The Organizational Competence Techniques by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

The financial meltdown and Toyota's problem are clear examples of systematic failure. Disastrous events in the Philippines such as the death of 1,116 victims brought about by  typhoon Sendong in Cagayan De Oro and Iligan City  again highlighted system failure. Although the root causes of these failures are varied, a common theme is the inability of management to act sufficiently quickly to prevent system failure or under performance. Auditing is needed such lead indication.

It is clear that management needs a mechanism that provides indicators of any looming crisis, a measurement of real risk that can be acted upon. This can't include tools such as key performance indicators, traditional compliance based auditing or in process measure because , while useful, they are backward looking, recording what has already happened. They tell us little about what  is likely to happen in the future.

Compliance auditing focuses on the tangible-what can be seen and touched-meaning outputs and the quality of these in terms of conformance. It operates at a transactional level. But in the real world it is not just outputs that count. More important are outcomes -what these outputs mean to customers and other stakeholders- because this is what is really delivered. It is the organization's culture and how people behave together that deliver its results. Traditional compliance auditing misses many of these usually intangible issues and therefore only gathers part of the picture.

Compliance auditing should not be disbanded, but it is clearly not enough for the 21st century where identifying the risk to outcomes is becoming vital. The practice of auditing needs to identify not just what is visible but also to understand the importance of what is currently invisible, before it is too late.

The Project Structure
Recognizing the need for change the High Performance Group has intitiated a project to define the ways in which the apparent shortcomings of auditing could be addressed. a key part of the tool kit was a behavioral assessment methodology with the aim of:
- Creating an auditing method to assess the real-world, based on what people actually do.
- Showing how system and process risks can be scored , benchmarked and managed consistently.
- Determining how significantly more evidence can be gathered and how this could be analyzed to the delivery of outcomes.
- Determining the effect of this on audit process and the role of the auditor.
The ongoing project involves the inclusion of a number of large and small organizations using the approach and providing valuable feedback. As a focus , the University of Canterbury in New Zealand has also been using the approach in a carefully controlled environment whereby students studying for a Master's in Business Administration could apply techniques as part of their studies and provide critical validation. UKAS has also reviewed the approach as part of the requirements 4 and 5 and it has been used to gather evidence for certifications.

The university runs an MBA in Quality Management in which students study management systems and business processes as living entities , culture and behavioral indicators and auditing and assessment techniques. External validation of the behavioral assessment approach took place as an integral part of this course and in the last four years 18 very different organizations have taken the assessment, including:
- Hospice/hospital/medical care providers
- A financial services company
- Educational establishment
- Food producers
- Manufacturers including those of aeronautical , mechanical components and electronic components.
There are several factors behind the rationale for using the behavioral assessment technique. Once we move away from considering transactional compliance -type issues , organizations are complex. At the compliance level it is simple; evidence exists or it doesn't and  often it is invisible. There are huge number of interactions that take place between people in an organization, each affecting the other in different ways and with different levels of importance . When this complexity is understood , it is quickly realized that collecting the amount of data required , analyzing and reporting risks to outcomes and objectives is beyond the auditor; they need help.

As a result, an online assessment tool was used to:
- Gather more evidence
- Reduce intrusion for the organizations concerned.
- Ensure confidentiality and therefore be potentially more revealing
- Be more cost effective
- Consistently collate and analyze results
 - Reduce the students /auditors time in data collection
This web-based approach is not a survey, but a sophisticated assessment technique that tests organizational competence based on behavioral science , with an outcome and risk focus. It places conformance as a step in the maturity towards effectiveness and efficiency.

The assessment
While it is belived that the underpinning science and assessment logic applies to any subject, the university wanted a control subject where the results could be benchmarked across the target organizations. For this reason ISO 9001 was chosen as the subject.

