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Corporate Functional Strategy

26 Feb

Change1

The role of corporate functions, traditionally, has been to conduct the various service-oriented specialized tasks necessary to run the business.  Corporate functions are of strategic significance in achieving organizational objectives yet their role at most enterprises is kind of contractual at best.  These units assist in routine operations, facilitate other business units, and manage conflicts and relevant pressing matters.  For instance, the Human Resources (HR) function is typically responsible for staffing people, administering their benefits, managing performance appraisals, and career advancement procedures.

Constant pressure on businesses to compete in this age of disruption has forced them to rethink the role of their Corporate Functions.  Lately, the expectations from corporate functions have evolved to the degree where the Leadership anticipates the support functions to be of more value for the company.  These corporate functions are now required to align more strategically and directly with the Corporate Functional Strategy.

To undergo Transformation, businesses should act quickly to tap value offered by these 4 key opportunities:

  1. Change in Market Environments
  2. Increased Focus on Discretionary Activities
  3. Increased Pressure on Process Improvement
  4. Development of Distinctive Capabilities

Let’s delve deeper into these key opportunities.

Change in Market Environments

Markets are becoming more and more volatile, uncertain, and rife with innovative rivals.  In addition, the constantly shifting customer demands are forcing organizations to put more pressure on strategic as well as support functions.  This demands from these functions to develop expertise in order to deliver on more complex tasks than in the past.  For instance, IT needs to be able to now design applications capable of unearthing vast data lakes to reveal valuable insights in real-time.

Increased Focus on Discretionary Activities

Traditional corporate functions were more occupied with routine operational activities—resolving financial errors, emailing, overseeing employee compensation, and managing IT assets.  However, now, thanks to Process Optimization and Outsourcing, Corporate Functions have become efficient to the point that they have slashed the requirement for resources to deal with routine activities significantly.  This has freed immense resources, leaders’ time and effort to be spent on discretionary strategic initiatives that have the potential to bring more value for the organization.

Increased Pressure on Process Improvement

Changing market dynamics and intensifying rivalry has strained the organizations to ensure seamless implementation of strategic initiatives, boost effectiveness, and bring on Operational Excellence.  This competitive landscape has forced the functional leadership to reduce expenditures, find new avenues of operational improvement, and enhance value.

Development of Distinctive Capabilities

The changing market dynamics have made the companies realize the significance of creating unique capabilities—differential edge acquired due to the ability to do things remarkably and inimitably. Organizations are now more focused on empowering their global corporate employees.  The Corporate Functions have now become more and more important for the organization’s Corporate Strategy.  Rather than just assessing fulfillment of requests from the team members, rewards and recognition of functional leaders is now being tied more with their efficiency, judgment, ability to create key differentiators for the organization, and finding efficient ways of doing business.

Organizations are now more focused on empowering their global corporate employees.  Rather than just assessing fulfillment of requests from the team members, rewards and recognition of functional leaders is now being tied more with their efficiency, judgment, ability to create key differentiators for the organization, and finding efficient ways of doing business.

Interested in learning more about Corporate Functional Strategy?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Functional Strategy here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Reinvention

15 Jan

Majority of pharmaceutical companies are persisting with decade old processes and routines.  They have transactional relationships with suppliers, lack of concerted efforts to progress ahead, and no vision to reap productivity rewards.  The reasons for continuing with these traditional practices include tax regimes, regulatory hurdles, and stable revenues from customers dependent on existing industry offerings.

Disruption—spurred by technological Innovation, fluctuating customer demand patterns, and more agile and creative competitors—has forced the pharmaceutical sector to think of ways to face these challenges, survive, and thrive.  One of the strategic response to this competitive disruption—by leading manufacturers—is to reexamine their manufacturing operations, embracing agile principles, reducing costs, revolutionizing procurement and distribution functions, and striving to achieve Operational Excellence.  Above all, they view their supply chain not as a cost center, but as a source of Competitive Advantage.

The increasing influence of generic drugs is another challenge for large multinational pharmaceuticals.  In the past, multinational companies (MNCs) dominated the market owing to possessing a number of high-market drugs protected under patents.  Patent protection afforded them the leverage to set high prices on each product.  The scenario is fast changing.  Expiry of high-market drugs patents is creating a huge opening for generic competitors and the space is widening compared to the past.

In the past, pharma manufacturers were able to counter the threat to generic competitors by developing new drugs.  However, this is becoming difficult and the new drugs pipeline is shrinking with time.  R&D expenditure has continuously gone up, however, drug approval from the authorities has not kept paced with it.  It has rather declined, straining the MNCs further.

