Archive for 'The 21st Century Enterprise'

Separate organization and management structures have always been laid over the business causing complexity

Since the beginning, enterprises have implemented organization, process, account, performance, project, IT architectures, administrative functions, and other structures. Each of these many structures must be maintained and managed producing business complexity. Many conflicting entities that define each structure produce information complexity, prevent consistent and accurate management information, and require high-cost information technology overheads. Each structure is fixed and rigid and conflicts with the ever-changing business. Periodically, reorganization and change management is required to bring the fixed structures into closer alignment with the business.

Experts have wanted to find one structure to organize and manage the enterprise as one consistent whole

Over the years, there have been many efforts to create one simple and consistently-defined structure for complete and consistent business data capture, reliable communications, accurate management information, use of common solutions, business collaboration, and other needs. The answer, so far, is to lay higher-level management structures over existing structures to reconcile data from various unrelated structures and to consolidate information. However, until now, no one has defined the one integrated structure that can replace all existing structures and be used to organize and manage any enterprise in any industry.

The one integrated structure has existed all along; it is the business

There is one structure. It has been there all along! That structure is the business itself! [more...]f!

Result-performance Management (R-pM) is the conventional way to organize the business for 21^st century business management. Business management provides a common business structure for business organization, business operations and development, business collaboration, business learning and education, common business services that can be applied to any enterprise, and common business software and solutions that any enterprise can utilize.

An adjunct to the development of business management is the development of 21^st century management conventions and standards. 21^st century management is one consistent and clearly-defined set of business organization and management descriptions, conventions, standards, coding structures, and definitions that eliminate the contradictions, inconsistencies, and unsolvable problems of 20^th century management. R-pM and business management adhere to 21^st century management conventions and standards.

21^st century management is documented in the Business Management Toolkit

Business management is documented in the Business Management Toolkit, your 21^st Century Management Manual. 21^st century management descriptions, conventions, standards, and definitions are also documented in the Toolkit. The Business Management Toolkit is under continuing development. The Toolkit already contains the fundamental documentation needed to begin learning, implementing, and utilizing business mManagement. Those downloading the Toolkit today receive a subscription to all future Business Management and 21^st Century Management advances and documentation as updates to the Toolkit.< [more...]

20^th century enterprise management used today does not organize the business

20^th century enterprise management lays a contrived enterprise organization structure over the business, instead of organizing the business. This is the fatal error of 20^th century management. If the business is not organized, the business cannot be managed.

The contrived organization structure follows one of many 20^th century organization theories to organize the enterprise. The business, which we have defined as “investments in capital as solutions of worth utilized for cost and effectiveness of performance to produce value and quality in results” is not organized. The rigid organization structure goes out of “alignment” with every new or closed result or change to a capital solution utilized. Eventually there is need for reorganization to contrive a new organization structure that is closer aligned to the actual business, and the cycle is repeated.

The need for reorganization shows that the business is not organized

Some may argue that their business is organized. Ask if they ever reorganize the business, and they will answer yes, of course. Reorganization is needed because the business is not organized. [more...].

20^th century enterprise management cannot define and organize real value chains

Much is written about the theory of value chains and various structures have been contrived to lay value chains over the business. But, value chains cannot be defined and organized today, because 20^th century enterprise management organizes and manages the enterprise, but does not define or organize the actual business. The actual business is defined as “investments in capital as solutions of worth utilized for cost and effectiveness of performance to produce value and quality in results”. A value chain consists of a chain of results of value produced in sequence to provide a final result of value to an enterprise customer. In order to build a value chain results, capital solutions that produce results, and the performance of each solution to produce each result must be defined and organized as a sets.

21^st century business management organizes the business to provide natural value chains

Result-performance Management (R-pM) provides the knowledge, concepts, and procedures for 21^st century business management. We cannot build natural value chains, until we organize and manage the business. Business management organizes results as the links in the chain, capital solutions to deploy and implement the capital solutions needed to produce each result, and performance in the utilization of one solution to produce one result. Each link in the chain consists of one result and the capital solutions utilized in performance to produce the result. Result relationships link results in sequence and manage the complete chain.< [more...]>

Minimize capital investments and business performance to produce essential business results

Many socially-responsible enterprises are looking for methods to utilize capital assets effectively to reduce waste, conserve energy, and provide an innovative work environment. The basic way to do this is to directly organize and manage the business in the utilization of capital assets in business performance to produce valuable economic outputs in business results. Result-performance Management (R-pM) provides the knowledge and procedures to organize the business for socially-responsible 21^st century management

Capital assets are managed directly to produce results

The managed business replaces administration with capital management and organizes all tangible and intangible capital assets as specific capital solutions to be utilized to produce specific business results. All capital is organized to be professionally-managed by those with the capability. The objective is to minimize performance and to maximize the value and quality of results. So, all capital is utilized effectively to prevent waste. All performance costs and captured and charged to the result value produced from the performance. Capital not required by the actual business is placed with another enterprise that can make use of the capital.

The managed business reduces overheads and waste

The managed business eliminates 20^th century enterprise management structures laid over the business. The most costly structures are the monolithic business processes and information systems laid over the business. [more...].

