The Greiner Curve

Larry Greiner was a professor at USC focused on organizational development and growth. In the 1970s he proposed a model of growth phases for start-ups, based on the recognition that many entrepreneurial companies go through predictable cycles of growth spurts and crises. The model was originally based on five phases; he later adjusted it to include a sixth phase.

Phase 1: Growth through creativity
An entrepreneur is focused on creating new products and services. A small staff can be managed through informal communication and a shared vision. But as the firm grows, there is often a leadership crisis with the need to bring in professional management.

Phase 2: Growth through direction
With new management in place, growth continues. There is more clarity on what the objectives are. Budgets introduced, functions are more clearly defined, incentive schemes are established. This may result in a crisis of autonomy, with a need to define clearer structures and hierarchies to delegate tasks.

Phase 3: Growth through delegation
As mid level managers are freed up to pursue opportunities in their markets and improvements in their functions, growth continues. To management takes on more of a broad strategic role. The result is often a crisis of control: Managers whose directive approach was helpful at the end of Phase 1 find it hard to “let go.” A more sophisticated approach is needed to make sure the different parts of the organization work well together.

Phase 4: Growth through coordination and monitoring
Growth continues through better coordination, e.g. organizing previously independent groups along product or service lines. Ultimately, however, the complexity of the company’s bureaucracy creates a red-tape crisis.

Phase 5: Growth through collaboration
The formal control structure is relaxed to accommodate more flexibility for staff to group along the lines of specific projects or initiatives. Sophisticated information system support this new approach. This phase may well end with a crisis of internal growth, recognizing that opportunities may have to be pursued outside the firm.

Phase 6: Growth through alliances
This phase was added by Greiner later on, to recognize the fact that at some point, firms may need to pursue growth opportunities through alliances, mergers & acquisitions, outsourcing, or other partnerships.

Understanding the Crises That Come With Growth

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Alliance

Fast-growing companies can often be chaotic places to work.

As workloads increase exponentially, approaches which have worked well in the past start failing. Teams and people get overwhelmed with work. Previously-effective managers start making mistakes as their span of control expands. And systems start to buckle under increased load.

While growth is fun when things are going well, when things go wrong, this chaos can be intensely stressful. More than this, these problems can be damaging (or even fatal) to the organization.

The "Greiner Curve" is a useful way of thinking about the crises that organizations experience as they grow.

By understanding it, you can quickly understand the root cause of many of the problems you're likely to experience in a fast growing business. More than this, you can anticipate problems before they occur, so that you can meet them with pre-prepared solutions.

Understanding the Theory

Greiner's Growth Model describes phases that organizations go through as they grow. All kinds of organizations from design shops to manufacturers, construction companies to professional service firms experience these. Each growth phase is made up of a period of relatively stable growth, followed by a "crisis" when major organizational change is needed if the company is to carry on growing.

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. From "Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow" by Larry E. Greiner, May 1998. Copyright © 1998 by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation; all rights reserved.

Dictionaries define the word "crisis" as a "turning point", but for many of us it has a negative meaning to do with panic. While companies certainly have to change at each of these points, if they properly plan for there is no need for panic and so we will call them "transitions".

Larry E. Greiner originally proposed this model in 1972 with five phases of growth. In 1998, he added a sixth phase in an updated version of his original article. The six growth phases are described below:

Phase 1: Growth Through Creativity

Here, the entrepreneurs who founded the firm are busy creating products and opening up markets. There aren't many staff, so informal communication works fine, and rewards for long hours are probably through profit share or stock options. However, as more staff join, production expands and capital is injected, there's a need for more formal communication.

This phase ends with a Leadership Crisis, where professional management is needed. The founders may change their style and take on this role, but often someone new will be brought in.

Phase 2: Growth Through Direction

Growth continues in an environment of more formal communications, budgets and focus on separate activities like marketing and production. Incentive schemes replace stock as a financial reward.

However, there comes a point when the products and processes become so numerous that there are not enough hours in the day for one person to manage them all, and he or she can't possibly know as much about all these products or services as those lower down the hierarchy.

This phase ends with an Autonomy Crisis: New structures based on delegation are called for.

Phase 3: Growth Through Delegation

With mid-level managers freed up to react fast to opportunities for new products or in new markets, the organization continues to grow, with top management just monitoring and dealing with the big issues (perhaps starting to look at merger or acquisition opportunities). Many businesses flounder at this stage, as the manager whose directive approach solved the problems at the end of Phase 1 finds it hard to let go, yet the mid-level managers struggle with their new roles as leaders.