The online assessment was designed in UK with the behavioral indicators established as description of business-as -normal , as experienced by those who would be participating. The assessment were planned by the students by identifying the internal and external stakeholders who are impacted by or take part in the scope forming the basis of the benchmarking activity from which risks can be identified.

Organizations were invited to take part over a four week period with each auditee contributing about ten minutes of time. The assessment system collected the data for the students and analyzed its importance , automatically providing a technical report against clauses of the standard.

The data was then analyzed against the eight quality principles contained in ISO 9000 series and the other factors associated with process management.

To validate the results the students and auditors reviewed the findings determining:
- Areas of potential risk , by department, function or group , using the scoring system where 40% represents acceptable performance. Scores above 40% represented increasing levels of effectiveness in the subject and it being embedded in the whole organization management system. Scores below suggest increasing levels of risk.
- The areas that would be specifically targeted for compliance auditing. The logic was that if the behavioral assessment was itself an effective auditing technique then there is no point re-auditing the same thing twice.

Each organization was then visited by the students/auditors to:
- Validate the results of the behavioral assessment against the reality of the organization
- Look closely at the targeted areas identified
- Compare the results with those that the certification body reported if one had been recently involved.
- To gather feedback on general accuracy and use of the approach.

Research Findings
The MBA student reviewed the findings of the validation activity , which the university summarized as follows:
" The evidence collected over the late four years shows that the approach has been consistently accurate, as well as time-and cost -effective.It addressed well-documented and inherent weaknesses associated with surveys and more traditional assessment approaches. While nothing is foolproof and more traditional auditing activities should not be discarded , the approaches would, for various reasons, find extremely difficult to achieve without significant cost."

" The main strength of the approach is  that it collects tactical data based on the outcome of behavior as experienced by different stakeholder groups. The ability to automatically and therefore consistently analyze the importance of each piece of tactical information is the key elements that makes the assessment tool very valuable. The findings provide a profile of potential risks leaving the user to determine which risks are the most important on which to base improvement solutions that best support the delivery of objectives."

Audit fatigue
The same audit data can be used in different ways to report against standards, outcomes and objectives as is required. Using the same data more than once cuts the costs of auditing auditor intrusion and, at the same time, it adds value for the organization.

The changing role of the auditor
Auditing is now required to act in a new paradigm . The inclusion of other audit techniques means that auditors system in terms of how open , closed and mature it is and select appropriate audit techniques.

As the audit takes place , the different techniques will yield different levels of evidence and the skills is to build this together to demonstrate conformance and the risk to outcome/objectives. Thse auditing practices require changing the role of the uditor in all areas of understanding , planning, analyzing and reporting.

Audit planning is a core competence
Audit planning should not simply be about creating an agenda or meeting schedule to ensure each clause is covered; it should be much wider. It is about understanding:
- The outcomes the system or process has been designed to achieve
- The balance of effectiveness and efficiency outcomes measures
- How to use a range of techniques that will make visible the inherent risks in the organization
- The factors that will increase or decrease risk and apply these to the audit scope
- The requirements of the specific standard or governance requirements and the range of audit techniques that may be used in assessing them
- How the use of technology and non-human based activity not only saves costs but is desirable to increase value.
Every standard organization, system or process is different therefore so must be the audit programme.

Compliance and conformance
There is sometimes confusion between compliance and conformance. Compliance is an auditing technique with weaknesses if used alone. A reliance on compliance can drive in risk and rarely achieves the outcome- driven audit reports now needed or measure of effectiveness.

The need to assess the real world and what actually happens
The culture of an organization or business process is determined by the interaction of different people. The complexity of an organization at a behavioral level means that traditional compliance- based techniques are not really effective.

This is because questions frequently condition the response , confidentiality becomes an issue, issues raised can be sensitive, there is no hard evidence to check and the large amount of data needed to assess behaviors makes consistent analysis very difficult. Consistency is often difficult at a compliance level and this is only magnified at a behavioral level.

