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
-
Symbolic Interaction and Social Change
George Herbert Mead, an American philosopher, affiliated with the University of Chicago founded the theory of symbolic interactionism. A major aspect of this is that people interact by symbols both verbal and non-verbal signals and every interaction makes a contribution to the mental make-up of the mind thus every interaction with someone, changes you and you go away a different person signifying that humans and change go together.
-
At different points in your professional career, it is helpful to identify your core values. Values are the qualities considered to be the most important guiding principles that determine the priorities in your life and greatly influence your career choices. Your career brings happiness when it is in agreement with the beliefs you have about what is important and meaningful to you. Awareness of your values will help you develop a clearer sense of what's most important to you in life.
-
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.
-
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.
-
A good leadership style is something that every effective leader must have in order to succeed, but identifying what that entails or does not entails might be difficult to understand. Most of the research on leadership focuses on the exemplary, best practices, and positive attributes of effective and successful leaders. This article talks about a new approach to learn leadership using lessons from bad leadership. That is the lessons to be learned by examining leaders who have not effectively exercised their power, authority, or influence.
-
David Kolb produced this popular model for learning in 1984. The model suggests four stages of learning which most learners go through in order to learn effectively. Leaming is itself a process of change. Something is added to our perception and prepared us for the next impression, which will change our understanding yet more, however minutely. The Kolb contribution is a significant one because it practically equates change and learning.
-
Team Development by Building Trust
As your team begins to work together, you need to establish a way each team member can exchange ideas and build mutual trust. Successful groups are built on trust and collaboration. A free exchange of ideas, in an open environment, will allow your team to get to know each other and enable you to check on how they work together. Learn some tips to help build team trust and establish personal bonds.
-
Communication has as its central objective the transmission of meaning. The process of communication is successful only when the receiver understands an idea as the sender intended it. How does a message or an idea travel from one person to another? To transmit our message, we engage in a sensitive and complex process of communication, with different elements like sender, message, channels, receiver, noise, and feedback.
-
How often do you have a plan for how you are going to spend your day but you aren't able to complete the tasks on your plan because of unimportant tasks, interruptions, or your own procrastination? Wouldn't it be great to be able to manage your schedule and your time while avoiding, or at least controlling, these time stealers? Learn the strategies to manage your schedule while still handling interruptions and demands on your time.
-
Technological advancement has brought about radical changes in the methods of work and also in the organizational structure and talent strategies. The future of work is transforming our work, workforce, and workplace. Some important trends observed during recent times are discussed below.