This phase ends with a Control Crisis: A much more sophisticated head office function is required, and the separate parts of the business need to work together.

Phase 4: Growth Through Coordination and Monitoring

Growth continues with the previously isolated business units re-organized into product groups or service practices. Investment finance is allocated centrally and managed according to Return on Investment (ROI) and not just profits. Incentives are shared through company-wide profit share schemes aligned to corporate goals. Eventually, though, work becomes submerged under increasing amounts of bureaucracy, and growth may become stifled.

This phase ends on a Red-Tape Crisis: A new culture and structure must be introduced.

Phase 5: Growth Through Collaboration

The formal controls of phases 2-4 are replaced by professional good sense as staff group and re-group flexibly in teams to deliver projects in a matrix structure supported by sophisticated information systems and team-based financial rewards.

This phase ends with a crisis of Internal Growth: Further growth can only come by developing partnerships with complementary organizations.

Phase 6: Growth Through Extra-Organizational Solutions

Greiner's recently added sixth phase suggests that growth may continue through merger, outsourcing, networks and other solutions involving other companies.

Growth rates will vary between and even within phases. The duration of each phase depends almost totally on the rate of growth of the market in which the organization operates. The longer a phase lasts, though, the harder it will be to implement a transition.

Tip:

This is a useful model, however not all businesses will go through these crises in this order. Use this as a starting point for thinking about business growth, and adapt it to your circumstances.

Using the Tool

The Greiner Growth Model helps you think about the growth for your organization, and therefore better plan for and cope with the next growth transitions. To apply the model, use the following steps:

1. Based on the descriptions above, think about where your organization is now.
2. Think about whether the organization is reaching the end of a stable period of growth, and nearing a 'crisis' or transition. Some of the signs of 'crisis' include:
   • People feel that managers and company procedures are getting in the way of them doing their jobs.
   • People feel that they are not fairly rewarded for the effort they put in.
   • People seem unhappy, and there is a higher staff turnover than usual.
3. Ask yourself what the transition will mean for you personally and your team. Will you have to:
   • Delegate more?
   • Take on more responsibilities?
   • Specialize more in a specific product or market?
   • Change the way you communicate with others?
   • Incentivize and reward you team differently?
   By thinking this through, you can start to plan and prepare yourself for the inevitable changes, and perhaps help other to do the same.
4. Plan and take preparatory actions that will make the transition as smooth as possible for you and your team.
5. Revisit Greiner's model for growth again every 6-12 months, and think about how the current stage of growth affects you and others around you.

What to Do and Say After a Tough Reorganization

Rebecca Knight

Surviving a corporate reorg can be tough. There is often a lot of confusion and uncertainty, and if colleagues were laid off, people might also be sad or angry. How can you make the situation easier for yourself and your colleagues? What steps should you take to protect your job? How do you stay positive? And how do you know when it’s time to move on?

What the Experts SayRestructurings may be an inevitable part of organizational life but living through them—even when you’re one of the lucky ones still standing—is challenging and stressful. On a personal level, “you have genuinely lost some friends” from the organization, says Kevin Coyne, the co-founder and managing director of strategy consulting firm Coyne Partners and a professor at Emory’s Goizueta Business School. And on a professional level, you’re likely to feel unsettled because it’s “unclear what life will be like under the new regime.” Reactions are typically varied, says Gretchen Spreitzer, a professor at Michigan’s Ross School of Business and coauthor of How to be a Positive Leader. “Some people are cynical—there’s this sense of ‘You fired my friends’ and ‘This reorganization is never going to work.’” Then there are: “the walking wounded who are fearful about the future and worried for those who were let go.” Even stars may have trouble staying positive. “If you’re a high performer, you may feel a loss of control and start to question your options.” But Spreitzer says it’s important to approach the changes with an “optimistic” mindset. “You want to be one of the active advocates who take initiative to make the reorganization work,” she says. Here are some pointers on how to do that.

Listen…Before you react to the news, Spreitzer suggests you “listen carefully to what senior leadership is saying about what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what’s the hoped-for outcome.” Management probably had good intentions for the restructuring—it believes the changes will cut costs, increase revenues, or improve efficiency. That said,  “don’t just take the party line and run. Ask lots of questions.” Do your best to ignore the office rumor mill. Don’t listen to the chatter and certainly don’t contribute to it. “The information in the gossip network is probably inaccurate; it will be highly emotional; and there will be lots of venting,” she says.