What is needed to assess behaviors
The research shows that to assess behavior we need to collect a lot more information in order to give the level of confidence that is required by organizations and develop a 360- degree approach , involving as many of the stakeholders as possible.

Using audit evidence
Traditionally a piece of information is used as evidence that a requirement is or isn't being met. This is a one-to-one relationship. When assessing behaviors there are many sources of evidence and each has a different level of importance dependent upon how critical it is to the delivery of one or more objectives. It is a many-to- many relationship The increase in evidence makes using the auditor's judgement almost impossible. This means that an IT solution is inevitable as an aid.

Where next?
Organizations are recognising the need for change because they:
- Understand it is how people behave that drives results.
- Need to manage risk to the future delivery of objectives
- Need to balance transactional  techniques (such as compliance , key performance indicators and control charts) with lead indicators
- Need to present strategic information to management using graphs, numbers and benchmarks
- Need to focus on what outputs mean to stakeholders in terms of outcomes
- Understand the desire to move on without throwing out the past.
The project has shown that our challenge as auditors is to develop strategically in the way that we plan and deliver audit programmes. We have to think more about outcomes than we have one in the past. We cannot be satisfied with just looking back and saying this or that was wrong- that's easy. It is more of a challenge to help stop the event from occuring in the first place.

It is difficult to audit a process where documented evidence isn't available and then work out if it conforms to a requirement. It is to measure the risk to achieving something. We need to embrace new tools -that is about audit management.

Effective Public Speaking by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

 

 

 

This Piece is dedicated to my Duenas High School(Class 1969)classmates who in one way or another help my spirit high during my four years of studies.

 

 Col. Juanito Cabayao, Mr. Regino Pama, Ms. Fanny Ortizo, Ms. Ronne Cabayao, Mr. Romeo Padilla, Mr. Nilo Espulgar , Mr. Ronnie Navigar, Mr. Jose Collado, Ms. Rema Nangan, Ms. Mildred Cocjin, Ms. Anita Arcenas and Ms. Elsa Lara.

 

 Above all  to the lovable teacher of mine Ms. Lanada.

 

My Sincere Appreciation to all of you....

 

Everyone wants ro be able to speak confidently to a group of people, large or small. Many of us think that this ability is rare. This is not so; we can all be effective speakers if we develop good emotional attitudes to ourselves and others, and practice some basic techniques.

There are two main differences between public speaking and ordinary conversation. First we are "given a floor" for a specified period , and no one is supposed to interrupt us. We keep talking and there is little opportunity to test audience reaction to what we are saying. In conversation a listener can ask us to repeat something if he does not understand. Second, because in public speaking we must "get the point across" the first time , we need to enlarge the scale of our presentation in proportion to the size of the room and audience. Our voice must be louder , with a greater range in tone and emphasis. Words must be more distinctly pronounced , pauses and moments of silence longer, gestures more definite. We have to commit ourselves far more blodly than in conversation.

Emotional Apects
The secret of speaking effectively to a group of people or making a speech, is having the same mind set as you would when talking to a new friends in your own home. Public speaking should be more than normal conversational speaking enlarged to reach everyone in the bigger audience. But we often feel that our normal way of speaking is not good enough-we have to be more literary or more formal. This does not help our confidence; we build up a self image of an orator with all the mental barriers and fears of imagined failure. And by trying to be formal we are often dull and unsuccessful, thus firming our fears. The way out of this vicious cycle is to be yourself.

When we stand up to speak, our emotions play another trick  on us by creating certain physiological reactions. These are due to pumping of adrenaline into our system;our pulse rate increases, we perspire , and in extreme cases we cannot think logically. Realize that you are not unique, but that this reaction occurs with everyone in varying degrees. An experienced speaker uses it to give life and enthusiasm to his talk. This reaction normally fades after the first few minutes . If you feel that the physiological reaction hinders your effectiveness, gain confidence by:
- Taking a few deep breaths before you get up, to give your blood a good supply of oxygen and to encourage relaxation.
- Being thoroughly prepared and word perfect with your opening sentence; and
- Engaging the eyes of someone in the audience right at the start.

