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Planning Doesn’t Have to Be the Enemy of Agile

Harvard Business Review

Management by Objectives (MBO) became the height of corporate fashion in the late 1950s. Later, MBO evolved into strategic planning. It restructured its operations in the Netherlands by reorganizing 3,500 employees into agile squads. The capacity and willingness of managers to plan developed throughout the century.

Agility 15
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The Management Thinker We Should Never Have Forgotten

Harvard Business Review

Eliminate MBO. These rare birds tend to operate outside of our norms and customers: They educate their employees differently; they collaborate differently across silos and divisions; they incentivize people in different ways. Eliminate exhortations for the work force; instead, focus on the system and morale. Avoid numerical goals.

Deming 14
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There’s No One System for Paying Your Global Sales Force

Harvard Business Review

Performance Metrics: Pay on revenues (timing determined locally) for individual (not team) performance; pay incentives rarely for management by objective (MBO) achievement (e.g. Increased effectiveness and fewer errors through consistency in data collection and reporting, and the creation and use of operational best practices.