…And assessOnce you’ve absorbed the planned changes, you need to think about what they mean for your day-to-day responsibilities and your potential job satisfaction, according to Coyne. “After learning what the new game is, you must try to picture what your new job will look like in six to 12 months,” he says. “Then ask yourself some hard questions, such as, ‘Once I get beyond the temporary pain of this, will I still be proud of what this company stands for? Is my new role something I am equally happy and satisfied with?’” Even if you conclude that things have fundamentally changed, Coyne advises resisting the urge to quit immediately. “Don’t pull the trigger just yet,” he says. “You need more information,” and you can use the next several months to evaluate the situation.

Reach outIn circumstances like these, it’s important to show concern and empathy for the people  directly impacted by the reorg.  “Reach out,” Spreitzer says. “Express sorrow that you’ll no longer be working together.” Whether you call, email, or drop by their house with a bottle of wine depends on how close you are to them, she adds. “Put yourself in their shoes and think about how you would want someone to react if it happened to you.” When it comes to the right sentiment, less is more. “Say, ‘I’m sorry. This caught me off guard too. What can I do to help?’” Showing compassion is not only kind it’s also a smart career move, according to Coyne. You should stay in touch with departed colleagues “because those people are your advance warning” on what the job market is like and how you’ll fare should you decide it’s time to leave.

Help outIf you support the new direction your company is taking, it’s worth  letting your boss know, says Coyne. “To the degree that it’s true, tell your manager that you’re on board and that you want to see this reorganization succeed,” he says. That way, he “knows he can count on you—and that you’re not just being a good soldier.” Then follow up with actions that demonstrate your support. Spreitzer recommends seeking ways to “help the organization become more resilient” during the transition. Think about your skills and expertise in addition to your professional passions. Is there perhaps a new position you could grow into? Are there new responsibilities you’d like to add to your current role?

Align prioritiesReorgs are an opportunity for you to “take control of your career” says Spreitzer, but you must also make sure you and your manager agree on where you should be focusing. Priorities have no doubt shifted and if the restructuring means that you’re supposed to take on tasks previously done by others, Coyne recommends you “quickly get on the same page” with your boss about “which parts of your combined workload can be reduced” or gotten rid of altogether. “You need to figure out the most important and least important parts of your new job.” Remember your boss is likely to be stretched thin too so you should “go to her with a proposal” about how you ought to allocate your attention and time. “Be constructive,” he says.

Manage your stressIn the midst of change and uncertainty, “you need to look for things that help you manage your stress,” says Spreitzer. “Be sure to make time for the things you love.” Spend time with family and friends; keep at hobbies and volunteer activities; and of course make sure you’re eating well, exercising, and getting plenty of sleep. You might also try to “inject some levity” at the office to  “raise people’s spirits and getting them out of the moroseness they may be feeling,” she adds. Introduce a daily music break, bring in some fresh flowers, or start a cookie-baking contest every other Friday. “The goal is to create fun and reduce the seriousness of the situation.”

Look for purposeIn addition to offering momentary mood-lifters, you can also work to boost long-term morale among your co-workers by focusing on your shared mission. ”Remind people why they are there in the first place,” Coyne says. If you’re a manager, this is even more critical. Have one-on-one conversations with your people to communicate that “what they do matters,” he says. “Help them see the nobility and purpose of their jobs of their jobs” and convey to them that “they are part of something they can be proud of.” Whenever you feel yourself struggling, Spreitzer suggests “looking for the little rays of light in your workday that give you meaning,” whether they are helping a colleague or interacting with a customer.

Give it time, but don’t hang on too longIt’s fair to “give management the benefit of the doubt” in the weeks and months after the reorg is announced, but if you remain skeptical of the changes after some time has passed, treat it as a sign. “Keep the periscope up,” says Spreitzer. “It you’ve tried to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it’s been 60 to 90 days, it’s time to ask yourself,  ‘Is this an organization I want to stay in?’ If not, you might need to start looking at your options,” she says. “You don’t want to be hanging on if you feel the company is moving in the wrong direction.” Coyne concurs: Once you’ve lived through “the short-term misery” of the restructuring and “gained perspective” about where the company is headed, you are in a better position to make a decision. “If the company is not doing something you feel proud of, you need to go to your contingency plan,” he says.