Listeners will generally accept you at your evaluation. If you expect to be successful , the audience will sense it and agree. Also, they will feel well-disposed towards a speaker who speaks; looks and behaves towards then in a friendly manner.

Getting Ready
We need something of interest to say; this means we must prepare. We must be sure that we know more about our subject that we can express in one talk. It is not only the ideas that count , but also the background to the subject that colors the way in which we give the talk. Preparation is the process of selecting ideas that we feel are appropriate to the particular , and arranging them in a logical sequence.

As well as a thorough knowledge of the subject , careful preparation of the opening and closing is most important. A well practiced opening sentence and closing is most important. Knowing the closing sentence stops us going on and on looking for an "ending" , and also ensures that we leave a positive final and lasting impression with the listeners. If you write our notes in preparation for a talk, avoid reading them out when you come to speak. Unless you are very skilled , this is the quickest way to put an audience to sleep. Reading from  notes is speaking the thoughts of yesterday; we lose the little inflections and hesitations for a word that gives spontaneous speech sparkle and life. Write these on a small card in large letters, so that a quick look while you are speaking puts thoughts into your mind in the righ sequence. don't be shy of loking at your "confidence card" : your audience would prefer a coherent talk rather than random thoughts.

Thinking Aloud
There are few people who use their speech organs effectively, and those who do  have had some training. To be an effective speaker we do not need a long course in voice production. Most people can improve their ability to speak significantly if they practice a few basic rules. The objective is to:
- Ensure that we are easily heard;and
- Improve communication by maintaining interest and reinforing the meaning behind our words

The first rule for being easily heard is to use an adequate volume of speech relative to the size of the audience and the acoustics of the room. Owing to the use of public address systems, many of us lack the ability to speak at a suitable volume or to use proper voice projection. To do this you do not have to shout , but you must open your mouth and throat when speaking. Breath deeply and bring the air up from your diaphragm. This enables the voice to reflect off the hard palate at the roof of the mouth , and to be projected freely outwards. A few minutes' daily practice in front of a mirror will improve voice projection

Another aspect of being easily heard is articulation. In addition to opening your mouth , good and clear articulation needs flexibility and control of the lips and tongue.We know that personal appearance has a great effect on the impression made on other people. We also know the saying: "When he opens his mouth he puts his foot in it". Good impressions can be spoiled and communication impaired., by slovenly speech habits. A good way of improving articulation is to practice tongue-twisters.

The speed at which we speak in words per minute can often prevent us from being heard easily. This is also related to articulation, as the better the articulation the faster we can afford to speak. Most people tend to speak too fast, particularly when they feel nervous. This gives insufficient time for listeners to take in what is said and to evaluate it. The best way to check your speed is to listen to yourself on a tape recorder.

A final point of potential difficulty in articulation is accent. Many people seem to feel that speaking in public has to be done in the received pronunciation that used to be favoured by the BBC. This is not so; a clearly spoken regional accent adds tune and color to a presentation. Slow down a little and avoid specific dialect words if your audience is not familiar with the accent; your listeners will appreciate your opennes.

There are two main ways by which we can add interest and meaning to what we say. These are by the use of tone and pauses. Most English-speaking people use only a limited range in the pitch of their voice when speaking , often only a range of two or three tones of the musical scale.A  person with a trained voice uses between one and two octaves. We tend to avoid the use of tone variation for fear of being too showy; however , by its proper use we can enhance and emphasize our meaning and let our listeners know what we feel about it. If we make a point of increasing the range of tone in our voice , it will gradually become automatic , our meaning will be clearer , and our voice will sound far more interesting.

