POM Mid-term

Question Bank 2014

1. Explain in detail Henry Mintzbergs 3 managerial roles. (Pg. 10-14)
2. What the companies look for in managers and what are the top 10 mistakes that the managers
commit. (Pg. 14-17)
3. Management is an art and a science Explain. (PPT/Class Notes)
4. Who is the father of scientific management and what are his 5 Principles? (Pg. 32-34/Class
Notes)
5. Who is the father of modern Operational management and explain his 14 Principles. (Pg. 40 &
Word Doc)
6. Explain the evolution of Human Resource Management by Elton Mayos Hawthorne Studies
and Constructive conflict coordination by Mary Parkar Follett. (Pg. 39 to 43/Class Notes)
7. Explain in detail 8 types of Managers. (PPT/Class Notes)
8. According to Thomas Peters & Robert Waterman what are the characteristics of excellent
companies? Explain in detail. (PPT/Class Notes)
9. Which are the top 20 most admired companies in India (2014) and what are the parameters of
their excellence. (PPT/Class Notes)
10. Explain the 8 steps in Business Process Reengineering. (PPT/Class Notes)
11. Explain McKinseys 7 S Framework. (PPT/Class Notes).
12. Explain the 14 insights of William Edwards Deming. (PPT/Class Notes)
13. Explain the 7 steps in the decision making process. (Pg. 121-126)
14. Explain the salient features of Theory X, Y & Z. (PPT/Class Notes)
15. What are the lessons that we can learn from Peter Drucker? (PPT/Class Notes)
16. Explain the Parkinsons Law and what are the 9 ways to beat to overcome it?(PPT/Class Notes)
17. Explain Peter Principle and why organizations succumb to it? What are the 5 ways to overcome
it? (PPT/Class Notes)
18. What are the 12 lessons that we can learn from Jack Welch. (PPT/Class Notes)
19. Explain the concept of 6 sigma and how it is applied to Mumbai Dabbawalas.(PPT/Class Notes)
20. What is planning and what are its benefits and pitfalls? Explain the SMART Goals. (113 116)
21. What is vision and mission? Explain the various stages of Team Development as advocated by
Bruce Tuckman. (PPT/Class Notes)
22. Explain the salient features of Delphi Technique. (PPT). (Pg. 129 & PPT/Class Notes)
23. What are the 8 steps in planning? (Pg. 122- 126)
24. Explain the following concepts in detail: 1. Tows matrix. 2. Business Portfolio Matrix (BCG
Matrix). (Pg. 146-148, 151-154)
25. Explain Porters 5 Forces of industry analysis and generic competitive strategies. (Pg. 157 to
160)
26. Explain the concepts of Blue and Red Ocean strategy with examples. (PPT/Class Notes)

Answers:
3) Management is both a science a science as well as an art. It is a science because it has an
organized body of knowledge consisting of theories and principles. It is an art because it
involves getting results through practical applications of skills and knowledge. The science of
management provides general principles for managing various aspects of business. But their
application depends upon the experience, skills and competence of managers. Thus both art
and science and complementary to each other as science teaches to know about the things and
art teaches how to perform those things in practical situations.
MANAGEMENT AS AN ART
1- Existence of theoretical knowledge: art presupposes the existence of certain theoretical
knowledge. Experts in their respective areas have derived certain basic principles which are
applicable to a particular form of art. 2- Personalized application: the use of basic knowledge
varies from individual to individual. 3- Based on practice and certainty: all art is practical. Art
involves the creative practice of theoretical knowledge.
MANAGEMENT AS A SCIENCE
1- Systematically body of knowledge: it's principles are based on a cause and effect relation. 2Principles based on implementation: scientific principles were first developed through
observation and then tested through repeated experimentation under controlled conditions. 3Universal validity: scientific principles have universal validity and application.
Management is an art because in management your task is to better manage human resources
and organizational matters in your circle of command & control.
It is science because your performance is measured and results are visible. For performance
there would be some system in vogue on the basis of which your Organization is assessed and
graded. So these all are scientific jobs that could be measured in quantitative formats.
So in my point of view Management is both a science and art.
8) The authors research started in 1977 when two groups of people at
McKinsey & Co. were asked to research a general concern with the
problems of management effectiveness and a particular concern with the
nature of the relationship between strategy, structure, and management
effectiveness. One of these groups was asked to review thinking on
strategy, the other was asked to review thinking on organisational
effectiveness. Peters and Waterman were the leaders of the project on
organisational effectiveness. They were basically told to travel
around the world and speak to as many interesting business people as
they could about the subject of Organisation, Structure and People.
They set out to discover the real secrets of management. They examined
43 successful American companies including IBM, Procter & Gamble,
Boeing, Delta Airlines and McDonalds. In their research they looked
for key attributes that most of these companies shared and that made
them successful. They were asked to do a 700 slide, two-day
presentation and then condense it down. When condensed their research