Principles to Remember

Do

• Listen to and absorb what senior leadership says about why the reorg is happening
• Show compassion for colleagues directly affected
• Seek opportunities to use your skills and expertise to help your organization through the transition

Don’t

• Give in to the doom and gloom—remind yourself (and others) of the nobility and purpose of your work
• Neglect your wellbeing—make sure you’re eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest
• Hang on too long—if you don’t believe your organization is moving in the right direction, look elsewhere

Case Study #1: Reframe your new responsibilities as an opportunity for growthKarin Hurt had been working as an HR director at Verizon in Baltimore for more than a decade when a confluence of circumstances—including the company’s imminent merger with Bell Atlantic, her coworker getting fired, and her boss retiring—led to an enormous leap in the scope and scale of her job. The solution, according to management, was to reorganize the $6 billion business unit and give her HR responsibility for it.

The catch: She would not get an official promotion because she was unable to relocate to corporate headquarters in New York. “At first I was mad,” she says.  “I thought, ‘Wait, I’m not going to get the job, but I’m going to do the job?’”

But it didn’t take her long to rethink that initial assessment. “This was a really good opportunity to sit at the strategic table and get exposure to senior leadership, and I decided I should embrace it,” she says. “I needed to trust the process.”

In her new role, Karin reported to the president of the business unit so one of her first moves was to ask him where he wanted her to focus. “A lot of priorities were changing and so we would talk on a regular basis about which ones were most important,” she says. “We often spoke on the phone at 7AM when it was quiet for both of us.”

The office environment was stressful both for Karin and for her team. She buffered her direct reports from the “politics and commotion” related to the merger by reminding them that their work had meaning. “I told them we were a part of something big, something historic,” she says. “With this merger we had the opportunity to put the right policies in place” to make sure the company was on solid footing.

Her good work caught the eye of the senior vice president of customer service. “He took me aside and said, ‘You’re young in your career to focus on only HR. Are you interested in doing other things?’ As a result, I took on a series of field assignments and that led to promotions. It catapulted my career.”

It also gave her the confidence and contacts to start her own firm. She left Verizon in 2014, and today she is the CEO of Let’s Grow Leaders, a consulting company. “When I look back on my time there, I feel grateful,” she says.

Case Study #2: Understand your organization’s new goals and align your prioritiesSid Savara was six months into his job as a lead engineer at a Department of Defense contractor in Hawaii when he started hearing rumors that funding for his project would soon be cut. “I tried not to take part in [the gossip] and just do the best job I could,” he says.

The uncertainty continued for another six months until a VP from the company’s Virginia headquarters showed up unexpectedly at his office one day to announce strategic changes. “He said, ‘Finish what you’re doing. This project is ending. We’re going to restructure and move people around,’” Sid recalls.

Sid’s fate was unclear at that point, so he asked the VP a lot of questions: What is the timeline of the restructuring? What is the new direction of the company? What is the business model for other projects?

He was unnerved by the answers he received. “I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the new projects. Some customers are nicer to deal with than others, some projects are more interesting than others,” he says. “I started to look for a new job and even had some telephone interviews.”

A week later Sid found out he was being reassigned as a team leader for a new project. Half of his prior team was let go. “I decided I was going to give it a chance. I didn’t want make a rash decision to leave,” he says.

On the first day of his new job, Sid had a “proper sit-down” with his new boss to learn about his role in relation to the business. “He explained to me what was going on, how the division works, how we make money, and that helped me align our team’s efforts with those goals.”

This helped him to understand his boss’s most important goals and think about new business opportunities and potential partnerships. “I changed our priorities as I learned more about the business. I understood the roadmap better, and I developed a stronger sense of where developers should be spending their time.”

Sid ended up staying at the company for another four years. Today he is a technical manager at the University of Hawaii.

What's at the heart of Project Management?

Продавцы грез, или Демонстраторы силы?

		Советская эпоха безвозвратно ушла в прошлое. Но в людях она остается жить образом мышления, свойственным «причесанным» гражданам социализма. Как говорится по схожему поводу, девочку из села вывести можно, село из девочки нельзя.