Other disruptive factors include newer distribution methods, public health plans favoring generic drugs over proprietary ones due to cost effectiveness, the newer internet / mail delivery options displacing traditional pharmacy dispensing options.  Pharmacy chains—e.g. Walgreens—have given a leverage to the retailers to negotiate reduction in medicine prices where again generics have an edge over MNCs.

Moreover, the trend of drugs purchased through a formal tender process is increasingly gaining acceptance, adding to the difficulties of large pharma manufacturers.  Additionally, strict regulations are minimizing the cost benefits that MNCs traditionally enjoyed in the past.

All these factors have forced the pharma companies to reorganize their Supply Chains in a more flexible manner to manage complexities, bring in efficiency, and contain costs to compete in off-patent segment with generics.

Reorganization of a conventional pharmaceutical Supply Chain into an Agile, flexible, and inexpensive Supply Chain warrants developing Operational Excellence and Cost Reduction competencies.  This necessitates 5 strategic steps (phases):

  1. Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to SCM
  2. Develop Agile product design and packaging capabilities
  3. Restructure the Supply Chain footprint
  4. Establish partnerships with 3rd party suppliers
  5. Enhance planning capabilities

Let’s discuss these steps in detail.

Step 1 – Avoid a One-size-fits-all Approach to SCM

Large pharma MNCs typically maintain the Supply Chain of all of their drugs with a single strategy of retaining high inventory and service levels.  Such a strategy can only work for products having a high profit margin, in a static environment.  It is not suitable for low-margin products, contrasting environments, and does not take into account fluctuations in demand patterns.  An appropriate approach is to implement a multiple Supply Chains model based on individual products and markets.

Step 2 – Develop Agile Product Design and Packaging Capabilities

The 2nd step in Pharma Supply Chain Reinvention involves quick distribution of different versions of products to markets based on demand. For low-margin products with high demand volatility, the Supply Chain Management Strategy should be to employ Pack-to-Order system.  The Pack-to-Order approach involves developing a version of a product that could be timely dispatched to several markets of varying demand across the globe.  This approach coupled with Postponement Strategy—where products are packed to order during later stages of production based on regional demand—assists in trimming down the inventory, reducing complicatedness, and enhancing Supply Chain nimbleness to demand volatility.

Interested in learning more about how to reinvent your Pharmaceutical Supply Chain?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Reinvention here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Collaborative Planning Methodology (CPM) of the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF)

22 Sep

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Business and technology resources are aligned using Enterprise Architecture (EA) in order to achieve strategic results, improve organizational performance, achieve Cost Optimization and Operational Excellence, and guide departments to fulfill their central missions more efficaciously.

Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) does that for any U.S. federal agency and helps systems transcend interagency boundaries.

Planning is one of the most important elements for bringing about change in an organization, if not the most important.  Planning methodology for the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework is called Collaborative Planning Methodology (CPM).

Collaborative Planning Methodology is the next-generation successor to Federal Segment Architecture Methodology (FSAM).

Collaborative Planning Methodology encompasses 2 phases and a total of 5 steps under these phases:

Organize and Plan phase lets planners facilitate partnership between sponsors and various stakeholders in order to ascertain and prioritize requirements, explore other organizations with same needs, and devise plans to tackle the stated requirements.

Implement and Measure phase has the planners in assist role to other key personnel working to implement and monitor change related activities by supporting investment, procurement, implementation, and performance measurement actions and decisions.

Each step under these 2 phases has a number of activities that need to be completed in order to obtain the outcome for that step.  There are regular and essential iterations within and among the phases even though the phases have been displayed as successive.  Let’s discuss the key steps of the methodology in detail.

1. Identify and Validate

The objective of the 1st step is to ascertain what is required to be attained, comprehend the main drivers for change, and afterwards delineate and prioritize the goals with stakeholders and operational staff. 

Key outcomes of the step include:

  • Identified and validated needs.
  • Overarching set of performance metrics.
  • Determination of who (governance) will ultimately oversee and approve recommended changes to meet those needs. 

2. Research and Leverage

The aim of this step is to detect organizations and service providers who have already fulfilled or presently have requirements similar to those identified in Step 1.  This necessitates studying their experiences and outcomes in order to discover if they can be used and leveraged or whether an alliance can be created to fulfill the needs together. 

Key outcomes of the step include:

  • Clear grasp on the experiences and results of other organizations.
  • Determination by sponsors regarding applicability, usage of experiences of other organizations or formation of partnerships if the other organization is also planning to fulfill similar needs.
  • Detailed analysis of alternatives.

3. Define and Plan

The purpose here is to form the integrated plan for the alterations essential to fulfill the requirements determined in Step 1. 

Key outcomes of the step include:

  • Sponsor and stakeholders hold an integrated set of plans and articles outlining what is to be done, when is it to be done, what benefits will be achieved and when, and a projected cost.