Pausation is separating individual thoughts or ideas which may involve a number of words. By pausing , we lead listeners from thought to thought. Their attention is held by keeping them in a continuous state of curiosity. This cannot occur while talk is going on, so there must be suitable moments of silence for the listeners to " get the picture". The length of pause may vary from a split second to several seconds, depending on the importance of the point, the dramatic effect that we want, as well as the size of the udience.

Physical Aspects
The effectiveness of a talk depends on what members of the audience hear, see and feel. Each listener should feel that he or she is being addressed personally; this is achieved by the speaker looking directly at the audience. This increases not only the attention and interest of the listeners, but also the confidence of the speaker by giving him or her the feeling of speaking to a series of individuals. With a small audience , each person should get their share of personal attention. Even with large audiences , the eyes of individual listeners should be engaged. People in a circle around this person will feel the attention: the circle increases in size with the distance from the speaker. A speaker losses contact with his listeners when he stares at the floor in front of him , gazes out of the window, or apparently examines the back wall over the heads of his audience. He appears remote and builds up a strong emotional barrier.

The hands can add up or detract from the effectiveness of a talk. They should appear natural and be readily available to add meaning to what is said through gestures. Avoid continued unnatural poses such as arms folded across the chest or behind the back , both hands in pockets or gripping a table or chair. It is better to use a variety of natural positions, but remember that too great a change in a variety can be distracting.

Finally, a speaker who rythmically sways on his feet or moves about a lot distracts the attention of his listeners. On the other hand a wooden attitude with no movement at all, or with a poker face , looks unnatural and also causes lack of engagement. Be aware of all of these distracting mannerisms and habits ; they can be reduced or eliminated by concentration and practice.

Know Your Subject
One of the most important rules for speakers is: "Talk about something that you have earned the right to talk about." This does not mean that we may talk only when we are an expert on the subject , but that we have earned the right to speak on particular aspects of the subject that we choose. Nor do we need to talk like a superior expert, looking down on the unenlightened. Be confident of your knowledge , but also aware that we are all human being together.

A second rule is: "Talk about things that you are eager to talk about". If a subject is of very little interest to ourselves we can guarantee that it will be of little or no  interest to our audience. Our attitude should be : "I know something which I believe to be important and worthwhile, and am going to make the most of the chance of persuading others that it is important and worthwhile.

Enthusiasm is not noise and histrionics; it is a need to get our ideas across to our listeners by giving them the same eagerness that we ourselves have for the ideas. Without this the listeners will not register what we say and will only passively react to our voice , and ther will be no point in our giving the presentation.

GA Consultancy -Bahrain will have a series of seminars in  Effective Public Speaking

Please call 0973-36409105

Being A Self- Aware Leader by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Can you hear yourself? Do you reflect on your comments and ask for or get feedback? Let me describe some key scenarios for you to consider as we journey into 2012.

A manager had a weekly update meetings with her boss, a vice president , at which she was expected to produce at least one breakthrough idea each week. Over the course of four years this resulted in a stack of papers, notes and diagrams. These ideas came from different sources, including her own epiphanies, but also from business journals and online forums. However, not one of these ideas was ever actually revisited by her boss or approved for implementation. The manager became increasingly irritated at the efforts to which she was going with no ostensible outcome. Do you ever undermine yourself and demoralize your staff in this way?

In another organization, an opportunity arises to meet and have one to one with the boss. A manager enters for his on -to-one, there is small talk and then comes the big question: "What can I do to help you achieve what you need? I'm here to help, so be honest." The manager is open and requests support for a new initiative, but the response comes back: " Any time, just tell me what you need; I'm totally behind you." The manager wonders if he's missed something and tries again, but receives the same response. It seems that what  his boss really means is: " Allow me to make this powerful statement that will make it sound as though I support you.It makes me feel good and like a real leader."