Какое «село» в менеджменте мы получили в наследство? Очень эффективную систему управления людьми в условиях командно-административной экономики. Она разрабатывалась научно-исследовательскими институтами и называлась «советская наука управления», хотя основана была на переработке достижений западной науки управления. Все это передавалось в виде догм в высших партийных и государственных школах управления, которые должны были замещать в закрытом социуме западные MBA и их систему подготовки чиновников.С упразднением СССР прекратили свое существование и централизованные институты, воспроизводившие командный состав управленцев. Дефицит управляющих в бизнес-структурах стал восполняться за счет экспатов. Но это смогли себе позволить только очень крупные бизнес-структуры, потому что они дорого стоят. Новые отечественные «капитаны» экономики оказались оторванными от мировых тенденций развития менеджмента. Некоторые из них, подружившиеся с английским языком, ринулись в престижные западные бизнес-школы и университеты. Основная же масса управленцев в нарождающихся бизнесах осталась без надлежащей подготовки и переподготовки. Появилась рыночная ниша сравнительно дешевого бизнес-образования — бизнес-тренинги, которой и воспользовались представители малого и среднего бизнесов. Но знания и культура — вещи разные. «Красный» менеджмент всем надоел Он пропитал все поры постсоветского пространства. Неуважение к сотрудникам, авторитарный стиль управления выхолащивают людей и заставляют их мигрировать из одной компании в другую в поисках лучшей доли. Мы получили это наследство от предыдущих поколений руководителей и воспроизводим его в своем поведении неосознанно как набор «плохих сценариев», потому что других примеров у нас просто не было. Но эти сценарии создавались совсем для другой страны и другого общественно-политического устройства, в котором бизнес считался преступлением. Жесткая иерархия и чинопочитание, царящее в отечественных бизнесах, превращают компании в неповоротливые системы, которые медленно реагируют на изменения окружающей среды и в конце концов становятся малоэффективными в конкурентной борьбе. Единственным способом процветания компаний с такой корпоративной культурой становится внедрение во власть и получение преференций за счет включения административного ресурса и приобретения монопольного положения в отрасли или на территории. При решении этой задачи компания превращается в структуру по перемалыванию объемов работ, добытых нерыночными способами. На самом деле такой прием захвата доли рынка является самым эффективным, но люди, работающие в нем, не всегда выдерживают бездушное отношение к себе и сначала быстро «выгорают» эмоционально, а затем начинают болеть от хронического садомазохизма, становящегося их образом жизни. Часто такая ситуация не устраивает ни работодателя, ни сотрудника. Работодатель недоволен низкой производительностью труда, являющейся прямым следствием подавленности сотрудников, а тех в свою очередь не удовлетворяет атмосфера в коллективе, и они ненавидят друг друга — законы выживания становятся жестокими. Именно поэтому наша страна, как и остальные государства постсоветского пространства, слывет страной угрюмых людей. Изменить эту ситуацию можно только одним способом — формированием нового культурного пространства в области управления бизнесами и организациями. Этот новый подход мы решили назвать «белым» менеджментом в противовес «красному», несущему на себе отпечатки советского прошлого и искаженного манией величия новых хозяев старых активов. Многие из этих активов на сегодняшний день морально устарели как с технологической, так и психологической точки зрения. Передержанные активы становятся все менее привлекательными для потенциальных инвесторов и возможных покупателей, потому что нерыночный характер организации портит их экономику, а в некоторых случаях делает вообще убыточными. Все это происходит потому, что вовремя не были сделаны важнейшие изменения в менеджменте и кадровом наполнении. Не были сделаны важнейшие вложения в новых людей и новые бизнес-технологии (клиентоориентированная организация, структурирование бизнес-процессов, ротация и обучение персонала, подготовка менеджмента к рыночному ведению бизнеса, осознанная смена корпоративной культуры — от административно-командной модели к партнерской). Это тот необходимый минимум, который мог бы превратить компанию в привлекательный бизнес-актив. Но время упущено. Сегодня, в эпоху кризисов и турбулентности экономик, мир предъявляет новые требования к организации бизнеса: заставляет его быть очень гибким и быстрым как в принятии, так и реализации эффективных решений. «Белый» менеджмент — это менеджмент с чистого листа Новая парадигма менеджмента приходит к нам с осознанием неэффективности старой. Ее усовершенствование возможно, но это малоэффективно: при неподходящем фундаменте дом не может служить новым целям. Мы нанимаем новых менеджеров, но не нанимаем новые технологии управления, подходы, корпоративную культуру. И чаще всего новенького съедает поколение бывалых. Это происходит еще и потому, что менеджеры международных компаний, как правило, являются бизнес-чиновниками. Их главная ценность заключается в исполнительности и четком соблюдении правил игры, разработанных в головном офисе корпорации. Менеджмент же местных бизнес-юнитов не творит историю этих компаний. Стандарты управления и бизнес-модели пишутся не здесь. Сегодня страна нуждается в популяризации современных и эффективных технологий построения и развития бизнеса. Они должны заставить менеджмент коренным образом пересмотреть свое отношение к управлению и немедленно приступить к процессу организационных изменений на основе нового понимания бизнес-реальности. Одной из таких технологий является, например, технология бизнес-моделирования Сanvas («Полотно»). Идея этой методики конструирования бизнеса очень проста: нужно увидеть свою бизнес-модель на одном листе в девяти основных элементах (клиентский сегмент; ценностное предложение, отраженное в продукте; каналы доставки клиенту продукта; поддержание отношений с