4. Invest and Execute

Point of this step is to carry out investment decision and effect the changes as delineated in the Integrated Plan produced in Step 3. 

Key outcomes of this step include:

  • Clear funding strategy and a decision to approve the investment of required funds.
  • Implementation of recommendations for tackling the identified needs.

5. Perform and Measure

Objective of this step is to execute operations and measure performance outcomes against established metrics.  The recently applied changes are leveraged by the organization in Performance Management. 

Key outcomes of this step include:

  • Performance outcomes gauged against pre-determined metrics.
  • Production of significant outcomes e.g., feedback into planning with the view to making more adjustments in addition to what was implemented in Step 4.

Interested in learning more Collaborative Planning Methodology, its salient features, and the key activities in each step?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Collaborative Planning Methodology here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.  Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

Data Reference Model (DRM) of Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF)

27 Jul

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Enterprise Architecture (EA) conveys management best practices for positioning business and technology resources to fulfil strategic goals, enhance Organizational Performance, and guide departments to achieve their core missions more successfully via Operational Excellence.

The Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) realizes this goal for U.S. Federal agencies and assists systems surpass interagency boundaries.  FEAF facilitates through documentation and information, and conveys a summarized outlook of an enterprise at various tiers of scope and detail.

The FEAF comprises of 6 interconnected Reference Models, linked through Consolidated Reference Model (CRM), each relating to a sub-architectural domain of the FEA framework.

Data Reference Model (DRM) is a FEA tool for ascertaining the data that the Federal government has and the process through which that data will be shared when business/mission requirements occur.

DRM is propounded as a theoretical framework from which actual implementations may be derived.

DRM offers a uniform way to describe, categorize, manage, share, and reuse data/information within and across the Federal government.  DRM also enables detection and communication of core information across organizational boundaries.

What DRM is not is static and invariable nor is it a data management manual for how to build and maintain data architectures.  It is neither a pan-government conceptual data model nor an all-embracing / fully attributed logical data model.  DRM is not supposed to be a comprehensive collection of XML schemas or a substitute of prevailing data structures within the agencies.

DRM works in consonance with other reference models in various ways.  For example, it identifies opportunities for strategic coordination through relationships among data sources by linking with Performance Reference Model (PRM) while improving business processes and decision-making performance through data sharing with Business Reference Model (BRM).

Data Reference Model arrangement is demarcated by a 3 layered hierarchy.  The 3-layer arrangement of the Data Reference Model delineates domains, subjects, and topics.

  • Domains – Uppermost level of the hierarchy comprises of 4 Domains.
  • Subjects – Central level of the hierarchy covers 22 Subject elements.
  • Topics – Lowermost level of the hierarchy consists of 144 Topic elements.

DRM refers to data and information required to execute Federal business and mission functions.  In order to assist agencies in consistently categorizing, describing, and exchanging their data, there are 3 fundamental method areas associated with the DRM:

  1. Data Description
  2. Data Context
  3. Data Sharing

Let us delve a little deeper into the DRM methods.

Data Description

Data Description offers an approach to consistently arrange, portray, and share data.  Customarily, Data Description was exclusively concentrated on arranging and describing structured data.  To tackle the challenge of unstructured data, DRM Data Description section was revised to focus on Metadata.

Metadata is broadly classified into 2 types, business or technical.

Data Context

Data Context is any information that gives added sense to data and a perception of the reason for which it was created.  Data Context permits Data Governance and forms the basis for exhaustive Data Description.  Data categorization methods such as Data Asset Catalog and Information Discovery and Search portray common data architecture artifacts.

Data Sharing

Data Sharing concentrates on architectural patterns for sharing and exchanging data.  Data Sharing assists in retrieving and swapping of data, where access involves supplementary requests and exchange involves permanent, repeating transactions between interest groups.

Interested in learning more about the Data Reference Model?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on FEAF: Data Reference Model (DRM) here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.  Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market.  They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.  I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.  For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.  In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!  The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

How Do Porter, Mintzberg, And More Define Strategy?

23 Feb

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Strategy is about the methods used to attain goals.  It’s the “how” of achieving goals—desired future conditions and circumstances towards which effort and resources are spent until their achievement.

If Strategy has any meaning at all, it is in relation to some aim or end in view.

Strategy is 1 of the 4 dimensions of an enterprise structure:

  1. Goals of the organization.
  2. Resources at our disposal.
  3. Strategies for achieving above-mentioned goals –i.e., the methods used to deploy the resources.
  4. Tactics—i.e., the ways in which the deployed resources are used.

