Excellence in corporate management

TOTAL ORGANISATIONAL EXCELLENCE: John S. Oakland; Butterworth- Heinemann, U.K. Received from Viva Books Pvt. Ltd., 8, Aziz Mulk Fourth Street, Thousand Lights, Chennai- 600006. Rs. 695.

CORPORATE EXCELLENCE demands not only that every aspect of the business is of the highest quality, but also that every activity is changing and improving faster than the competition. The problem is that corporate excellence is an ephemeral concept. The task that we face is to set continually new and more demanding standards of ourselves. Our success today merely sets the benchmark for others, and unless we move our standards forward, always and every time, we may not remain in the front, when tomorrow comes. Achieving corporate excellence is a journey, and not a destination.

The title of the book under notice is Total Organisational Excellence whereas the author says he had a fancy to call it From head to TOE (total organisation excellence). While the head would imply the top and apex management, it was expected that the creed would percolate and permeate throughout the body right down to the bottom.

The author has prepared a manual to achieve world-class performance, based on several years of his research and advisory work in this field. He has developed a working model, which graphically illustrates the methodology to implement the manual, step by step. The first chapter introduces this model, and each subsequent chapter (13 of them) describes each part of the model in sequence and in detail.

The introductory chapter outlines how organisational excellence may be synthesised with the business strategy of an enterprise and integrated with the core elements of that business, along with the involvement of the people. The first prerequisite to accomplish such excellence is top-notch leadership, commitment, and cultural transformation.

Chapter two explains the modus operandi to bring about a change in the mindset so as to break down the existing barriers, and towards this how to start at the top and work downwards. The next chapter describes how strategic planning starts with writing the mission statement, analysis of the critical success factors (CSFs), and understanding the core processes.

Quality, reliability, delivery, and price are the determinants of excellence in the competitive environment.

Everything we do is a process, which is the transformation of a set of inputs into the desired outputs; which must be performed especially well, if the vision and the mission are to be achieved. The fourth chapter discusses all these issues. Process analysis which involves modelling, mapping, and flow-charting is explained in the fifth chapter. Chapter six explains the advantages from, and the imperatives for generating a management system for documentation, implementation, audit, and review. ISO 9000 and ISO 14001 are elucidated at length in this context. The cornerstone of corporate excellence is the customer-supplier interface for their mutual advantage and benefit, which aspect has been highlighted in this chapter.

Chapter seven discusses the internationally acclaimed frameworks for self-assessment viz., the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the USA, and the European/U.K. Business Excellence Award.

The next chapter is devoted to an appreciation of benchmarking as a management tool to obtain greater excellence inside the organisation. Chapter nine addresses the issue of defining further improvement opportunities and prioritising the actions thereof.

The next two chapters are concerned with the training and development of people, the role of teamwork, performance management, and systems of communication. The skills of communication may be learnt through training, but must be acquired through practice. Successful practitioners of business process reengineering technique have made spectacular improvements in customer satisfaction and productivity. These are explained in the twelfth chapter.

The penultimate chapter is a discussion about the three fundamental principles of continuous improvement viz., focus on the customer, understanding the process, and involvement of the people.

The last chapter shows how performance measurement and feedback are significant ingredients, in identifying opportunities for further progress in order to reach lofty goals in corporate excellence.

This book is a must-read for managers who are keen to improve the performance and excellence of their business enterprise. Examples and case studies have been drawn from real life situations and written in a pragmatic flavour.

It will be very useful also to the post-graduate students of business administration.

R. DEVARAJAN

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