provided us with the eight attributes of excellence that I spoke of

a minute ago.
What are the eight attributes of excellence?
They are the following:
1. A Bias for Action: This is about getting things done. There must be
a free flow of information and open communication. The open and
informal organisation is more flexible and is able to take quicker
action to changes needed to keep up in todays business world.
Successful companies who want to get things done are not afraid to try
new things and experiment.
2. Close to the Customer: Customer satisfaction is very important
throughout all the roles that the business plays. Many companies
forget about their customers, whereas successful companies have an
obsession with their customers. Excellent product quality and
reliability will make a satisfied customer. Great service will keep
the customer coming back.
3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship: This is about encouraging risk
taking and innovation.
4. Productivity Through People: This means that everyone is respectful
and enthusiastic towards each other. This creates an atmosphere that
enables good work.
5. Hands-on, Value-Driven: This is about company philosophy and values
being discussed openly. The right values, clearly expressed, will help
define an organisation. Leaders in the organisation are also positive
role models.
6. Stick to the Knitting: This is about the company focusing on doing
what it does best.
7. Simple Form, Lean Staff: This can be hard particularly in large
organisations. But you need to work at making things understandable
for the tens, hundreds or even thousands of people who are making
things happen, i.e. the employees. Also, authority is shared as much
as possible between these employees.
8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties: This is about excellent
companies holding tight to their core values. It is about good
planning and controlling that still allows for worker autonomy and a
less rigid atmosphere

10)Business process reengineering

Step 1: Formulate / Modify business visions, policies, objectives
Step 2: Formulate / Modify business strategies according to changing customer requirements, technology changes
and competition

Step 3: Analyze the existing business process cycles & workflows and determine how they may be modified or
refined
Step 4: Apply IT to setup an optimal Business Information Management Architecture (BIMA) to support the
reengineered business process
Step 5: Modify or redesign the existing processes according to the reengineering strategies and develop refined
Business Process Automation Systems (BPAS)
Step 6: Apply IT strategies to map BIMA onto an Enterprise Information Management System (EIMS) that is
integrated across the enterprise and that fits into and supports the reengineered Business process cycles and
workflows.
Step 7: Integrate the EIMS with the BPAS to build up the completed reengineered business system
Step 8: Repeat steps 1-7 for continuous BPR due to changing customer demands, technology changes and business
strategies, which leads to business stability
Since information management is a key factor in BPR, the BPR efforts are enabled & supported by a variety of IT
solutions
Step #1
Criteria for Selecting Processes
Broken Process
Bottleneck and Delays
Cross-functional or cross-organizational units
Core processes that have high impacts
Front-line and customer serving (moment of truth)
Value-adding
New processes and services opportunity
Feasibility
Step #1
Process Data
Basic Overall process data
Customers and customer
requirements
Suppliers and suppliers
qualifications
Breakthrough goals

 Performance characteristics
Cost
cycle time
Reliability
defect rate
Systems constraints
Budgetary
Business
Legal
social
environmental
safety issues