клиентским сегментом; источники дохода; ключевые активности; ключевые ресурсы; ключевые партнеры; расходная часть) и только после этого строить организацию. Но самое ценное в ней — необходимость постоянного изменения первоначальной гипотезы в каждом из элементов модели для максимизации прибыли. Поэтому бизнес-моделирование должно превратиться в процесс постоянной коммуникации топ-менеджеров между собой и с представителями целевых сегментов рынка. Этот пример свидетельствует о том, что сегодня в современных подходах к управлению доминирует идея упрощения и технологичности: без такой переориентации менеджмента невозможно ни масштабирование бизнеса, ни его развитие, ни целенаправленное повышение его стоимости. Летом 2011 г. в Стэндфордском университете (США) проходила всемирная конференция «Тройная спираль инновационного процесса». В одной из дискуссий итальянский бизнесмен задал вопрос преподавателю Стэнфорда: «Скажите, почему у американцев получается делать бизнес лучше, чем у европейцев?». «Можно, прежде чем ответить на ваш вопрос, я вам задам свой? — спросил профессор. «Можно», — ответил итальянец. «Вы зачем делаете бизнес? — спросил преподаватель. «Чтобы достойно жить и передать его детям», — ответил бизнесмен. «В этом все дело! А мы — чтобы продать. Поэтому с самого начала строим системный актив, нанимаем лучших людей, работаем над динамикой роста ключевых показателей, влияющих на стоимость компании. Мы занимаемся системным построением бизнес-организации, чтобы через три-четыре года продать ее стратегу (лидеру отрасли) или «впустить» новых инвесторов для захвата доли рынка и постепенного или быстрого превращения компании в стратега. Вы же создаете «теплое гнездо» для своих детей и сотрудников, что очень далеко от целей настоящего бизнеса», — таков был ответ профессора. На этом дискуссия закончилась. Таким образом, битва за новую реальность эффективного бизнеса должна начаться с изменения мировоззрения действующих и будущих менеджеров наших компаний. В основе такой бизнес-революции могут лежать различные модели. Например, «Цикл жизни организации» и «Витамины менеджмента» Ицхака Адизеса или «Технология менеджмента» Хаббарда, «Теория ограничений» Элияху Голдратта или разработки по теории бизнес-менеджментаПитера Друкера, «Система сбалансированных показателей» Нортона и Каплана или теория маркетинг-менеджмента и проч. В них в той или иной степени отражены некоторые аспекты системного видения организации бизнеса, но ни один из этих подходов, по нашему мнению, не дает простоты и технологичности для быстрого внедрения. Именно поэтому нами была предложена интегрированная модель построения и развития бизнеса «Концептуальный менеджмент», позволяющая найти место каждой из вышеперечисленных методик внутри более общей и структурированной системы конструирования организации. Эта модель построена в простой логике создания и развития стоимости бизнес-актива. Для перехода на этап «Бизнес» нами сформулирована логика прогресса бизнес-организации. Она реализуется в наборе технологий, сформированных по иерархическому принципу в виде пирамиды элементов системы управления компанией. Суть технологической конструкции Цель проекта организационных изменений по методике «Концептуальный менеджмент» — построение уникальной концепции управления с учетом особенностей отрасли, этапа развития бизнеса, личного состава учредителей, команды топ-менеджеров ради превращения компании в саморазвивающуюся бизнес-систему, не зависящую от внешних консультантов и тренеров. «Концептуальный менеджмент» призван помочь руководителям овладеть рядом важнейших технологий для успешного управления бизнесом. Сочетание этих технологий обусловлено логикой управления организацией. Стратегический менеджмент: сначала должна быть разработана стратегия развития компании в долгосрочном периоде. Организационный менеджмент: весь организационный механизм компании должен быть скорректирован в соответствии со стратегическими целями или описан заново на уровне бизнес-процессов, должностных инструкций, положений о подразделениях. Регулярный менеджмент: когда организационная машина приведена в соответствие со стратегическими целями, все руководители компании должны обрести единый язык управленческих компетенций на уровне оперативного управления. Управление ключевым и обеспечивающими бизнес-процессами: когда вся команда работает в поле единого понимания процессов управления, наступает время точной настройки работы функциональных подразделений. Управление эффективностью работы подразделений: после того как построен бизнес-механизм компании, он нуждается в оптимизации путем повышения производительности труда сотрудников и снижения затрат. Проектный менеджмент: дальнейшее развитие компании не может быть быстрым и эффективным без формирования у топ-менеджеров навыков по работе и ведению проектов, которые носят межфункциональный характер. Управление развитием корпоративной культуры: важнейшей составляющей успеха в управлении компанией является умение ее руководителей создавать и внедрять идеологию, способную поддерживать корпоративный дух. Управление личным развитием: когда вопросы управления людьми решены, руководителю нужно подумать о совершенствовании собственных психологических навыков. Таким образом, различие «красного» и «белого» менеджмента мы видим в их главном предназначении: первый необходим для управления организацией в закрытой нерыночной среде, а второй — в активной рыночной борьбе за повышение стоимости актива для его дальнейшей продажи. В первом случае прозрачность не нужна, структура работает на феномене личной власти. Во втором — компания работает на принципах целенаправленного развития и взаимной ответственности команды топ-менеджеров. Это два варианта осознанного выбора пути развития компании, из которых рано или поздно придется выбирать каждому, кто делает бизнес в нашей стране. И когда настанет время выбора, очень важно сначала выбрать технологию развития, а потом подбирать команду для ее реализации. Олег Афанасьев, директор Business Systems, управляющий партнер Profiles International Ukraine.