Over a period of some years a manager had lost count of the number of evaluations he had conducted on suppliers for key products. He later discovered that his CEO had a significant ownership in a number of the companies being evaluated and, in fact, ownership in the suppliers that were always selected, despite not always being the ones recommended. How much time, energy and money could have been saved if the manager had simply been told: " We have an interest in the following companies and so will always do business with them, but let's do some high level comparisons and due diligence." How frustrated do you think this manager felt by not being given this information and later discovering the facts?

As part of strategic scenario planning at one firm, it was decided that teams could be formed to discuss ideas for the future of the company. The CEO deliberately didn't attend the start of the meeting to give the teams an opportunity to be open and honest. After four hours of work, the teams had covered the walls with charts and notes with everything synthesized down to core points. The CEO arrived and stated her dissapointment that the teams had not come up with what she wanted. The CEO then asked the teams to reform and she rotated around them, nudging them towards what she wanted. If you know what you want, why make people jump through hoops so that it looks as if you are doing the right thing?

As a leader, don't blow smoke.If you want to do something, just do it. Do not make a team spend time and energy doing something you are going to ignore anyway-you will make instant cost savings by not following that route.

A foreman work for the same company for 39 years. He loved it and was proud of the team that worked for him. He was amazed that every 10 years or so he would see the same ideas come through the company, particularly one idea from  an all-terrain vehicle that was designed , developed and tested, and was always scrapped because it just didn't work out- but not until a huge amount of time and money had ben spent on the project. The managers and engineers didn't know this was the fourth time the idea had been tried as they hadn't been around the last time and because they never asked the foreman or his crew for advice. Who are you ignoring?

Do you ever solicit ideas form other people and then present them as your own? What do you think you are doing to morale? Do you really think that person will forget they told you about the idea? Give credit where it's due and you will boost morale and the creation of more ideas.

These examples are not unique. You will have seen many teams and professionals use their skills, education, knowledge and expertise to advise and direct only to have those above them either ignore or directly go against this advice, to fail and then repeat this process again and again. Always remember that ego does not trump knowledge. It is important , especially when we are in our comfort zone, to ensure that we are aware of how we act in a leadeship role.

  GA Business and Management Consultancy
With GA Consultancy, You Get the Best Results

ISO 9001 Standard and Corporate Performance

Despite the fact that more than one million organizations worlwide have a certified ISO 9001 management system, such a system is still viewed by many as focused on product quality. Any internet search will find a host of companies claiming the physical properties of their products are excellent because they are ISO 9001 certified.

When I was in China recently, my question as to why an organization should be ISO 9001 certified was repeatedly answered in terms of assured product quality. Certainly, in China at least, the role of a quality manager is seen as ensuring a component is within tolerance rather than ensuring a company is achieving its strategic objectives.

But ISO 9001 certification, as many purchasers have discovered, does not always ensure good product quality. A number of organizations remain certified because they fear the loss of a marketing tool, but few can demonstrate tangible benefits to justify paying certification bodies for the privilege.

Despite the common perception of ISO 9001 as solely focused on product quality, the standard, if properly aplied, can and should concern itself with the quality of the business management system. Rather than looking at compliance with a written procedure, or whether a gauge is calibrated, the standard should be used to assess the effectiveness of processess.

Recent global economic turbulence has focused attention on improving the quality of business performance and the need to make decisions quickly based on reliable information. As a result, there appears to be a growing interest  in corporate  performance management using key performance indicators to monitor corporate  performance . KPIs are an ideal method not only to monitor corporate performance but also to review the effectiveness of processes and have been used by a range of organizations for many years.

Traditionally users of ISO 9001 have focused more on operational rather than financial results, limiting the influence of the standard at boardroom level and reducing management reviews to little more than an annual summary of inspection results. This losses sight of that close link between the management system system and organizational strategy. A set of KPIs covering both operations and financial results can and should be used as the basis for an ISO 9001 management system and corporate performance management.

Another way to refocus attention on the link between ISO 9001 and startegy is via the requirement set out in the standard that the quality representative is a member of the senior management team. Many senior managers are not well versed in quality management, but if initiatives can be linked to results, particularly financial results, then management reviews are more likely to become decision making forums and the linkages between processes are likely to become more apparent.