Measure critical process metrics

Cycle time
Cost
Input quality
Output quality
Frequency and distribution of
inputs
Step #1
Select the Process
Review business strategy and customer requirements
Select core processes

 Understand customer needs

No assumption
Select correct path for change
Ask - questionnaires, meetings, focus groups
Step #1
Appoint a BPR Team
Identify process owners
Develop executive improvement team
Provide training to executive team
Step #1
BPR Teams Core Skills
Capacity to view the organization as a whole
Ability to focus on end-customers
Ability to challenge fundamental assumptions
Courage to deliver into unknown areas
Ability to assume individual and collective responsibility
Step #2
Study Current Process
Draft the Process Overview
Define and develop the process in detail
Mission
Scope
Boundaries
Roles
Interactions Interfaces
Set performance metrics

 Understand customers expectations

Step #2
Study Current Process
Document the Process
Cost
Time
Value Data
Workflow
Identify Improvement Opportunities
Quality
Time
Cost
Rework
Step #3
Keep Organisation Aware
Spead the knowledge in the organisation
Cultivate the vision for the future
Keep people informed on developments
Persuade people that BPR is necessary
Reassure people by closely managing BPR
Indicate ncessary actions
Assign responsibilities to key personnel
Step #4
Design the BPR Action Plan
Develop an improvement plan
Appoint process owners

 Simplify the process to reduce process time

Remove no-value-added activities
Standardize process and automate where possible
Up-grade equipment
Plan/schedule the changes
Step #4
Design the BPR Action Plan
Exploit BPR-related Tools developed from
Modelling
Benchmarking
Risk analysis & SWOT
Simulation
Impact Assessment
Lean development
Theory of constraints
Step #5
Rebuild the Process

Step #6
Execute and Follow the Plan
Qualify/certify the process
Test periodically the process
Identify and eliminate emerging process problems
Evaluate the impact on the business on customers
Run periodically benchmarking tests for the process

 Train the employees for maximazing process efficiency

11) McKinsey 7s model is a tool that analyzes firms organizational design by looking at 7 key internal
elements: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills, in order to identify if they are
effectively aligned and allow organization to achieve its objectives.
The goal of the model was to show how 7 elements of the company: Structure, Strategy, Skills, Staff, Style,
Systems, and Shared values, can be aligned together to achieve effectiveness in a company. The key point of
the model is that all the seven areas are interconnected and a change in one area requires change in the rest
of a firm for it to function effectively.
Below you can find the McKinsey model, which represents the connections between seven areas and divides
them into Soft Ss and Hard Ss. The shape of the model emphasizes interconnectedness of the elements.

The model can be applied to many situations and is a valuable tool when organizational design is at question.
The most common uses of the framework are:

To facilitate organizational change.

To help implement new strategy.
To identify how each area may change in a future.
To facilitate the merger of organizations.

7s factors
In McKinsey model, the seven areas of organization are divided into the soft and hard areas. Strategy,
structure and systems are hard elements that are much easier to identify and manage when compared to soft
elements. On the other hand, soft areas, although harder to manage, are the foundation of the organization and
are more likely to create the sustained competitive advantage.

Hard Ss

Soft Ss

Strategy

Style

Structure

Staff

Systems

Skills
Shared Values

Strategy is a plan developed by a firm to achieve sustained competitive advantage and successfully compete
in the market. What does a well-aligned strategy mean in 7s McKinsey model? In general, a sound strategy is
the one thats clearly articulated, is long-term, helps to achieve competitive advantage and is reinforced by
strong vision, mission and values. But its hard to tell if such strategy is well-aligned with other elements when
analyzed alone. So the key in 7s model is not to look at your company to find the great strategy, structure,
systems and etc. but to look if its aligned with other elements. For example, short-term strategy is usually a
poor choice for a company but if its aligned with other 6 elements, then it may provide strong results.
Structure represents the way business divisions and units are organized and includes the information of who is
accountable to whom. In other words, structure is the organizational chart of the firm. It is also one of the most
visible and easy to change elements of the framework.
Systems are the processes and procedures of the company, which reveal business daily activities and how
decisions are made. Systems are the area of the firm that determines how business is done and it should be
the main focus for managers during organizational change.
Skills are the abilities that firms employees perform very well. They also include capabilities and competences.
During organizational change, the question often arises of what skills the company will really need to reinforce
its new strategy or new structure.
Staff element is concerned with what type and how many employees an organization will need and how they
will be recruited, trained, motivated and rewarded.
Style represents the way the company is managed by top-level managers, how they interact, what actions do
they take and their symbolic value. In other words, it is the management style of companys leaders.
Shared Values are at the core of McKinsey 7s model. They are the norms and standards that guide employee
behavior and company actions and thus, are the foundation of every organization.

