Historically businesses have built the management structure based on a pyramid resembling early military and bureaucratic structures where the power and decision making was with a select few at the pinnacle. Under this tradition the customer (enemy in the case of the military) only received what they were seeking at the whim of that elite group. For example, not too far in the past if you wanted a telephone connection (in most countries) it could take weeks, or even months, before the connection was made. A great example of a modern ‘power at the top’ based monopoly is the visa section of almost any embassy you wish to visit. The misuse of power, the lack of interest in the ‘customer’ and the long lines of frustrated ‘victims’ bear testimony to the shortcomings of all-powerful bureaucracies.
OLD DAYS – MONOPOLIES / LESS COMPETITION / LESS EXPECTANT CUSTOMERS / (STILL ‘NOW’ FOR SOME)
Boss Responsibility/Decisions are made at the top
Middle Management
Staff Staff Staff Staff Responsiveness/Support stay at the ‘bottom’
Customer Customer Customer Customer Customer
If, as it is now more than ever, a reality that a vast array of alternative choices are available, the power over the organization rapidly shifts to the receiver of products or services and away from the providers. Two great examples of this “reality” are the telecommunications and banking industries. As these industries have been deregulated, providing the customer with the power to choose, the management and staff of these industries have had to find new technologies, systems and of course methods of structuring themselves to maintain their market share. The ‘new’ reality therefore looks more like this:
TODAY – TOUGHER COMPETITION / GLOBALIZATION / MORE CHOICE / EDUCATED & EXPECTANT…
Customer Customer Customer Customer Customer
Staff Staff Staff Staff Responsibility and Decisions are made at the top
Middle Management
Boss Responsiveness and Support stay at the ‘bottom’
So the burning question becomes:
ARE YOUR STAFF SERVING THE CUSTOMER OR THE BUREAUCRACY?
As you can see in this model (as Ken Blanchard’s staff explained to me some years ago) it is important to note that the responsibility to manage, particularly the customer relations remains at the top. In part two I will discuss what this means for both staff and management.
2 comments
rictownsend says:
October 20, 2009 at 5:41 am (UTC 0)
You may think that this information is about the past, however if you live and work in many countries you will see that this out of date model is still prevalent in most! Even some so called enlightened organizations that purport to embrace change and modern management practices still use the outdated boss at the top model
Ric
Chill says:
October 22, 2009 at 2:39 am (UTC 0)
Great post. I like the ideas you raise, I learned from this article.