Value – Key Driver of Change
Productivity is defined not in terms of the number of goods produced, but in terms of value-added per employee. Customers don’t really buy goods and services but in fact, they buy a value - something they value. The future is all about tangible products fulfilling intangible needs. Ideas like this can transform a business and provide them a competitive advantage to thrive in the future.
People Look for Intangible Benefits
People, as Theodore Leavitt pointed out long ago, don't really buy goods and services. They buy a value - something they value. The customers want the goods or services to be accompanied by intangible benefits associated with availability at the right time and place and to express the values they require.
On the weekend of the Christmas holiday, David had a breakdown with his electricity. He took a service from Urban Clap and the person diagnosed and corrected a very small fault which had put the central heating out of action, and put it right. On that day Urban Clap was not selling them a service or a spare part, they were selling peace of mind on a festival day. That is the value that was given even when it’s not needed. It’s the confidence that someone will come when David needs one.
The enterprise providing the value is able to share economics with the consumer by using as little matter as possible in the preparation of the goods or services. So automation and materials technology keep down the amount of processing and actual stuff that has to go into the provision of goods and services.
The idea of “No-Matter”
Automation and materials technology keep down the amount of processing and actual stuff that needs to go into the production and provision of services. Products will be produced more quickly and cheaply, and with less final bulk and weight. The phrase “No Matter” encapsulates all this competitive advantage and value add. 'No matter' as a concept also includes the role of the disposable, though we have to watch its impact on the environment. The idea of no matter also covers the idea of the invisible purpose behind a sale.
For example, the invisible purpose behind a drill is not the selling of drills as such, but rather to sellability to make holes. If you use a laser drill, you are very much into the realm of 'no matter', for the laser produces holes which are by definition the absence of matter. This is all a question of tangible products fulfilling intangible needs. Ideas like this can transform a business. It is all about the effectiveness of outcomes rather than the efficiency of inputs. So the physical and the intellectual blend in the marriage of the changing mindset and the future mindset.
Mass Customisation
Next is the paradoxical idea of 'mass customization'. This is providing the customer with precisely what he or she requires, such as a garment to suit a bulky or a slender frame. Providing something that is non-standard yet can be produced as goods of standard size, weight, or other requirements. The technology now permits the non-standard to be produced on the standard line. Just a change of the computerized instructions and the trick is performed. Now customers don’t want to wait for something that is made to measure.
The same technique of mass customization can be used to provide cultural variations required in various parts of the world without setting up a special production line. The mass economy provides the benefit of scale; mass customization allows for the differentiation and individualization of requirements.
Future Trends and Change
Not so long ago you can imagine how some traditional business houses would have resisted such changes in the mindset and approach. Managers today need to group the changes which have had the biggest impact on business, industry, and society. Types of technological development have to be focused on the understanding of futurology. They can no more stick to what they know we are good at and so on. There is an emerging need to approach the present from the standpoint of the future. That's how all these developments have occurred- so much so that we find it difficult to realize the amount of resistance they initially caused.
Many of these developments are at a relatively early stage, so there is much more to follow. It is essential that managers who are going to have to cope with such changes see them as a part of their functions to educate their workforces to understand the nature of the changes we can expect, of the world in which we live and the future we can create.
Related Links
You May Also Like
-
Teams are part of the modern organizational culture. Whether you are a team leader or a team member, having a better understanding of how teams work, and being able to identify where the team is in the process, is a critical part of ensuring the team is ultimately successful. Start with the basics and understand what a team is and what role they play in an organization.
-
Facilitative Leadership is all about involving the employees in the decision-making process at all levels enhancing their sense of ownership, responsibility, and motivation. Facilitative leadership style uses a number of indirect communication patterns to help the group reach consensus and build commitment for the decision taken. To be effective in modern organizations, managers need to become facilitative leaders, learn what it means to be a one.
-
Generating Ideas using Brainstorming
The brainstorming technique was developed by Alex F. Osborn in 1957 and brainstorming means where a team of members generates a large amount of alternative fruitful ideas on a specific problem without any criticism and then evaluates each idea in terms of their pros and cons. Brainstorming techniques fall into four broad categories: visioning, exploring, modifying, and experimenting.
-
In today's innovation-driven economy, understanding how to generate great ideas has become an urgent managerial priority. Managers need to encourage and champion ideas and need to help their organizations incorporate diverse perspectives, which spur creative insights and facilitate creative collaboration by harnessing new technologies. Innovation is the embodiment, combination, and/or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.
-
Collaborative leadership is all about collaborative problem-solving and decision-making or can also be defined as the leadership of a collaborative effort. . The term started to appear in the mid-1990s in response to the formation of long term public-private partnerships to rebuild public infrastructure. Learn how you can use principles of collaborative leadership to enhance your leadership skills for being an effective leader.
-
Tips for Effective Time Management
After studying and analyzing how time is spent, why time is wasted, and where time is wasted you need to decide about the changes required for effective utilization of time. For this purpose, a large number of remedial measures can be taken by you. The first and foremost determinant of a planned and purposeful utilization of time is to develop consciousness of the value of time at all levels of the organization. Planning, goal setting, and defining priorities are concerns to addressed immediately.
-
This style is characterized by leaders making decisions for others and expecting followers to follow instructions. The directive leader is adept at giving instructions, setting expectations, and establishing timelines and performance standards. However, it is possible for the same leaders to display both directive and supportive behavior as per the demands of the situation.
-
Benefits of Teams in Workplace
The use of formal work teams is commonplace in modern organizations. But why we have teams? What are the benefits or advantages that teams provide for organizations and employees? Do we really need to adopt formal team structures and use team-building approaches in organizations? Read this article to explore and learn the benefits of having formal teams in organizations.
-
Stress is a product of the busyness of modern life. It has assumed grave dimensions ever since the emergence of industrialism. In fact, stress is a natural, ongoing, dynamic, and interactive process that takes place as people adjust to their environment. Stress can be brought about by positive or negative life events. Distress can cause disease and eustress or positive stress can promote wellbeing and increased productivity. Learn to recognize and be responsible for your stress, and learn the ways to manage stress.
-
As we know change is inevitable as market expectations are not static, new technology is constantly being developed, and organizational responses are inevitable to these sequences. It is a simple matter of business evolution. If every manager and every employee could have some understanding of the triggers of change and their relationships with each other, then the acceptance to change would be easier.