12) Demings 14 point philosophy

The 14 Points
1.

Create a constant purpose toward improvement.

Plan for quality in the long term.

Resist reacting with short-term solutions.

Don't just do the same things better find better things to do.


2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Predict and prepare for future challenges, and always have the goal of getting better.

Adopt the new philosophy.

Embrace quality throughout the organization.

Put your customers' needs first, rather than react to competitive pressure and design products and
services to meet those needs.

Be prepared for a major change in the way business is done. It's about leading, not simply managing.

Create your quality vision, and implement it.

Stop depending on inspections.

Inspections are costly and unreliable and they don't improve quality, they merely find a lack of
quality.

Build quality into the process from start to finish.

Don't just find what you did wrong eliminate the "wrongs" altogether.

Use statistical control methods not physical inspections alone to prove that the process is working.

Use a single supplier for any one item.

Quality relies on consistency the less variation you have in the input, the less variation you'll have in
the output.

Look at suppliers as your partners in quality. Encourage them to spend time improving their own
quality they shouldn't compete for your business based on price alone.

Analyze the total cost to you, not just the initial cost of the product.

Use quality statistics to ensure that suppliers meet your quality standards.

Improve constantly and forever.

Continuously improve your systems and processes. Deming promoted the Plan-Do-CheckAct approach to process analysis and improvement.
Emphasize training and education so everyone can do their jobs better.
Use kaizen as a model to reduce waste and to improve productivity, effectiveness, and safety.
Use training on the job.
Train for consistency to help reduce variation.

Build a foundation of common knowledge.

Allow workers to understand their roles in the "big picture."

Encourage staff to learn from one another, and provide a culture and environment for effective
teamwork.

Implement leadership.
Expect your supervisors and managers to understand their workers and the processes they use.

Don't simply supervise provide support and resources so that each staff member can do his or her
best. Be a coach instead of a policeman.

Figure out what each person actually needs to do his or her best.

Emphasize the importance of participative management and transformational leadership.

Find ways to reach full potential, and don't just focus on meeting targets and quotas.

Eliminate fear.
Allow people to perform at their best by ensuring that they're not afraid to express ideas or concerns.

Let everyone know that the goal is to achieve high quality by doing more things right and that you're
not interested in blaming people when mistakes happen.

Make workers feel valued, and encourage them to look for better ways to do things.

Ensure that your leaders are approachable and that they work with teams to act in the company's best
interests.

Use open and honest communication to remove fear from the organization.

9.

Break down barriers between departments.

Build the "internal customer" concept recognize that each department or function serves other
departments that use their output.

Build a shared vision.

Use cross-functional teamwork to build understanding and reduce adversarial relationships.

Focus on collaboration and consensus instead of compromise.

10. Get rid of unclear slogans.

Let people know exactly what you want don't make them guess. "Excellence in service" is short and
memorable, but what does it mean? How is it achieved? The message is clearer in a slogan like "You
can do better if you try."

Don't let words and nice-sounding phrases replace effective leadership. Outline your expectations, and
then praise people face-to-face for doing good work.

11. Eliminate management by objectives.

Look at how the process is carried out, not just numerical targets. Deming said that production targets
encourage high output and low quality.

Provide support and resources so that production levels and quality are high and achievable.

Measure the process rather than the people behind the process.