Strategy and tactics – integral part of Strategy Development – bridge the gap between goals and the methods used to achieve those goals.  These 4 dimensions of enterprise structure relate to one or both of the 2 domains; Policy and Management.  Policies determine the goals of an enterprise, whereas attaining goals is typically a matter of Management.  Tactics belong to the managers; strategy is the combined realm of the governors and managers; whereas resources are controlled jointly.

The employed resources through use of Strategies and Tactics give us “certain” conditions.  Inspecting them in light of the “desired” conditions enables us to determine future employment of the resources and thus emerges a pattern of actions and decisions which makes Strategy an adaptive and evolving view of what is required, to achieve goals.

We take a look at various perspectives on and definitions of Strategy, as explained by 8 of the most impactful and renowned Strategists in modern times.  Familiarity with the perspectives of these strategists enables us to develop a more holistic and thorough understanding of the topic, helping us improve our strategic thinking, decision making, and analytical skills.All of these experts agree on the fact that Strategy is a means to implement a policy or a view envisioned by those who matter.  Let’s see how the following strategists define Strategy:

  1. Michael Porter
  2. Henry Mintzberg
  3. Treacy and Wiersema
  4. H. Liddell Hart
  5. George Steiner
  6. Kenneth Andrews
  7. Kepner-Tregoe
  8. Michel Robert

Let’s break down how a few of these renown strategists define “Strategy.”

Michael Porter

Michael Porter, the father of modern Business Strategy, views Competitive Strategy as “intentionally opting a collection of activities that are dissimilar to the competitors in order to provide a unique mix of value”– i.e. Competitive Advantage.  Porter states that Strategy is about:

  • A competitive position.
  • Differentiating yourself in the eyes of the customer.
  • Adding value through a collection of activities different from competitors.

Henry Mintzberg

Mintzberg is credited with co-creating the Organigraph.  He has written extensively on management and business Strategy.  His contribution to Organizational Theory in the form of “The Organizational Configurations Framework” is a model that describes 6 valid organizational configurations or Organizational Design.

Mintzberg argues that the contrast of changing realities with intentions necessitates accommodation, generating Strategy.  According to him Strategy is a combination of:

  • The Perspective – Vision and Direction.
  • The Position – Decisions to offer particular products or services in particular markets.
  • The Plan – a means of getting from here to there.
  • A Pattern in actions over time – for example, a company that regularly markets very expensive products is using a “high end” Strategy.

Treacy and Wiersema

Treacy and Wiersema’s Value Discipline Model talks about 3 different value disciplines: Customer IntimacyProduct Leadership, and Operational Excellence.  Their research on market leading organizations reveals that they outdid their competitors through mastering 1 of these 3 disciplines.

Treacy and Wiersema assert that companies achieve leadership positions by narrowing, not broadening, their business focus on any one of the following:

  • Operational Excellence – lead the industry in terms of price and convenience and is based on the Strategy of production and delivery of products or services. It implies world-class marketing, manufacturing, and distribution processes.
  • Customer Intimacy – Long-term customer loyalty and customer profitability is based on the Strategy of tailoring and shaping products to the increasingly fine definitions of Customer-centric Design.
  • Product Leadership – concentrates on quick commercialization of new ideas. It hinges on market-focused R&D as well as organizational nimbleness and agility.

Interested in learning more about the 8 definitions of Strategy?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on 8 Perspectives on Strategy here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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“Strategy without Tactics is the slowest route to victory.  Tactics without Strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu 

For effective Strategy Development and Strategic Planning, we must master both Strategy and Tactics.  Our frameworks cover all phases of Strategy, from Strategy Design and Formulation to Strategy Deployment and Execution; as well as all levels of Strategy, from Corporate Strategy to Business Strategy to “Tactical” Strategy.  Many of these methodologies are authored by global strategy consulting firms and have been successfully implemented at their Fortune 100 client organizations. 

These frameworks include Porter’s Five Forces, BCG Growth-Share Matrix, Greiner’s Growth Model, Capabilities-driven Strategy (CDS), Business Model Innovation (BMI), Value Chain Analysis (VCA), Endgame Niche Strategies, Value Patterns, Integrated Strategy Model for Value Creation, Scenario Planning, to name a few.

Learn about our Strategy Development Best Practice Frameworks here.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library.  FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

8 Key Steps of Data Integration: Restructuring Redeployment Assessment Management

12 Feb

Restructuring becomes essential at some stage in the lifecycle of any organization.  In order to emerge triumphant through this tumultuous challenge, it is necessary that the focus remains on the challenges impeding the organization, Strategy Development to tackle the challenges, and prioritizing Strategic Initiatives to deliver radical results that lead the organization to Operational Excellence.

Redeployment is the most significant phase in the Restructuring process.  Within Redeployment, the Assessment phase is critical as the revitalization of the whole organization is dependent on correct Assessments and right placement of employees based on those Assessments.

