In order for a business to be successful it is essential that it must have a management system capable of ensuring the business can achieve its goals and objectives. The ISO 9000 series of standards relate to Quality Management Systems however as businesses will tend to have one system, formalizing the system to focus solely on quality will have no real benefits to your business. Therefore, it will be necessary to move away from a system focusing wholly on quality, to a system that focuses on all the characteristics of your business.
The main reason your business is in existence is to highlight the requirements and expectations of your customers and other persons concerned (employees, suppliers etc) to accomplish an advantage over you competitors. In addition to this, another objective must be to gain, sustain and develop your businesses performance and resources.
As a means to achieve improvements within your business you should ensure that your business employs the key principles that are fundamental to ISO 9001:2000, these are:
- Customer Focus;
- Involvement of People;
- Leadership;
- Process Approach;
- Factual Approach;
- System Approach;
- Continual Improvements;
- Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships.
Following the principles highlighted above ensures that your business focuses on what your customer actually requires and not what they think they require. In order for your business to move forward successfully it is essential that you run it in a methodical and well thought out manner that is highly perceptible. To achieve success from your business you must ensure that your business adopts a business management system which will ensure that continual improvement is constantly being driven by the management system. If your business is to develop and have a business management system that will allow growth and sustainability, you will have to ensure that you build a management system that is focused on your customers. To achieve this objective your business management system must contain systems and processes that are easily understood by the individuals within your business. It is also crucial that these systems can be managed easily and improvements made if they are necessary without any detrimental affect on the day to day operation of your business. The processes within your management system must be capable of being measured to ensure they are performing as required. It does also mean that when setting these key performance indicators, intelligent thought is given to the areas that you are measuring. It is worth remembering that individuals are likely to improve in areas in which they are being measured. Therefore it is critical that any process measuring is carried out in areas that will benefit the system and your business as a whole.
By: Mark Inglis
Posts Tagged ‘Success’
Business Management Principles
April 17th, 2010Assessing Projects With Project Management Scorecard
April 16th, 2010
Handling projects is no easy task, especially if these are big. Huge projects would entail a lot of effort, time, money, and interest. This is precisely why project managers need to carefully plan the entire process to ensure the project’s success. This is where the importance of creating a project management scorecard takes place.
The concept of a project management scorecard is not really new. In fact, it has been around for quite some time now that more than a hundred of huge businesses or companies around the world have already been using it to realize and meet their needs. But what is the project management scorecard really all about? Actually, this has something to do with the scorecard being a measurement system that works to evaluate the performance and operational functions that govern the entire process. Simply put, it measures the success of project management solution.
A lot of project management scorecards are currently being offered for downloads online. These materials are sold for every project manager to take, and it’s worth knowing that the scorecards appeal to many leaders knowing that it allows them to assess their projects even before it is completed. This obviously is a necessary endeavor since monitoring the progress of a certain task can help make the outcome positive.
One popular project management scorecard product available online today is the PM Scorecard(TM). This product is designed to deliver some of the best project management practices that could help managers handle their projects well. Other than that, the managers that would avail of this product will learn the proper way to manage people, financial concerns, communications, and even any possible risk that may occur.
The PM Scorecard is basically a web-based program. This means that there’s no need for you to download or install anything to your personal computer in order to utilize it. Much drive space would be saved with this web-based scorecard! The PM scorecard works by first allowing the participants involved in the project to answer survey questions that are all tailored to their own views of the project they’re holding. From there, the project will be ranked with respect to the performance of the business, the project, and the team holding it. Each of these measurement areas will be ranked according to their importance. This is where information about the market impact, organizational impact, strategic impact, project cost, schedule, performance quality, project team communication, resource management, and team dynamics are tackled. Once everything is considered, a report will be given, which comes in different formats. What’s further interesting to know about the report is that it includes a comprehensive guide on how a manager can interpret the suggestions and scores provided. This way, the manager can make sure that his or her interpretation of the provided information would be as accurate as possible. Interpreting these the wrong way would defeat the purpose of employing the project management scorecard in the first place.
Building your own project management scorecard can also be possible provided that you know everything about your project objectives and expectations. The key here is to plan your projects carefully, and make sure that everything is done to generate the best results.
By: Sam Miller
Management By Objectives: What Are MBO’s?
March 3rd, 2010
Many have heard the term Management by Objectives or MBO but what is an MBO or Management by Objectives? This is a style of management that involves committing to a set of objectives or measurable milestones within a set period of time say a quarter during the business year. Typically Management by Objectives is done on an organizational basis. Each team writes a set of MBO’s, these are deliverables that will be done in the current quarter. The team submits their MBO’s to the management team above them which then rolls those MBO’s into their own set of MBO’s. Each time the list of MBO’s are rolled up they get more broad and generalized. The lower in the organization the more specific the MBO’s should be.
Writing effective MBO’s. When you are writing your MBO’s you want to be careful to ensure each MBO is measurable or else how would you determine when it is complete? Assign a date to each MBO and stick to it. This will help you prioritize MBO’s throughout the quarter. Typically a team will have 3-6 MBO’s with possible sub deliverables within the MBO. Whan crafting your MBO’s be careful to write them with deliverables that are within your control. I always try to ensure that the success of my MBO is not dependant on others outside of my team of employees. If my MBO involves participation with another management group or department I write my MBO with my part of the project in mind. This generally lets me deliver my portion of the project regardless of the performance of others.
During the quarter and certainly at the end the lists of MBO’s are scored. This score is now the business and management teams can determine if they are on track. Did the business or employee teams meet the objectives they set when writing the MBO’s? If the score is high then the organization is on track. If not then the management teams need to determine why what was done or not done is not in line with MBO’s written by the teams and organization. Hopefully the MBO’s are generally complete each quarter and the business moves forward with a purpose.
By: John Gall
