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© 2009-20101
Management By Asking Really Good Questions
© 2009-201022
● … Exception
● … Objectives
● … Walking Around
● … Wandering Around
● … Intimidation
● … et al.
Online Search of “Management by …”
© 2009-20103
The Evolution of the “Management by …” Journey
MBWT vs. MBF
MBO
MBO&RMBE
MBWA
MBW
AWAP
MBWA&L
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● First described by Lewin, Lippitt, and White in 1938 along with the autocratic leadership and democratic leadership styles
● Managers intervene only when their people fail to meet their performance standards
● Managers stay out of the way of improvements that the employees generate. If personnel are performing asexpected, the manager will take no action.
● Major advantage: Empowerment of the employees● Major disadvantage: Effective only in limited circumstances
Management by Exception
© 2009-201055
● First popularized by Peter Drucker’s 1954 book – 'The Practice of Management'
● Still commonly used● Integrated management system with planning as its
dominant function● Aim: increase performance by aligning organizational goals and
subordinate objectives – central focus is the cascading of objectives from the organizational level to individual levels
● Intermittently replaced and sometimes simply exchanged with Management by Objectives and Results
Management by Objectives
"It's just another tool. It is not the great cure for management inefficiency ... Management by Objectives works if you know the objectives; 90% of the time you don't." -Drucker
© 2009-201066
● Advantages: Objectives can be set in all domains of activities and for various
levels of the organization; relatively ease to use; widespread acceptability, and longevity in usage
● Disadvantages: Short-term and narrow focus on bottom-line results can become
a major facet of its use Possibility that the pressures resulting from strict adherence
“… could be counterproductive and contribute to a climate that may lead to distortion of the system, manipulation of accounting figures, and, ultimately, unethical behavior.”
(2004 Management Accounting Quarterly)
Management by Objectives
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● Developed by executives at Hewlett-Packard in the mid-20th century
● Popularized by Tom Peters in the early 1980s in his book with Bob Waterman, “In Search of Excellence”
● Other derivatives include: MBWAWAP (Without a Purpose) MBWA&L (and Listening)
Management by Wandering Around
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● Advantages: Executives get out of the office to build relationships, motivate,
and keep in direct touch with the activities of the workforce Reflects commitment to keep up to date with individuals and
activities through impromptu discussions, "coffee talks," communication lunches, etc.
Creates opportunities for “frank, two-way communications” ● Disadvantages:
Depending upon the organizational culture, some employees may suspect MBWA is just an excuse for managers to spy and interfere with their work
Suspicion may be heightened if MBWA is implemented during a high-stress time for the organization
Management by Wandering Around
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● Managing people based on fear● In direct opposition to Deming’s 8th point of management to
“Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company ” – enabling employees to feel secure enough to express their ideas and ask questions
● Has most significant deleterious effect on the morale of employees
● Most organizations have some managers or leaders who use MBI approaches
● Advantages: None known● Disadvantages: Myriad
Management by Intimidation
© 2009-20101010
● MBWT – Also known as “ostrich syndrome”● Toxic form of management ● No known “how to” books, but is recognized as not particularly
uncommon, and something to be avoided● Demonstrated in organizations where:
Plans are developed in the absence of a planning process Meetings are held to generate enthusiasm Managers retreat to bury their heads in the sand (or the other
work that they have) and hope that the organization will be successful
● Frequently associated with “get rich quick” fads● Advantages: None known● Disadvantages: Myriad
Management by Wishful Thinking
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● One of Deming’s guiding principles whereby all employees collect data about the work they perform, and use that information to make decisions affecting their work
● One of the “Core Values and Concepts” of Baldrige Customer, product, and process performance measures Comparisons of operational, market, and competitor performance Supplier, workforce, partner, cost, and financial performance Governance and compliance outcomes
● Depends upon analysis – extracting larger meaning from data and information to support evaluation, decision making, improvement, and innovation
● Requires segmentation of data (e.g., markets, product lines, and workforce groups) to facilitate analysis
Management by Fact
© 2009-20101212
● Advantages: Supports decision making in a changing environment Supports more viable strategic planning Supports more accurate review of performance Supports efficient improvement of processes Supports accomplishing change management Supports comparing performance with competitors’ or with
“best practices” benchmarks● Disadvantages:
Requires agile measurement system Requires resistance to making decisions “on the fly” Requires patience and diligence
Management by Fact
© 2009-20101313
Where to next?
?
© 2009-20101414
● Advantages: Holistic approach to organizational improvement Leading edge of validated management practices The focus is on results, not on procedures, tools, or
organizational structure Really Good Questions
● Disadvantages: It is not easy Not a “How to” book There are no “Answers” Not a quick fix It takes time, patience, & “stick-to-itiveness”
Management By Asking Really Good Questions
© 2009-20101515
● Compels us to maintain a comprehensive strategic focus on overall organizational competitiveness and sustainability
● It examines and evaluates our key processes “Linked activities with the purpose of producing a product
or service for a customer (user) within or outside the organization”
Generally, processes involve combinations of people, machines, tools, techniques, materials, and improvements in a defined series of steps or actions
● And through examination and evaluation, … it compels us to improve
Why does MBARGQ work?