Proper Redeployment Assessment Management is of utmost importance in Restructuring, and it should follow a structured approach, which means managing 5 core areas:

  1. Manage Assessment Team
  2. Manage Anxiety Level of Candidates
  3. Manage Amount of “Deviant Behavior” in the Assessments
  4. Manage Level of Duplicity, Wild Guessing, and Other Forms of Distortion
  5. Manage Amount of Feedback and Its Timing after the Event

Managing 5 core areas ensures smooth implementation of the Redeployment Assessment process, which is a major milestone of the Restructuring project.

The Redeployment Assessment process has to be detailed, accurate, and prompt.  Due Diligence in documenting the process, verifying particulars, and balance between Rapidity and Accurateness is essential because:

  • Organizational requirement to concentrate on post-restructuring environment is intense.
  • Employees’ urge to swiftly find out about their future is deep-seated.
  • Objections by employee stakeholders, as a consequence of large-scale retrenchment is high.
  • Probability of legal recourse by employees is also distinct.
  • Future Employee Engagement is dependent on fair Assessment and correct placements.

Assessments are based on Data Integration which involves a complex set of Data Points.  Therefore, Data Integration has to follow a strict process for it to be productive.  Following guiding principles will help in comprehensive and unbiased Data Integration:

  • Behavioral evidence, gathered throughout the assessment, should form the basis of discussion.
  • Weightage given to certain competencies should be based on the evidence gathered in assessments.
  • Decisions should be derived solely on the basis of evidence.
  • Facilitator, who is experienced in integrating assessment data and challenging assessors to support their assessment ratings with behavioral evidence, should be engaged.
  • Standards of performance should be very clearly defined against which individuals are assessed and assessment information is integrated.
  • To increase consistency, the chair of integration should present at each assessment session.

Grounded on these guiding principles, strict adherence to the following 8 Key Steps can steer the Data Integration phase in the right direction and make it productive:

  1. List all measures
  2. Weight all measures
  3. Identify minimum qualifications
  4. Create an overall score
  5. Quality and reality check
  6. Enter real data
  7. Review results
  8. Pool the candidates

Let us look at the first 3 steps in further depth.

1. List all measures

This list includes both qualitative and quantitative aspects, i.e., job performance data as well as the performance measures.

2. Weight all measures

Relevant weightage should be assigned to each measure.  Job performance measures normally have more weightage than the potential measures.

3. Identify minimum qualifications

It is important to build checks into the system for anomalies, such as someone scoring overall high while failing to meet the essential criteria.  For such eventualities a minimum qualification criterion has to be set.

Interested in learning more about the 8 key steps for Data Integration during Redeployment Assessment Management?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Restructuring: Redeployment Assessment Management here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

Do You Find Value in This Framework?

You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro LibraryFlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:

“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”

– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects

“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”

– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting

“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”

– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd

The Employee Reaction Matrix

13 Jan

Stock image 2 - Reengagement after Restructuring

Restructuring is a turbulent process that shakes the foundations of the organization.  The goal of Operational Excellence cannot be realized merely by the surgical removal of human resource during Redeployment after Restructuring.

Keeping focus on moving the organization forward with vitality means boosting the sagging morale of the employees who survive this storm.  It is the attention to the surviving employees that is going to kick-start the Revitalization process and usher in a new Organizational Culture.

Employee Engagement is an absolutely vital aspect of the revitalized organization.  Re-engagement of the remaining employees after Redeployment is important because:

  • It is a given that engagement levels will be abysmally low.
  • Motivation to work is not the top priority for most after Restructuring chaos.
  • Insecurity is high and employees may be thinking about leaving the organizations on the first opportunity they get.
  • The Revitalization of the organization depends on how the survivors are handled.

To handle such state of affairs, management must do the following:

  • Develop a concrete plan for Re-engagement during the Organizational Design.
  • Allocate appropriate time, effort, and budget for boosting motivation levels.
  • Implement Re-engagement plans that address the diverse Motivational Drivers.
  • Communicate consistently on an organizational level as well as individual level to reassure employees regarding their future.
  • Train line managers on how to handle surviving team members.
  • Push line managers to spend time with individual employees to learn:
    • How team members have handled the Redeployment process.
    • How employees sense the challenges moving forward.
    • What primarily motivates them as individuals.
  • Use motivational assessment methods and integrate the survivors into existing development discussions to align them with organizational processes.

Poor management of the Employee Re-engagement process is bound to have repercussions, such as:

  • Absenteeism
  • Low productivity levels.
  • Substandard customer service quality levels resulting in tarnished image of the organization.
  • Dwindling employees’ commitment to the organizations.
  • Increased risk of switch overs.