Many of my colleagues consider my ongoing attempts to replace our word quality manual with simple hyperlinked pictograms to be of little value and even fewer are willing to try to map out their own processes. However, the acceptance of key performance indicators as a basis for setting priorities for improvement and monitoring progress has been much more readily accepted and is a good foundation on which to build the profile of quality with the senior team.

There are, of course, other quality models that could be used for corporate performance management such as business excellence models. Its influence to date has been much less than ISO 9001, but its philosophy has a much wider acceptance than the corporations that actively promote their use of its frameork. ISO 9001's model is much more sure it is being used in the right way.

The more fundamental issue, however, is that ISO 9001 in its current form ensures neither good product quality nor effective management as it does not easily show how these two aims might be achieved. The 2008 revision was little more than improvements to terminology and grammar, but change is certainly needed. The market for certification is saturated , even in the growth economies, with the standard sold almost as a commodity, devaluing certification to it. It would appear that it is in no-one's interest to maintain the status quo.

If ISO 9001 is to survive and certification bodies are to stay in business, then a much greater emphasis on business performance is needed. Hopefully some of the concepts of business intellgence are adopted in quality management so that it becomes something that contributes more to intelligent business.

Understand your company's chance of success.. Porter's Five Forces

To help the understanding of how company and its products may fare in a marketplace, Michael Porter provided a simple five element model to indicate areas to investigate, opportunities and threats. A quality lens in each of these areas can help business managers to further identify potential strategies.

Rivalry
The most common source of threat and the most common place where threats are assessed is with existing competitors, where pricing and product/service quality are a typical source of advantage. In assessing this, you can analyze their products and test their services to understand something of their methods. When you have many powerful competitors with great products, the competition is likely to be hot and dangerous. If you want to stay in such markets, you need excellent quality and smart innovation to stay ahead.

Purchasing power of the customers
When you have big customers and price competition, your customers are likely to demand deep discounts. Just as you have professional salespeople, they have professional buyers who know how to negotiate. Big customers may also demand product customization. When you have serious price competition, quality improvement must focus on strategies such as cutting costs, for example with parts production, and process simplification while sustaining overall product quality.

Bargaining power of suppliers
Supplier can also have power over you, particularly when the balance supply and demand is tipping in their favor. If they are the only suppplier of a critical part, then they can hold up your whole process. You also need to manage supplier quality, of course, because it is possible they may let quality slip while boosting their profits, possibly at a long term cost to everyone.

Threat of new entrants
To enter a new market can be quite expensive , but new entrants often appear with special invenvestment and the latest equipment, making them a serious problem even when you have a good market share. The best approach here is often to keep the barriers high , making it ruinously expensive to join the game, for example by constantly competing with yourself even when you are a market leader, driving quality up and costs down on a constant basis. You can also tie up suppliers and channels to the market, making it difficult for new people to get to these critical resources.

Threat of substitutes
The classic substitute competitor is margarine for butter, a curve ball that farmers probably did not see coming. A good way of looking for substitutes is to consider "share of wallet" as a critical measure.

If you sell coffee, your competitors are all beverage sellers. If a person is looking for a drink, then beer, cola, tea and water may all be competitors, with new drinks such as health drinks as relatively recent substitutes. The quality approach in understanding substitutes is to "chunk up" to the higher purpose. For example, a car hire company might consider transport as the real benefit  and so consider the threat of bicycles to their business.

A sixth force that often considered is governments, which can have a significant effect on companies and their competitiveness , through legislation and taxation. In international competition , one should expect support from one's own government and obstacles from local government. Having international standards established within the firm can be very helpful for this.




JOP with Philip Kotler-Marketing guru and author of best selling books worldwide.



