Management Management

What You Can Measure, You Can Manage

Family-tips.info
Relationships24.info
Webmasters-xxl.com
Beautystar.info
Travel-tips.biz
 
Effective Management of Global Organizations
Managing a global corporation effectively takes considerable skill and expertise to ensure success. This paper is intended to identify several factors affecting global businesses, in particular those affecting Bechtel Corporation, and show how the organization has continued to be profitable while managing these controllable and unc... Read more


 Home | Business | Management

What You Can Measure, You Can Manage

This Management Article is Brought To You By - Don Morrison

Background

Bill was a painting contractor. Most of his contracts were with repeat customers, some of whom had done business with his father. The business had thrived under Bill, enabling him to invest in a motel, a restaurant, real estate and other businesses.

The Problem

Suddenly, Bill encountered a big problem. He signed a contract to repaint a large motel. The foreman was a steady fellow who’d been with Bills firm for 20 years, but the job was falling behind schedule. As the weeks progressed, other problems arose that put the job even further behind. Now Bill was facing penalties for not finishing on time. He was watching his profits tick away on the clock..

The Solution

Bill, his foreman and I met for breakfast to review the situation. I suggested a contest, with incentives where needed, and advised them to split the crew into two teams. We divided the remaining work in two equal lists of areas to paint and things to do. We calculated the time it would take to complete a quality job on budget and with a profit. Bill announced to the two crews that the goal was to finish their respective tasks in the allotted time, adding that any time saved under the allotted time would be a bonus—paid time off. As a kicker, the team finishing first would get a case of beer.

The Result

The whole motel project finished two days ahead of schedule and the crews won two paid days off. They all experienced the satisfaction of a job well done. Bill met the contract terms and made a profit – his reward. Bill hated to lose money on a contract. As he was fond of saying, “Its ok to be tired and it’s ok to be broke, but being both broke and tired is stupid!”

Commentary

Management frequently has financial benchmarks for progress or profitability, but they rarely share them with the team. By using non-financial measures and by breaking down the goal into easily identifiable subunits and extending a challenge and a reward on top of wages, the pride and initiative of the team were engaged and everyone came out ahead. Profit is not a particularly good interim measure of progress. Physical units of measurement allow team members to keep track of progress for themselves. Then they can manage themselves. What you can measure, you can manage.

  • Management Products on our marketplace

  • Author Bio
    Don Morrison of The ProfitProcess consults small business owners on making a business more profitable, Valuation of Small Business, Business Valuation Resources, Small business value development,Small business development, Leadership Development of Small Business, Working Capital Generation Improvement.
    ***

  • Know and Exploit Your Niche
    Background Jim and Cheryl owned a retail store that sold high-end hi-fi sound systems. It started out as a hobby – they were real audiophiles. They sold sophisticated equipment in the higher price range to knowledgeable buyer...
  • Things to think about before hiring an accountant
    Locating a good honest accountant is not as simple as you would think. The majority of us looks in a local directory and chooses the first one who answers the phone. You should never employ anyone so easily; you might end up sp...
  • Key Factors to Improve Productivity
    If you’re like most people, you eagerly browse through your To-Do list during your first morning coffee with the excitement of the impending sense of accomplishment; the rewarding time to check off completed tasks. Unfortunately...
  • Training programs to say hello to success
    Whosoever things that the business leaders are born and not actually made, basically never heard of the term "team leadership workshops and training". There are profound, practical as well as comprehensive team leadership traini...
  • Team building training for the aspiring leaders
    Introduction of an efficient leader into the management team is definitely one of the best investments in an organization. Leaders are the individuals who visualize plans, plan the course of action and inspire the subordinates. ...
  • The Purpose of Management
    There is a reason you were promoted to management, but it may not be exactly what you thought. Sure, management is responsible for planning, organization, leadership, and control. However, there is something much more important ...
  • © 2008 Article24.info All Rights Reserved.