Tip:
There are situations in which approaches like Management By Objectives are appropriate, for example, in
motivating sales-people. As Deming points out, however, there are many situations where a focus on objectives can
lead people to cut corners with quality. You'll need to decide for yourself whether or not to use these approaches. If
you do, make sure that you think through the behaviors that your objectives will motivate.
12. Remove barriers to pride of workmanship.
Allow everyone to take pride in their work without being rated or compared.

Treat workers the same, and don't make them compete with other workers for monetary or other
rewards. Over time, the quality system will naturally raise the level of everyone's work to an equally
high level.

13. Implement education and self-improvement.

Improve the current skills of workers.

Encourage people to learn new skills to prepare for future changes and challenges.

Build skills to make your workforce more adaptable to change, and better able to find and achieve
improvements.

14. Make "transformation" everyone's job.

Improve your overall organization by having each person take a step toward quality.

Analyze each small step, and understand how it fits into the larger picture.

Use effective change management principles to introduce the new philosophy and ideas in Deming's
14 points.

Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and

developed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management in
the 1960s that have been used in human resource management, organizational
behaviour, organizational communication and organizational development.
They describe two contrasting models of workforce motivation.
14)

Theory X:

Theory X basically holds the belief that people do not like work and that some
kind of direct pressure and control must be exerted to get them to work
effectively. These people require a rigidly managed environment, usually
requiring threats of disciplinary action as a primary source of motivation. It is
also held that employees will only respond to monetary rewards as an incentive
to perform above the level of that which is expected
From a management point of view, autocratic (Theory X) managers like to
retain most of their authority. They make decisions on their own and inform the
workers, assuming that they will carry out the instructions. Autocratic managers
are often called "authoritative" for this reason; they act as "authorities". This
type of manager is highly task oriented, placing a great deal of concern towards
getting the job done, with little concern for the worker's attitudes towards the
manager's decision.
Theory X can be related to Taylors Scientific Management Theory.
According to Theory X and scientific management Theory what motivated
people at work is money. Workers sole satisfaction will be maximizing his
money. However in modern organizations, people required more than money
and here comes Theory Y into the picture.

Theory Y:
A more popular view of the relationship found in the work place between
managers and workers, is explained in the concepts of Theory Y. This theory
assumes that people are creative and eager to work. Workers tend to desire more
responsibility than Theory X workers, and have strong desires to participate in
the decision making process. Theory Y workers are comfortable in a working
environment which allows creativity and the opportunity to become personally
involved in organizational planning.
According to another of the authors studied for this project, in which the
"participative" (Theory Y) leadership style is discussed, a participative leader
shares decisions with the group. Douglas McGregor thinks that Theory Y
managers are more likely than Theory X managers to develop the climate of
trust with employees; a critical requirement for human resource development.
It's human resource development that is a crucial aspect of any organization.
This would include managers communicating openly with subordinates,
minimizing the difference between superior-subordinate relationships, creating a

comfortable environment in which subordinates can develop and use their

abilities. This climate would include the sharing of decision making so that
subordinates have say in decisions that influence them.
For McGregor, Theory X and Y are not different ends of the same continuum.
Rather they are two different continua in themselves.

Theory Z:
Theory Z deals with the way in which workers are perceived by managers, as
well as how managers are perceived by workers; is created and developed by
William Ouchi. Theory Z offers the notion of a hybrid management style which
is a combination of a strict American management style and a strict Japanese
management style This theory speaks of Ringi System of Management. This
decision-making system is the collective decision-making process and is highly
decentralized. Only after the consensus is reached the decision is taken. If the
decision is successful, then the one who has advocated it gets the credit but
interesting part is that in the event of unsuccessful decision-making, top
management takes the responsibility for the failure. Theory Z emphasizes things

such as job rotation, broadening of skills, generalization versus specialization,