12 principles of the networked economy

These twelve principles or laws are based on an article by Wired editor Kevin Kelly. It appeared quite a while ago, in the Wired issue of Sept 1997. But it’s amazing how relevant this still is. Definitely worth reading in detail (link).

Here is some background on each of them:

1 The Law of Connection
Two key technologies (semiconductors and telecommunications/internet connectivity) continue to make dramatic advances. The results: Everybody will be increasingly connected to everybody else through a variety of devices. And not only that: Everything will be connected to everything, as tiny chips are implanted into UPS packages and soup cans and refrigerators.

2 The Law of Plentitude
As the number of nodes or members in a network increases arithmetically, the value of the network increases exponentially. The more plentiful things become, the more valuable they become (think fax machines).

3 The Law of Exponential Value
Success is non-linear in the networked economy. During its first ten years, Microsoft’s profits were negligible. But once they started to grow, they exploded. The same applies to fax machines, net technologies, new software: An early phase of slow growth often turns into explosive growth once the network effects kick in.

4 The Law of Tipping Points
New businesses, products and services in the economy follow an epidemiology model of spreading: The beginning is an uphill battle, each new user has to be convinced against all odds. Once a critical mass of users is reached, the momentum becomes overwhealming, and success feeds on itself.

5 The Law of Increasing Returns
This is probably the best know and most critical laws of the networked economy. As a company gains momentum, it’s increased critical mass allows it to further improve and refine its offering, and it will continue to outperform and attract additional users, feeding on itself.

6 The Law of Inverse Pricing
In the networked economy, the very best gets cheaper every year. New generations of a product or service will show significant improvements in features, but the consumer today expects them to be radically cheaper. In the old economy, small increases in quality came with small increases in price.

7 The Law of Generosity
Taking laws number 2 and 6 to the extreme means that in many cases, products are given away for free in the networked economy. With marginal costs at or close to zero, free is often the right price to gain momentum. Premium services can cover the limited fixed costs.

8 The Law of Allegiance
A company’s primary focus in the networked world is not to maximize its own value, but to maximize the value of its network and platform (think game companies who nurture their ecosystem of programmers, Apple who nurtures its relationship with app developers and media companies).

9 The Law of Devolution
A company may evolve to become the best hard disk manufacturer of the world. But in the networked economy, things tend to shift very rapidly, and the hard disk market may have evaporated a few years later. So a company has to “devolve”, and find new niches, before it can evolve again in a new area. Kelly wrote this article before Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma, but it’s fundamentally the same point.

10 The Law of Displacement
Kelly posits that there is a gradual displacement in the economy of materials by information (cars become lighter yet better, etc.). Nicolas Negroponte made the same “atoms to bits” statement. I’m not so sure about this point. It may apply to certain products (books, laptops, etc.), but not to everything.

11 The Law of Churn
This is essentially Schumpeter’s point of the creative forces of destruction. Firms continue to be created and go out of business. The key is to create the right framework and boundary conditions for this process to happen smoothly.