I see the Baldrige process as a powerful set of mechanisms for disciplined people engaged in disciplined thought and taking disciplined action to create great organizations that produce exceptional results. —Jim Collins, author of Good to Great
© 2009-201016
SO …
YOU JUST MIGHT ASK …
?
© 2009-20101717
• Read / understand the key terms and questions, and how they interrelate; use them as part of your language Is this a systematic approach? Is it well-deployed?
• Think of the organization “as a whole” Rarely does optimization of individual processes /
departments optimize the system / organization• Be on the lookout for opportunities for improvement
Understand and coach others that an “opportunity for improvement” is not a criticism of the status quo
• Be prepared to “question-drop” at appropriate times
How can I use the criteriato best help my organization?
© 2009-20101818
• Focus our thinking and our efforts• Empower people to think• Clarify what’s important• Highlight the strengths• Identify best practices• Discover opportunities for improvement• Create the conditions for innovation• Encourage two-way communications
“Question-dropping” can help … !
© 2009-201019
SOME REALLY GOOD QUESTIONS YOU WON’T FIND IN THE CRITERIA
TO GIVE YOU A “JUMP START” ON ASKING REALLY GOOD QUESTIONS
© 2009-20102020
• Leadership• Communication• Strategic Planning• Action Planning• Customer Relationship Management• Performance Measurement, Analysis, & Review• Knowledge Management• Workforce Engagement, Development, & Management • Process Management & Improvement • Disaster & Emergency Preparedness
Key questions for Key “systems”
© 2009-20102121
• Who are all of the stakeholders in this decision we need to make, or in this process we are about to change?
• What are the stakeholders’ requirements and expectations in this process (especially the customers)?
• How will we role model or “live” our Mission, Vision, and Values?
• How will we recognize and reward the behaviors we want to encourage, and hold people accountable for organizational results?
Leadership
© 2009-20102222
• Who needs to know what, by when, and to what degree of detail?
• How will we communicate this information to them? Different mechanisms for different groups? Is “one-way” communication sufficient, or do we
need “two-way” mechanisms?• How will we assess the effectiveness of the
communication to ensure that we didn’t just broadcast a message?
Communication
© 2009-20102323
• What are the challenges and advantages we face, both now, and in the foreseeable future?
• What are our critical success factors? Does our plan address them all?
• Will the achievement of our strategic objectives and goals logically lead to the attainment of our vision?
• Is our plan too broad / too narrow / just right? Do we have the right priorities?
Strategic Planning
© 2009-20102424
• Do our objectives and goals have “SMARTER” action plans? Specific Measurable Aligned Realistic Time-bound Evaluated Reviewed
• Do all of our organizational objectives / goals have action plan support?
Action Planning
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• Do our customers know all that we have to offer them?• Why would / should / do they go anywhere else?• Do we know their requirements and expectations?• How can we meet all of their requirements and exceed
their expectations?• How do we recover their loyalty if we let them down?• Are they really “engaged” with us, or merely satisfied?
Customer Relationship Management
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• What are the “key” measures that spell success for this organization?
• What can we stop measuring?• Are we measuring this to drive improvement, or just
to monitor?• How can we find comparison / competitor /
benchmark levels of performance?• Are we comparing “apples to apples”?• Is more improvement worthwhile for us to strive to
achieve right now?
Performance Measurement, Analysis, & Review
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• Do we know what we need to know about this topic? If not, where can we find out more? Is it worth the cost ($ / time) to find out more?
• Do we “think we know,” or do we “know we know”?• How can we best use all of our “knowledge
repositories” to enhance learning and sharing? Workforce, databases, documents, guides,
policies / procedures, software, etc.
Knowledge Management
© 2009-20102828
• Do we have the right capabilities and capacities?• How do we foster the skills, knowledge, talents,
attributes, and characteristics we want to have?• How do we engage the workforce, in addition to
satisfying them?• How do we prepare our workforce for the future?• How do we provide a “safe” environment – physically
and emotionally?• How do we foster innovation?
Workforce Engagement, Development, & Management
© 2009-20102929
●How do we focus on what is right – not who is right?●How do we promote understanding that
“opportunity for improvement” is not criticism of the status quo, or the people who created this system?
●How do we move from reacting to problems to fact-based, systematic evaluation and improvement and organizational learning through innovation?
●What process management and improvement tools are we using … PDSA/PDCA, ISO 9000, Lean, Balanced Scorecard, Six Sigma, … something else?
Process Management & Improvement
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• How do we identify / assess our risk level for various threats?
• How can we prevent / mitigate the risks?• How will we continue our operations, if something
happens?• How (and how quickly) can we recover?• How do we use our actual events and our drills to
improve?
Disaster & Emergency Preparedness
© 2009-20103131
Our “final consideration” of a Really Good Question
“Would it be helpful … ?”
© 2009-20103232
• This is not an agenda item – it’s how we do things around here
• The award is wonderful – and it’s amazing what these questions have done for our organization
• Getting everything into 50 pages is hard work – there is way too much great stuff
• Results are not an issue – these are the same ones that we review on a regular basis, anyway
• It used to seem like a “foreign language” – now it makes total sense
Some thoughts by some who have gone before us