Active Employee Re-engagement ensures that the employees are:

  • Clear on the next steps.
  • Clear about their new roles.
  • Can effectively deliver against the new roles.
  • Keen to work in the evolving scenario.

Redeployment in the Restructuring process affects all employees regardless of whether they stay or leave.

Employees typically showcase 4 types of reactions during this transition:

  1. Departure Grief
  2. Survivor Relief
  3. Survivor Irritation
  4. Departure Happiness

Typically, the organizational focus is more on the employees who are leaving, assuming that those who get to stay are happy employees.  This may not be the case.  Care must be taken to address the motivational drivers of all employees in this transitory process.

Let us examine the Employee State, their Motivational Drivers, and appropriate Actions to take during Restructuring, a little more deeply.

Departure Grief

The motivational drivers that induce the state of “departure grief” in employees include:

  • Loss of earnings and benefits such as pension plan and health insurance can be stressful.
  • Loss of daily routine can be upsetting and takes some time to cope with.
  • Forced shift in lifestyle upsets not only the person but the family too which may take a psychological toll.
  • Feeling of rejection crops up as a result of being let go, lowering self-esteem.
  • Loss of financial empowerment puts the person, especially the head of the household, in a vulnerable position.

To help employees cope with Departure Grief, the organizational leadership should take some key actions, such as:

  • Help the ex-employees through counselling sessions.
  • Guide the employees in preparing job applications and CVs.
  • Assist the ex-employees get placed in alternative jobs.
  • Guide the ex-employees in putting the compensated amount to good use.

Interested in learning more about Re-engagement after Restructuring?  You can download an editable PowerPoint on Re-engagement after Restructuring here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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“If you don’t transform your company, you’re stuck.” – Ursula Burns, Chairperson and CEO of VEON; former Chairperson and CEO of Xerox

Business Transformation is the process of fundamentally changing the systems, processes, people, and technology across an entire organization, business unit, or corporate function with the intention of achieving significant improvements in Revenue Growth, Cost Reduction, and/or Customer Satisfaction.

Transformation is pervasive across industries, particularly during times of disruption, as we are witnessing now as a result of COVID-19. However, despite how common these large scale efforts are, research shows that about 75% of these initiatives fail.

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Transforming Employee Engagement into a Competitive Advantage? Here’s How

22 Oct

Organizations typically focus on Customer-centric Design in their Strategic Planning and overlook the critical driver of PerformanceGrowth, and Operational Excellence—their employees.  With cut-throat competition now the norm the realization has become clearer that employees are:

  • The face of the business and create lasting—or perishing—brand impression.
  • Sources of innovation and organizational knowledge.
  • Representation of the company’s service philosophy.
  • Expected to live by its Organizational Culture and values.

Employee Engagement has emerged as one of the significant pillars on which the Competitive Advantage, Productivity, and Growth of an organization rests.  What, exactly, does it mean when an employee is engaged?  Employee Engagement, over the years, has been thought of in terms of:

  • Personal engagement with the organization.
  • Focus on performance of assigned work.
  • Worker burnout.
  • Basic needs (meaningful work, safe workplace, abundant resources).
  • Attention on Cognitive, Emotional and Behavioral components related to an individual’s performance.

Although Employee Engagement is widely seen as an important concept, there has been little consensus on its definition or its components either in business or in the academic literature.

Kumar and Pansari’s 2015 study define Employee Engagement as:

“a multidimensional construct that comprises all of the different facets of the attitudes and behaviors of employees towards the organization”.

The multidimensional construct of Employee Engagement has been synthesized into the following 5 components (or dimensions).

  1. Employee Satisfaction
  2. Employee Identification
  3. Employee Commitment
  4. Employee Loyalty
  5. Employee Performance

The 5 dimensions of Employee Engagement have been found to have a direct correlation with high profitability, as substantiated by a number of research studies:

For instance, a study of 30 companies in the airline, telecom and hotel industries shows a close relationship between Employee Engagement and growth in profits.  After controlling other relevant factors—i.e., GDP level, marketing costs, nature of business, and type of goods, the study found:

  • Highest profitability growth—10% to 15%—in companies with highly engaged employees.
  • Lowest level of profitability growth—0% to 1%—in companies with disengaged employees.

Research reveals that Employee Engagement affects 9 performance outcomes; including Customer Ratings, Profitability, Productivity, Safety Incidents, Shrinkage (theft), Absenteeism, Patient Safety Incidents, Quality (Defects), and Turnover.

The differences in performance between engaged and actively disengaged work units revealed:

  • Top half Employee Engagement scores nearly doubled the odds of success compared with those in the bottom half.
  • Companies with engaged workforces have higher earnings per share (EPS).

