of multiple perspectives. Yet, it is clear that not all multicultural teams/organizations are able to harness this benefit. Cultural intelligence (CQ) may enhance the likelihood of innovation success in culturally diverse teams/organizations. CQ facilitates the reconciliation of differences and conflict, and enhances the probability of arriving at culturally synergistic solution that embraces the ideas or interests of various parties.
When working with someone from a different culture, use cross-cultural differences management techniques and skills, in particular: ØRemember that cultural difference arise from different origins: birthplace; nationality; ethnicity; family status; gender; age; language; education; physical condition; sexual orientation; religion; profession; place of work and the corporate culture of the previous employer. ØCultural differences can result in higher or lower levels of perceived performance, and in more or less need and acceptance of feedback. ØBe explicit with yourself and with your multinational team members about the implications of the cultural differences. ØCommit to building shared values and shared expectations - in terms of management style, need for creativity, adherence to deadlines, frequency of progress checks, etc.
Leadership
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else
to do something you want done because he wants
to do it." – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Leadership is the process of directing the
behavior of others toward the accomplishment of
some common objectives. It is influencing people
to get things done
–
willingly!
–
to a standard and quality above their norm to
achieve a shared stretch goal.
As an
element in social interaction, leadership is a
complex activity involving a process of
influence; actors who are both leaders and
followers, and a range of possible outcomes
–
the achievement of goals, but also the
commitment of individuals to such goals, the
enhancement of group cohesion and the
reinforcement of change of organizational
culture.
Leadership is imperative for molding a group of
people into a team, shaping them into a force
that serves as a competitive business advantage.
Leaders know how to make people function in a
collaborative fashion, and how to motivate them
to excel their performance. Leaders also know
how to balance
the individual team member's quest with
the goal of producing synergy - an outcome that
exceeds the sum of individual inputs. Leaders
require that their team members forego the quest
for personal best in concert with the team
effort.
Super-leaders help each of their follower to
develop into an effective self-leader by
providing them with the behavioral and cognitive
skills necessary to exercise self-leadership.
Super-leaders establish values, model,
encourage, reward, and in many other ways foster
self-leadership in individuals, teams, and wider
organizational cultures.
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