The fundamental problem of 20^th century enterprise, the failure to organize the business

The generally-accepted definition of the enterprise business is “the activity of providing goods and services“. Therefore, the activity of providing goods and services must be organized in order to organize the business. However, 20^th century organization theories organize “the enterprise” into organization units, positions, functions, reporting relationships, etc. to produce a contrived “enterprise organization structure” that is laid over the business. The organization structure is the fatal error of 20^th century management. Once an organization structure is laid over the business, the business can never be managed.

The business must change continually, while the “enterprise organization structure” remains rigid. The rigid organization structure hampers business change, creates change management problems, and eventually creates pressure for reorganization to contrive a new “enterprise organization structure” that is aligned closer to the actual business. If the business was organized, the organization would change with business change.

The solution is to organize the business for 21^st century management

The only way to manage the business properly is to organize the activity of providing goods and services into a business structure. [more...].

Over the past three months, the Business Change Forum published a series of articles on the “Ten Rules to Organize the Business for 21st Century Management” to guide business organization for competitive 21^st century business management.

The ten rules of 21^st century business management are:

1. Organize and manage the business
2. Generate revenues from a chain of known value and quality
3. Organize and manage capital for high utilization and return
4. Keep accurate financial and non-financial records on the full business cycle in operations and development
5. Operate to optimize operations, result value-added, and the profit result
6. Plan and govern the transition from today’s value to approved strategic value
7. Manage all capital investments to gain a planned return through results
8. Manage human personnel, capability, and knowledge capital to increase human worth
9. Collaborate to maximize shared value and minimize shared costs
10. Employ 21^st century business management conventions and standards

The ten rules are described in the linked article and under the forum “Ten Rules for Business Management”. [more...]

We have been indoctrinated to accept contrived 20^th century enterprise management as the way that things are done

All existing business methods, all business school teachings, all new business and management solutions, and all management books produced today propagate contrived 20^th century enterprise management, which manages the enterprise by laying organization, account, process, activity, and other management structures over the business. Here at the Business Change Forum we have hundreds of articles that explain the fatal flaws and fundamental unsolvable problems with obsolete and outdated 20^th century enterprise management. We explain the alternative for natural 21^st century business management to manage the business directly as one business structure.

Even with all their flaws, 20^th century business organization and management structures are generally-accepted. People do not want to think and analyze to solve problems; they want a ready-made proscribed solution based on familiar methods. But since 20^th century management is a very costly and flawed way to manage, all we do is propagate bad management, high costs, and unsolvable problems.

Problems are unsolvable, when our mind is closed to solutions

The biggest obstacle to solving business management problems is not finding the solution, but opening our minds so that we can see the solution. Even if the solution is right in front of us and should be obvious, we are blinded by a mind that is closed to the solution. Many experts and analysts are looking for a solution to prevent future economic crisis. The obvious solution, manage the business, cannot be seen. [more...].

The fundamental cause of the economic crisis is failure to manage the business

One major problem causing the economic crisis was the lack of accurate management information on the actual business of investment institutions, banks, corporations, and other enterprises. Financial institutions cannot manage “asset value” in the worth of capital, companies do not know full costs or customer value provided, and corporations can not consolidate actual business information from the various units in the corporation.The fundamental problem is the lack of one complete and accurate set of information on the actual business, due failure to manage and measure the business.

20^th century management reports against structures laid over the business

The generally-accepted definition of enterprise business is “the activity of providing goods and services”. In order to organize and manage the business, we must organize and manage the activity of providing in the utilization of capital in the performance required to provide. We must also organize and manage goods and services as output results provided to customers.

20^th century management used today does not provide a structure to do this. Instead of organizing the business, an organization structure is laid over the business to define organization units, functions, and positions. Since the business is not organized, management structures must be laid over the business. A business strategy defines visions, objectives, maps, owners, and other entities. The chart of accounts defines centers, objects, and codes. Business processes, activity costing, performance management and the many other structures laid over the business produce information complexity and hide the actual business.

Overlaid structures capture vast amounts of data and report mountains of information, but not on the actual business

None of these structures captures actual business data or reports actual business information. [more...].

Business transformation has a bad name today because of past problems and failures

20^th century business transformation was a big thing over the past twenty years. But did it transform the actual business and solve fundamental problems with a sound structure for business success; or did it simply rearrange the 20^th century management structures and methods that are the cause of business problems? We see the problems suffered by financial institutions that cannot manage “asset value”, corporations that are unable to manage their businesses, and limited and inaccurate accounting that cause the financial crisis and economic recession.

20^th century transformation did not transform the actual business or provide expected benefits

20^th century business transformation changes the organization structure, strategy structure, business process structure, performance management structures, account structures, information technology architectures, management information structures, and other structures that are laid over the business, rather than organizing and managing the actual business. Conventional 20^th century enterprise organization theories never organized the business. If the business is organized, routine business change updates the business organization continually, instead of having separate business change and transformation projects.

The business changes with every business decision, not every few years when management decides it is time for business change. The only reason that business transformation is needed is because the business is not organized and managed. Conventional business change and transformation is not change to the business, but change to the structures laid over the business. Many 20^th century business transformation methods, like total quality management (TQM), business process reengineering (BPR), and activity-based costing (ABC) laid new contrived structures over the business, and are no longer considered viable today.

Business transformation must organize and manage the business as one structure

Business transformation describes what is needed to learn, organize, and manage the actual business for 21^st century business management. [more...].