Adaptive Search Method For Strategy Formulation
One of the methods in formulating strategies is Adaptive Search Method. This method uses a search procedure in arriving at a strategy. This is accomplished through a ‘cascade’ approach: at the outset possible decision rules are formulated in gross terms and are then successively refined through several stages as the solution proceeds. For example, a civil contractor may analyze its past performance and prospects and arrive at a decision to seek diversification. As the second step it would decide that a closely related industry is the natural direction to follow and pick real estate development as its preferred arena. This … Continue reading →
Human Relations and Motivation
Anton, a technical specialist at a Pharmaceutical Company, left his manager’s office and walked back to his desk. He sat there quietly for a moment staring at the window wall that faced the area he shared with several other technicians. Suddenly, Anton picked up the heavy urn that held the dozens of colored pens he used in his work. As his colleagues looked up from their desks, Anton dumped the pens on the floor and smiled at them. He stood up, wheeled around and threw the urn with all his strength at the door to the manager’s office. The urn … Continue reading →
Developing Innovative Organizations
Innovation rarely, if ever, just happens. It requires imagination, coordination and a sense of purpose. Sad to say, a great many boardrooms lack some or all of those qualities. So it’s not that surprising that some companies find it hard to innovate. Before we look at how you – as chief executive or as an ordinary manager – can create an environment where innovation will flourish, we should first demolish several common and highly pervasive myths. The first is that innovation is the province of specific departments, notably research and development. Experience across a wide range of companies shows that, … Continue reading →
Manage Yourself and Then Your Company: Set an Example (Part 1)
The First Important Thing: Manage Yourself All management books, including those I have written, focus on managing other people. But you cannot manage other people unless you manage yourself first. The most crucial and vital resource you have as an executive and as a manager is yourself; and your organization is not going to do better than you do yourself. So, the first thing to say about the development of a country like yours or companies like those represented in this room today is: development. That is a very general term. Development is, foremost, dependent on how much you get … Continue reading →
Leading People in an Anxious World
Safety is now Americans’ overriding concern. Several years ago, as I sat in a secondary school board meeting, the visiting headmaster of a K-8 school was asked what he considered the highest priority for parents in choosing high schools. I was astounded when he said “safety” rather than, for example, “quality of education.” But that was just a hint of how Americans’ safety fears would blossom in the years to come. We have become the most anxious of nations, fearing terrorists, gun rampage, sexual assault, hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, identity theft, discrimination, and germs, among other things, and not necessarily in … Continue reading →