These 5 dimensions become the base for measuring Employee Engagement in a meaningful manner that permits managers to identify areas of improvement.  To assess an organization’s current status of Employee Engagement, a measurement system is needed that includes:

  • Metrics for each component of Employee Engagement.
  • A scale for scoring metrics in each component.
  • A comprehensive scorecard that pulls everything together.

Let us delve a little deeper into the first 2 dimensions of Employee Engagement.

Employee Satisfaction

Definition

Employee Satisfaction is the positive reaction employees have to their overall job circumstances, including their supervisors, pay and coworkers.

Details

When employees are satisfied, they tend to be:

  • Committed to their work.
  • Less absent and more productive in terms of quality of goods and services.
  • Connected with the organization’s values and goals.
  • Perceptive about being a part of the organization.

Metrics

The 5 metrics that gauge Employee Engagement in terms of Employee Satisfaction include:

  1. Receiving recognition for a job.
  2. Feeling close to people at work.
  3. Feeling good about working at the organization.
  4. Feeling secure about the job.
  5. Believing that the management is concerned about employees.

We take a look at another dimension central in significance.

Employee Commitment

Definition

Signifies what motivates the employees to do more than what’s in their job descriptions.

Details

Employee Commitment is much higher for the employees who identify with the organization.  This element:

  • Develops over time and is an outcome of shared experiences.
  • Is often an antecedent of loyalty.
  • Induces employees to guard the organization’s secrets.
  • Pushes employees to work for organization’s best interests.

Research has found that employees with the highest levels of commitment:

  • Perform 20% better.
  • Are 87% less likely to leave the organization.

Metrics

The 3 metrics that gauge the Employee Commitment dimension of Employee Engagement include:

  1. Commitment to deliver the brand promise along with knowledge of the brand.
  2. Very committed to delivering the brand promise.
  3. Feels like the organization has a great deal of personal meaning.

Interested in learning more about these foundational pillars to Employee Engagement? You can download an editable PowerPoint on 5 Dimensions of Employee Engagement here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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Having Problems Maintaining a Stable Talent Pipeline? Apply the 6 Pillars of Talent Management to Master the Art

13 Oct

Enterprises worldwide face problems selecting, staffing, developing, compensating, motivating, and sustaining their key talent.  Building a sustainable Talent pipeline is quite strenuous even for large multinationals.

Replicating best practices from somewhere and applying them alone isn’t sufficient for organizations to build a Talent pipeline and achieve Competitive Advantage.  This warrants overcoming arduous challenges associated with this digital age, including:

  • Adjusting to varying dynamics in global markets
  • Handling the expectations of varied customer segments in different geographies
  • Managing the preferences of key Talent
  • Acquiring new technologies
  • Building novel capabilities
  • Achieving Operational Excellence by streamlining operations and improving processes
  • Exploring new markets
  • Devising strategies to attract, select, develop, assess, and reward top Talent.

Developing Talent Management practices helps the organizations build and retain talented people available in the job market.  The term was first used by McKinsey & Company in 1997, and it pertains to planning and managing strategic Human Capital through activities, i.e. attracting, selecting, developing, evaluating, rewarding, and retaining key people.

Executives use diverse Talent Management strategies and career pathways based on various departments, levels, and roles in their Talent pool.  Multi-year research on Talent Management practices conducted by an international team of researchers from INSEAD, Cornell, Cambridge, and Tillburg universities studied 33 multi-national corporations, headquartered in 11 countries.  The study revealed that successful Human Capital practitioners and workforce planners adopted 6 core principles.  These principles act as the 6 pillars to effective Talent Management implementation:

  1. Alignment with Corporate Strategy
  2. Consistency of Talent Management Practices
  3. Integration with Corporate Culture
  4. Involvement of Leadership
  5. Global Strategy with Localization
  6. Branding and Differentiation

Let’s discuss the first 3 pillars in detail, for now.

Alignment with Corporate Strategy

Integrating Talent Management with Corporate Strategy is imperative as the need for future Talent depends on the company’s long-term strategy.  Corporate Strategy should guide the identification of Talent required to accomplish organizational goals, since it’s the right Talent that drives the key strategic initiatives rather than strategic planning.

For example, GE’s Talent Management practices have been a great assistance in implementing their strategic initiatives.  The organization regards its Talent Management system as their most potent execution tool and has integrated TM processes into their strategic planning process.  To sustain its image as an innovation leader, GE targets technical skills as a priority in its annual Strategic Planning sessions.  Individual business units lay out their business as well as the Human Capital objectives in GE’s annual strategic planning sessions.  Significant time is spent on reviewing its Innovation pipeline, its engineering function’s structure, and Talent requirements.  To achieve its vision, GE promotes more engineers in its senior management than its rivals.

