Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2016

That makes bureaucracy the organizational equivalent of kudzu, the invasive, herbicide-resistant vine that has overrun thousands of acres of woodland in the American south. Bureaucracy is the managerial operating system of virtually every medium- and large-scale organization on the planet. Why is bureaucracy so difficult to eradicate?

Bureaucracy 8

Bureaucracy Proposal Middle Management Incentives 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 15, 2014

When it comes to specialist operations, experience is key, so he was going to visit each of them and then make a decision. However, when I spoke to him again, he had just decided where he was going to have the operation: in the hospital in his hometown in Spain. I was surprised; there was no specialist in that hospital.

Gordon 8

Gordon Strategy Decisionmaking Objective 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 9, 2015

For example, before performing every operation the surgical team should conduct a “time-out” 100% of the time to ensure that everyone agrees that they are operating on the correct patient and are performing the correct procedure on the right site and that any questions or concerns that any team member might have are addressed.

Health Care 8

Health Care Benchmarking Process Operations 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 15, 2014

The team’s mission was to come up with new products for the European market — and then, significantly, to convince senior management in South Korea to invest in those projects — several of which, it turned out, required Samsung to deviate from their current strategy within the product categories in question. Present a portfolio of options.

Innovation 8

Innovation Marketing Disruptive Innovation Project 8

Change Starts Here

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

Uncover resistance – what are the forces that will prevent change from happening. Some resistance is inevitable, how will you overcome it? James Lawther is a middle aged middle manager. He also writes about improving business operations at www.squawkpoint.com.

ADKAR 60

ADKAR Management Early Adopters Rogers 60

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 18, 2013

By identifying opportunities to fundamentally change how administrative services were delivered, the senior executives led by example and communicated a willingness to do their part in cutting costs by focusing on their own departments first – a messaging that helped dampen organizational resistance to change. Capitalize on success.

Cost 8

Cost Health Care Six Sigma Insourcing 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

A middle manager at a global technology organization — let’s call her “Denise” — had a problem. She’d come up with the idea of revamping the company’s inventory management approach by networking together “sleeping” resources. Step 1: Anticipate Resistance.

Politics 9

Politics Innovation Project How To 9

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 15, 2018

The preparations, produced by small teams or individual cooks, are progressively assembled, with sous-chefs (akin to middle managers) controlling the quality at every step. Unlike test kitchens of large chains or FMCG products, the team would work in R&D during the winter and then resume restaurant operations during the summer.

Innovation 8

Innovation Project Creativity Open-book 8