QMS & EMS London

It is a common process-improvement scenario: After a project team or a work group is formed, members have a series of productive meetings and workshops, but then nothing happens. How many times has it felt like there are great team dynamics in the conference room but when it comes time to execute change, no one acts? What drives these disconnects? Many people want to attribute these failures (and they are failures) to the quality methodologies used. It is not uncommon to hear, for example, that Six Sigma is too complex or that Lean works best in production environments. For every method there is an excuse. But the failures transcend industry, culture, education and reward structure. What is more frustrating about this “almost engaged,” “almost empowered” phenomenon is that the people participating believe, during the workshops, that they are doing everything right. They believe they are highly engaged and most outsiders would look in and agree.

The first part of this series looked at what organisational culture is, how to spot it and why it is significant to successfully meeting organisational sustainability goals. So how can the existing culture be harnessed to help achieve such targets? Textbook definitions of organisational culture tend to be generic, and it can be hard to properly understand it without examples.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has revealed that “49 percent of establishments survive 5 years or more; 34 percent survive 10 years or more; and 26 percent survive 15 years or more”. In other words, the probability of your business surviving the next 5 year is less than its probability of failing and this is no different online. If you’re not careful, your business will most probably not last 2 years. How could you change this fact? From an individual level to the business level, there are a lot of things you can do to ensure your business not only survives the test of time but that it is also very profitable; here are 5 little changes that can take your small business to the next level.

Samsung -Korean electronics giant- is nipping at Apple's heels. But it is still missing one crucial element. The technology press loves a good narrative. And among the most beloved narratives is a good horserace. Two rivals struggling to better each other with new products or new features. The archetypal tech rivalry, between Microsoft and Apple not only lasted for decades, it helped make Silicon Valley what it is today. During the rise of the smartphone, the great race between mobile operating-system makers has been chronicled in detail. Early leaders like Nokia and Blackberry gave up the lead to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. Microsoft, meanwhile, fought just to stay in this race.

Given the current economic scenario, we expect customers to be spending more on outsourcing to reduce costs and improve productivity. However, we can expect outsourcing to gain some momentum only in the second half of 2013. Generally, political decisions in their true sense are based on their financial viability and it is unlikely that any government will establish an agenda that jeopardizes economic interests. Also, Global business will continue to drive the growth of outsourcing industry in order to achieve core competencies, reduce and eliminate costs and achieve economies of scale.

"Almost everybody does brainstorming wrong and turns it into an enormous waste of time. When most people do brainstorming, they run all over the place and think outside the box. I think they should think inside the box, the right-sided box". — Ralph Keeney An emeritus professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and a consultant to such diverse organizations as the Department of Energy and, just last month, a German power company with $40 billion in revenues, Keeney has devoted his career to a discipline called “decision science,” helping companies and government agencies bring focus and rigor to their decision-making process so that they can waste less time spinning their wheels and instead get clear on their objectives before they try to meet their goals.