Some things should, by all means, be prevented from changing. Others should, by all means, be changed. Such is the law of life itself.
The human biological organism devotes much energy to preventing change. This control effort is applied to such things as body temperature, blood count, pulse rate, etc. Some elaborate mechanisms exist to keep these things at a standard level. But the human organism also devotes energy to creating change. This breakthrough effort is applied to such things as learning to swim, giving up smoking, getting a dot com job. The mechanisms for creating such changes are different from those used for control, and are likewise very elaborate. But there is nothing inconsistent about the same human organism conducting both of these two very different kinds of activities, simultaneously.
The company, which exhibits many of the features of a living organism, likewise devotes much energy to preventing change. It must meet budgets, maintain schedules, maintain quality standards, pay bills, and so on. These things are done by special organizational machinery, special jobs, or even special departments called by names such as Budget Department, Production Control, Quality Control, Plant Maintenance, Internal Audit.
The company also devotes much energy to creating change. It is continually involved with new markets, new products, new technologies, as well as, new ways to organize, cut costs, reduce waste, and improve customer satisfaction. In so doing, the company also flushes out old things – obsolete products, processes, markets, routines. Here again there is a special organizational machinery, special jobs and even special departments such as Market Research, Cost Reduction, Product Development, Reliability Engineering, Process Reengineering, Information Technology, eWorld.
Biologists estimate that of the species that have lived at one time or other on this earth, over 98 percent are now extinct. There is no corresponding estimate as to the rate of extinction of industrial companies, products, processes, organization forms, procedures, etc. However, the mortality rate has been high and seems to be picking up in tempo. The significance of this rate of extinction is that as with living organisms, the products, processes, methods of industry are only mortal. They are doomed from birth. If the company is to outlive them, it must provide for a birth rate in excess of the death rate.
It is this urge to outlive its mortal components which drives the company, through its managers, to find new products, processes, markets; to reduce costs, accidents, absences; to increase output, quality, profits. Only through such “good” changes can the company stay alive, strong, fresh. Failing in this, the company ages, decays and dies.
Breakthrough, a dedicated section in this publication, will henceforth showcase radical improvements in organizational systems, business processes and product performance. Our aim is to encourage companies to continually upgrade their strengths, through innovations and incremental improvements. This is the basis of competitive and branding advantage. We, at Qimpro, believe that the aim of competition is to nullify a leader’s strengths. Hence, change is inevitable. Either proactively or as a reaction. The former helps retain a leadership posture. The latter, is a mirror of mortality.
And finally, should you have any good breakthrough experience to showcase, please contact us at qimpro@vsnl.com. Breakthrough is a networking platform.
CREDITS: Suresh Lulla, Founder & Mentor, Qimpro Consultants Pvt. Ltd.