Guide to Management & Technology (A Sample)
By Steve Bennett
Definitions- Effectiveness
- One of the principal functions of management is to push out the
frontiers of ordinary achievement, to attain extraordinary products, services,
sales, profits and productivity. Contrasts sharply from efficiency which deals
with using existing resources in an optimal way. The opportunities to produce
revenue, to create markets, and to change the economic characteristics of
existing products and markets is the foundation of success.
- Efficiency
is a minimum condition for survival after success has been achieved. The difference between effectiveness and efficiency is parallel to that between entrepreneurial ability and executive ability. Entrepreneurs are effective at creating new customers: executives need to be good at keeping existing ones. Both should have some qualities of the other. - Entrepreneurs
- are effective at creating new customers.
- Executives
need to be good at keeping existing ones.
Management and Technology
Figure: Major Management of Technology Trends
Decision Making
Good executives distrust their own judgement.
The decision making process can be broken down into four man elements. Every good decision maker must conciously or unconciously go through each of them.
Framing Structuring the question: which means defining what must be decided and determining in a preliminary way what criteria would cause you to prefer one option over another. Good decision makers think about the viewpoint from which they and others will look at the issue.Gathering intelligence
Seeking both the knowable facts and the reasonable estimates of unknowables needed to make the decision. Good decision makers manage intelligence gathering with deliberate effort to avoid such failings as overconfidence, also avoiding the tendency to seek information that confirms their biases. "it's not what we don't know that causes trouble, it's what we know that ain't so"
Coming to conclusions
Sound framing and good intelligence don't guarantee a wise decision. But people cannot consistently make good seat of the pants decisions. A systematic approach forces you to examine many aspects and often leads to better decisions than hours of unorganised thinking would.
Learning (of failing to learn) from feedback.
Everyone must learn from results of past decisions. This can mean keeping a record of what you expected to happen and guarding against self serving explanations. At a minimum, managers should sit down twice a year and reflect on the lessons of experience.
Decision traps
Major traps: 1. Framing - Plunging in and starting to solve the wrong problem2. Gathering intelligence - Being too sure about the quality of your data
3. Coming to conclusions - Winging in when things get complex
4. Learning from feedback - Rationalising your choices or denying mistakes
Metadecision
The four major parts of the Decision process consume almost all of a good decision makers time. First, however, choices should be made about the decision process itself. Most important is to avoid Decision trap number 1 (plunging in). A metadecision involves asking questions like "what is the crux of the issue (what is the question). Before any major decision is made, review the metadecision questions.* What is the crux of the issue
* How should the decision be made (ie. in groups, intuitively, or analytically)
* Does the decision greatly affect other decisions
* Must this decision be made at all, does it need to be made now, should it be made by me, what parts can I deligate.
* How much time have decisions like this one taken in the past, how long should it take, when should it be made, are the deadlines real or arbritrary
* Can I proceed sequentially from framing to intelligence gathering to coming to conclusions, or must I move back and forth among the parts of the decision process itslef
* Where should I concentrate my time and resources, how much time should I expect to spend on each phase of the process, do I face a difficult job framing this choice, will intelligence gathering be the biggest challenge, will there be difficulty making the decision rationally even after framing and intelligence gathering
* Can I draw on feedback from related decisions and experiences from the past or from other people
* What are my own skills, biases, and limitations in dealing with an issue like this, do I need to bring in other points of view, which ones would be helpful
* How would a more experienced dcision maker whom I admire handle this issue.
Executive Information Systems (EIS)
Decision Support Systems (DSS)
Majority of DSS systems are losely connected sieries of function aids which are passive in that they must be run by the decision maker. They include aids to all the steps: framing, intelligence etc. The do not help learning. The active system described below offers an alternative.
In the model above, the DSS is linked to another system EIS which imports past knowledge or expertise from one or more of a series of "agents' These include tools, like data bases or spreadsheets with ideal or recommended formats to help the decision process. One such is a data base of stories. Data bases are normally passive because they only give you what you ask for. In this case information is offered to you; why don't you consider this.
(c) Copyright 1994 S.P. Bennett. All rights reserved.