Consistency of Talent Management Practices

Talent Management practices must be consistent and synchronous with each other.  It is critical not only to invest in advancing the careers of key Talent but also to invest in processes to empower, compensate, and retain them.  Human Capital practitioners utilize various tools to ensure consistency of Talent Management practices, including Human Resources satisfaction surveys and qualitative and quantitative data on TM practices implementation.

For example, the success of Siemens is based on consistent monitoring of its systems, processes, and key performance metrics across its subsidiaries.  Every element of Human Capital Management is connected, continuously assessed, and linked to rewards.  This goes from recruitment of graduates each year, to their orientation, to mentoring and development, to performance evaluation and management, and compensation and benefits.

Integration with Corporate Culture

Corporate culture is regarded as important as vision and mission by renowned global organizations. These companies hold their core values and behavioral standards very high and promote them among their employees through coaching and mentoring.  They strive to embed this into their hiring, leadership development, performance management, remuneration, and reward processes / programs.  So much so that they consider cultural adaptability a crucial element of their recruitment process—as personality traits and mindsets are hard to develop than technical skills—and evaluate applicants’ behaviors and values rigorously.

For example, among other leading companies, IBM has a special emphasis on values while selecting and promoting people.  To ensure consistent values across the board, it organizes regular values jam sessions and employee health index surveys.  These sessions encourage open communication and debate on values and organizational culture and their importance among employees.

Interested in learning more about the other pillars of Talent Management, the various approaches to TM? You can download an editable PowerPoint on 6 Pillars of Talent Management here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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The COSO Framework: An Organization’s Guide to an Effective Internal Control System

12 Aug

As the business and operating environment changes, there has been a greater demand for transparency and accountability as to the integrity of internal control. This has become very critical today as businesses drive to enhance the likelihood of them achieving their objectives and be able to adapt to changes in the global business environment.

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) released in 1992 the Integrated Internal Control Framework that will enable organizations to effectively and efficiently develop and maintain systems of internal control. It also includes enhancements and clarifications that will provide organizations the ease of using and applying the Framework.

An Overview of the COSO Framework

The COSO Framework is the globally recognized framework for designing, implementing, conducting, and assessing internal control. It is recognized as the definitive standard against which organizations measure the effectiveness of internal control systems.

If we look at the internal control, this is not a serial process but a dynamic and integrated process. It is a process effected by an organization’s Board of Directors, Management, and other personnel designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives relating to operations, reporting, and compliance. It can be considered an enabler when it comes to achieving Operational Excellence.

The COSO Framework provides for 3 categories of objectives. These categories allow organizations to focus on different aspects of internal control. It ensures that the internal control system is operationally efficient and effective, reporting reliable data, and remain compliant to laws and regulations.

The 5 Components of the COSO Framework

In an effective internal control system, 5 Components of the COSO Framework must be present to support the achievement of an organization’s mission, strategies, and related business objectives.

Component 1: Control Environment. This is a set of standards, processes, and structures that provide the basis for carrying out internal control across the organization.

Component 2: Risk Assessment. This forms the basis for determining how risks will be managed. It involves a dynamic and iterative process for identifying and assessing risks to the achievement of objectives. It determines the possibility that an event will occur and adversely affect the achievement of objectives.

Component 3: Control Activities. The 3rd component ensures that Management’s directives to mitigate risks to the achievement of objectives are carried out. These are actions that are established through policies and procedures. It may be preventive or detective in nature.

Component 4: Information and Communication. This component focuses on the generation of relevant and quality information to support the functioning of other components. It is a continuous iterative process of providing, sharing, ad obtaining the necessary information. This is necessary to enable businesses to carry out internal control responsibilities to support the achievement of its objectives.

Component 5: Monitoring Activities. Monitoring activities, as a component, ascertains whether each of the 5 components of internal control is present and functioning. It includes the conduct of ongoing evaluations, separate evaluations, or a combination of both.

The 5 Components of the COSO Framework are essentially important as they represent what is required to achieve the objectives and the organizational structure of the organization. Each component has its underlying principles and key elements to better guide organizations in putting the components in place.

Additional Key Considerations

The COSO Framework sets the requirements for an effective system of internal control. An effective system reduces, to an acceptable level, the risk of not achieving the organization’s objectives.

There are additional key considerations that organizations must take note of. One consideration is that each of the 5 components and relevant principles is present and functioning. Present refers to the determination that the components and relevant principles exist in the design and implementation of the system of internal control to achieve specified objectives. Functions refer to the determination that the components and relevant principles continue to exist in the operations and conduct of the system of internal control to achieve specified objectives.

Interested in gaining more understanding of the COSO Framework? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about COSO Framework here on the Flevy documents marketplace.

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