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| GA Business and Management Consultancy The Real Best in Asia |
The organization concerned is a multi-use venue, dealing with everything from exhibitions to sports events, from weddings to conference. The customer base is therefore just about as varied as it is possible to imagine.
We were to look at several aspects of the business with a view to developing a training program for staff in the sales, hospitality and administration teams.
After a brief review of the business as a whole , we saw that problems existed at a more fundamental level than a simple need for personal or professional development.
We asked if we could use "mystery shoppers" to test our theories about areas of the company's performance that were raising red flags for us as outside observers.
Our mystery shoppers made a range of inquiries in person, by email and on the telephone. Our findings threw a spotlight on three aspects of the business that caused concern:
- An unhealthy and aggressive sense of competition between the sales and the hospitality team. Each department saw the other as an enemy to be beaten rather than as complementary aspects of a complex business machine . As a result, there was little or no coordination between departments , and there was an expensive and wasteful duplication of effort in a couple of key areas.
- The reception area was manned by people who seemed to reserve their "people-skills" for their friends, while treating clients and visitors as an unwelcome distraction. They sheltered behind a chest-high barrier , making visitors feel like intruders.
- A telephone system almost guaranteeing that each call would take a longer than necessary , and leave callers unhappy about their experience.
We saw that each of these flaws was directly caused by poor internal communication. This had knock-on effect by creating poor communication between the company and its potential market.
Case study : Balanced scorecard
Ministry of Works-Bahrain
As part of the kingdom's long-term strategy for economic and social transformation , each of Bahrain's 16 government ministries was tasked with ensuring its own strategy was fully aligned to the 2030 goals. A result , Bahrain's Ministry of Work carried out an exercise to map its strategy against this vision.
Raja Al Zayani, chief strategic planning, explains: "We held open space knowledge cafe style sessions with more than 200 key staff where we explored and discussed how our present strategies, as described through the balanced scorecard, aligned with the Bahrain national vision.
The process began in 2006 with strategy management and balanced scorecard awareness workshops. The strategy was revisited and out of this came a revises mission statement to "provide public works services to enhance the quality of life", and a vision to become " a leading organization providing quality services."
Next , four cross- functional teams of managers worked to build sections of the strategy map. A workshop was held to integrate the themes within a draft strategy map. In line with reports from other organizations, Raja stresses the value of taking the time to ensure that a consensus is reached as to the key corporate scorecard objectives. She says: " This was quite challenging as people had different views of strategic priorities. But once a consensus was reached greater buy-in and commitment was achieved and it became much easier to agree, on measures , targets and initiatives."
Case study : Total quality management
Process Management International
The Chairman of Process Management International, has seen many reorganizations implement the concept of total quality management. Here he presents a case study of a project that went very well.
"The challenge was to accelerate the assembly time for complex aerospace modules from several months to ten days. Deming's four part model provided the foundations for a remarkable achievement.
1. Address the whole system , improving planning and procurement , not just assembly.
2. Understand and reduce variation-no one had any idea which were the initial variables, nor how quickly the operations could run, never mind the distinction between common and assignable causes of variation.
3. Applying the theory of knowledge helped to clarify the many confusions between different departments and functions and ensured that the plan-do-study-act cycle helped people to learn , not just inspect and report. one
4. Last but not least , remembering to use aspects of psychology to help everyone to see that the goal was worthwhile and that everyone had a vital part to play in working together for their own satisfaction as well as the company.
"Working across the organization with these principles ensured that the right tools were used at the right time and the goal was achieved. Within six months the ten-day dream became reality and was later extended to other products in this and other factories.
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