Your career questions answered:A letter from my former management student at De La Salle University-Dasmarinas

I would like to thank  Michael for  subscribing my book -The Human Resources Management in Action at IPad..

The problem: How can I help HR to recruit people who will support our quality culture?

The Answer:
There are four key steps in recruitment and therefore, four opportunities to identify those who could contribute most to quality culture: the job description, candidates' application, the interview and the probation period.

Every job description should incorporate the expectation that the candidate will be committed to the company's quality culture. The information pack must include the organization's quality policy and other background information such as the customer charter and details of improvement initiatives.

Suitable candidates will indicate in their application how they will fulfill the quality requirements and those with some training or experience of quality may have an advantage here.

At the interview, ask questions that probe a candidate's understanding and commitment to quality. Incorporate these questions into interviews for every post. Describe scenarios that involve a demanding client, for example. Should the candidate stick to a contract or seek a resolution that ensures the relationship is maintained? This will also help the candidate identify whether this employer believes in assigning authority as well as responsibility.

The successful candidate may have a period of probation, during which personal objectives will be set. You should ensure an objective relating to quality or process improvement is incorporated and given a high priority.

The key message to HR is never assume that people understand the concept of quality. Keep checking.

Available in Samsung Galaxy tablet reader, Sharp Galapagos e-reader, IPad, Amazon's Kindle e-reader and Toshiba Libretto.

Why you should protect your project and organization.......Reputation in Project Management

Project managers and quality professionals should consider reputation in four areas:
- Impact from the project on the reputation of the organization involved
- The reputation of the project.
- Impact and completeness of project communications.
- The reputation of the project management profession.
It is good for a project to be focused on its objective, but the team can lose sight of the organization's broader needs. The quality professional's independence and consideration of the organization as a whole is a useful perspective for a project manager. In reviewing the plan, considering what the project will do for the organization's reputation may change some of the options available for the solution, challenge assumptions or identify risks. These should be managed in the project but may also be included in the wider organization's risk or issue management.

The project
Projects can be the mechanism to execute strategy for organizational change or to develop new products, services or capabilities. In these cases, the project plans should consider the project's impact on the organization's brand and reputation. How will the changes the projects makes be a reflection of the corporate brand? How will the project's way of working or dealing with stakeholder's enhance the organization's reputation? The project's communication plan should ensure that influencing the influencers is part of the project.

Additionally. all projects should look to their own reputation within the organization. A good reputation can help to improve stakeholder participation in project meetings and provide valuable support for the resources the project needs. This can be especially true for projects based in one part of an organization that directly causes changes to occur in another part of the organization. Distance , language and culture can change reputations and support. Careful communication planning can help to avoid problems.

The project manager
Project managers are often measured against a scope, schedule and budget, which are all fixed at the beginning of the project. The reputation of the project manager to deliver is dependent on estimates that are often based on best-case scenarios with little in depth analysis or risk assessment. Sometimes the full impact and associated costs for the organization cannot be fully estimated at that time. The business needs and the market in which the project works will change and therefore the scope, resources, schedule or budget may need to change dramatically.

While these initial estimates of cost are necessary for business planning, it is only when the project is fully defined, planned and costed that the budget and schedule can be properly known. In innovative projects or those with significant risks, this may be in the much later stages of the project. Recognizing this dilemma between the need to plan and understanding the potential inaccuracy of estimates, a quality manager can serve the organization and avoid the project's reputation becoming a scapegoat if things go wrong.

Project management
The reputation of project management is, of course, dependent on perceived success of projects. If a project runs smoothly, it is often assumed that the project was easily managed. If the project is seen as more difficult but produces results, project managers are lauded. This fact of human nature may not be a true reflection of the reality of the project: a complex project that run smoothly is actually down to the skill of the project management team and should be celebrated.

As each project can add to or detract from the project management profession's reputation, the quality professionals can also help the organization to form  an objective opinion on the value of the project management profession, the project managers it recruits , and style and methods used by the more successful projects