12 The Law of Inefficiency
In the Network Economy, productivity is not our bottleneck. Our ability to solve our social and economic problems will be limited primarily by our lack of imagination in seizing opportunities, rather than trying to optimize solutions.

Merger Integration Approaches

Philippe Haspeslagh and David Jemison (90) developed concept to define which approach would be most appropriate when integrating various parts of an organization after an acquisition. There are a number of traditional criteria that drive the integration approach: size of the respective businesses, style of the acquirer, overlap in terms of products and customers, etc. But the authors suggest to take into account two additional criteria:



The need for organizational autonomy should be viewed in the context of creating value through the merger. It is driven to a large extent by the question of whether the merger rationale is based on acquiring a specific set of capabilities. A certain degree of autonomy may be necessary to preserve and develop these strategic capabilities.

The axis of strategic interdependence is fairly self-explanatory. It tends to be high if the businesses operate in similar markets, significant cost synergies are expected, and value is created by transferring a significant amount of functional or general management skills.

As a result, the authors see four broad approaches to merger integration:
Preservation: Keep the sources of the acquired benefits intact, nurture the acquired business.
Symbiosis: Take a gradual approach, pick the best of both worlds, pay careful attention to cultural integration issues.
Holding: No integration, run the business fairly separately, focus on financial benefits, risk sharing, general management capabilities.
Absorption: Push for a quick and full integration, take courageous actions.

5 Marketing Strategies That Don't Involve Social Media

Jessica Ekstrom

When coming up with marketing plans for your business, social media has become a given. When we create our marketing plans for Headbands of Hope, it’s not if we’re going to put it on Instagram, it’swhen and how. But because social media has become tremendously infused in every corner of our lives, it’s easy for your marketing campaigns to get lost in such a saturated market.

What else can a business do to reach people? Here are some ideas that don’t involve likes, shares or tweets:

1. Ambassador programs

I started my business in college. To get the word out, I recruited some of my college friends at other schools to be campus ambassadors for Headbands of Hope. An ambassador serves as representation for the brand and can help spread the word in his or her immediate community (in this case, campuses). We implemented a point-reward system where students can complete activities, such as giving a presentation on Headbands of Hope at a sorority chapter meeting, in exchange for points that they can cash in for headbands at the end of the month.

Our campus programs have been so successful, that we’re expanding in 2016 to have nursing ambassadors and community ambassadors. Figure out if there are particular communities that use your product (and will be vocal about it!) and create an ambassador program to help spread the word about your business.

2. Trade shows

Trade shows can get pricey depending on which ones you attend, but the return can be totally worth it. The biggest advantage to trade shows is relationships. It’s one of the few scenarios where you can shake the hands of your consumers and also build relationships with other brands. 

As a fashion company, we do wholesale trade shows such as Accessories the Show and America’s Mart to meet representatives of stores and write orders.

Find out if your industry hosts any conferences or trade shows you can attend as an exhibitor. If that’s too much of an expense, just come as an attendee and network as much as you can. Introduce yourself to the show administration and see if there are any “first timer” specials you can get as an exhibitor for next time. 

3. Bloggers

You could link blogging to social media, but I choose to separate them. I truly mean when I say bloggers are how we got our first real customers (meaning they weren’t my friends or family). Think about who your target audience is and what kind of blogs they would read.

Parenting? Fashion? Nutrition? Business? Find blogs that match your audience and send them a pitch for a collaboration. Understand that you may have to give them a freebie of your product and/or a fee to be featured or reviewed.

Take it a step further and ask the blogger if they’d be willing to host a giveaway on his or her site by collecting email entries you can add to your newsletter.

4. Contribute

Do you have an industry-related topic you could talk about for hours? Maybe you have the secret to designing the perfect product packaging? Or how to develop a board of advisors? Put it on paper and send it off to blogs and websites that are looking for content. Ask them to include your bio and hyperlink it to your business site.

Most of the time you’ll have to contribute content for free, but if you gain at least one new customer from an article (but hopefully you’ll get lots more), I’d say it’s worth it. It will also help your credentials and SEO.

5. Speak

Those same topics you can write about, can you give a presentation on them? Businesses, schools, conferences and organizations are always looking for speakers to energize and inspire their audiences. Don’t make your whole talk a sales pitch, but you can talk about your business as an example of a greater lesson or motivation.

Reach out to your local chamber of commerce or even high schools, depending on your target audience. Don’t forget to bring something with your business information on it that attendees can walk away with at the end of your program. 

Call me old fashioned, but any time you can get in front of people and build relationships around your business, it's always a good opportunity.