Strategy Driven

DECEMBER 5, 2013

To most people, bureaucracy is a bad word, synonymous with ‘red tape’ and wasted time. Yet, despite the negative connotations, most companies still operate bureaucratically – insisting employees work inside of increasingly complex structures with processes and procedures designed to standardize or control everything.

Productivity 50

Productivity Products Six Sigma Competitive Advantage 50

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 15, 2018

hospitals and health systems experienced an average 39% reduction in their operating margins from 2015 to 2017. Cost reduction requires an honest and thorough reassessment of everything the health system does and ultimately, a change in the organization’s operating culture. PM Images/Getty Images. ” Clearly, more is needed.

Cost 10

Cost System Management Franchising 10

Strategy Driven

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

The term Budgeting gets tossed around in many ways. Budgets get blamed for gridlock. Budgets get politicized. Budgets get more attention than the umbrellas under which they rightfully belong: Strategic Planning and Visioning. Budgeting by itself is a minor piece of business strategy. Running a bureaucracy.

Strategic Planning 69

Strategic Planning Budgeting Planning Competitive Advantage 69

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 13, 2015

The next rung of leaders who operate from different geographies or second-tier P&Ls often have to converge on this center of gravity for reviews and the occasional reprimand. The time has come for us to rethink this concentration of leadership. Leadership Managing organizations Managing people Organizational structure'

Agility 8

Agility Bureaucracy Competitive Advantage Software 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 27, 2011

This post is part of a three-week series exploring the re-invention of the social infrastructure of cities, published in partnership with the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. But the main challenge is not how to operate the machine. Learn more about the Advanced Leadership Initiative.

Software 14

Software Early Adopters Technology Crisis 14

Strategy Driven

OCTOBER 11, 2013

Business shift from the retail dealer customer service mentality of Firestone shifted to a high-production tire operation. When they are compelled to do so, company leadership will provide leadership for change management and re-engineering…two of the many worthwhile concepts that should be advocated every business day.

Crisis 58

Crisis Crisis Management Retail Budgeting 58

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 13, 2017

Unproductive routines, corporate bureaucracy, and “administrivia” kill ambition and sap energy for far too many employees. reset the budgets. redesign the operating model. reset the budgets. redesign the operating model. Reset the Budgets. How many still believe they can make a difference?

Zero Based Budgeting 13

Zero Based Budgeting Organization Budgeting How To 13

In the CEO Afterlife

MAY 30, 2012

Here are the 5 best bargains in the world of business: Leadership heads the list. This is a corollary to leadership but it is also a core value that must permeate the entire organization. The fact that giant companies don’t operate this way opens the door for the smaller competitor. People with the right mindsets create magic.

Bureaucracy 245

Bureaucracy Constraint Creativity Discount 245

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 1, 2013

Frustrated employees were complaining about the lack of amenities — such as child care facilities — on campus and the stifling bureaucracy which, for instance, made expense reimbursment a time-consuming process. Another team of employees designed and deployed a daycare for working mothers.

Innovation 9

Innovation Attrition Software Globalization 9

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 8, 2016

The smaller ones could keep their own names, leadership teams, practices, and policies for the first five years. And although senior managers’ remuneration was tied to Contect’s overall sales and operating profits, the head office had relatively little control over the 30,000 projects the company had underway at any given time.

Case Study 8

Case Study Decentralization CFO Construction 8

Strategy Driven

JUNE 22, 2012

Products and services assist the bureaucracy to do its job more efficiently but cannot claim credit for Big Picture success of a client’s entire industry. Doing nothing causes much more organizational damage than making mistakes while operating in good faith. ‘Brewing solutions for a better environment.’ We Earn It.

Brand 50

Brand Analysis Advertising Software 50

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 7, 2016

Under the guise of acting like owners, many leaders operate as bureaucrats or, far worse, in some cases as personal-wealth maximizers. Companies with a strong founder’s mentality focus relentlessly on freeing up cash from their operations, but not so that they can hoard it or return it to creditors or shareholders.

Bureaucracy 8

Bureaucracy Short-term Budgeting Long-term 8