and the need for continuous training of workers.
Theory Z assumes that workers tend to want to build co-operative and intimate
working relationships with those that they work for and with, as well as the
people that work for them. Also, Theory Z workers have a high need to be
supported by the company, and highly value a working environment in which
such things as family, cultures and traditions, and social institutions are
regarded as equally important as the work itself. These types of workers have a
very well developed sense of order, discipline, moral obligation to work hard,
and a sense of cohesion with their fellow workers. Finally, Theory Z workers, it
is assumed, can be trusted to do their jobs to their utmost ability, so long as
management can be trusted to support them and look out for their well being.
Theory Z stresses the need for enabling the workers to become generalists,
rather than specialists, and to increase their knowledge of the company and its
processes through job rotations and continual training. In fact, promotions tend
to be slower in this type of setting, as workers are given a much longer
opportunity to receive training and more time to learn the intricacies of the
company's operations. The desire, under this theory, is to develop a work force,
which has more of a loyalty towards staying with the company for an entire
career, and be more permanent than in other types of settings. It is expected that
once an employee does rise to a position of high level management, they will
know a great deal more about the company and how it operates, and will be able
to use Theory Z management theories effectively on the newer employees.

The assumptions of these theories are described below.

Theory X

1. Humans inherently dislike working and try to avoid work.

2. Because people dislike work, they have to be made to work by putting pressure and
controlling their activities closely.
3. Average people prefers to be directed by others.
4. Average people avoid taking responsibility.
5. Average people are unambitious and prefer security at work
Theory Y

1. Work is an activity as natural to people as play and rest.

2. When suitably motivated people are self directed to achieve organizational objectives.
3. Commitment of employees can be obtained by ensuring job satisfaction for them
4. People learn to accept responsibility and under suitable conditions actively seek
responsibility.
5. People are imaginative and creative.
Theory Z

1. Employees want to build cooperative relationships with their employees, superiors,

colleagues and juniors
2. People require support in form job security and facilities for developing multiple skills
essential for improving performance.
3. People value their family life, culture,traditions and institutions as much as they value
their material gains.
4. People have well developed sense of dedication, moral obligation and self discipline.
5. They can make good collective decisions through consensus.

16) Parkinson's law states:

'Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.'
Which means that if you have an assignment due to next week, the assignment will only be
finished next week. But if you're given 2 months time for the same assignment, then the
assignment will take 2 months to complete.
Time pressure forces you to complete a task in the given time. If there is no pressure
attached to a task then it will take forever to finish. Therefore, the more time you give
yourself for a job, the more time that particular job will take.
The more time you're given, the more important a task will seem. A task that has to be
finished within an hour isn't perceived important, but a task that's to be finished in 2
months will become a mental monstrosity.
Complexity also rises in relation to the allocated time, the more time allocated, the better
the perceived quality of the task should be and the more work your mind thinks it will take.
Therefore making it overly complex and difficult.
If you work under time pressure, you have no choice but to do the absolute minimum
required to get the task done.
'If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.'

How you can you beat Parkinsons Law?

1. Break Down Your Tasks and Deadlines

Parkinsons Law always strikes hardest when you have enormous tasks with far-away
deadlines. It can all seem so intangible, out there and too daunting to even begin.
The best way to fix this is to break those big, monolithic tasks into many smaller, bitesized tasks, along with several intermediate deadlines to complete them.
In addition to helping you to review your progress, frequent, achievable deadlines
create a mild sense of urgency during the whole duration of your work, keeping you
naturally engaged and focused on what needs to be done.
Determine the scope of the task or project as soon as possible. Decide what needs to
be done and by when. This is your breakdown of smaller tasks or your action plan.
Add dates or deadlines to each task, so you can measure your progress towards
completion. Delegate each task where you can, and encourage everyone to make a
start at the earliest opportunity.
Identify what resources are needed for the future completion of your project or task.
Take steps to put them in place straight away. Contact your accountant today. Build
that team now. Order those materials. Each step you take is a step closer to the finish
line. Defy Parkinsons Law by taking action, and beating distant deadlines.
2. Know What Done Means
Its not always easy to know for sure when a task is finished. The more of a
perfectionist you are, the more likely youre a victim of Parkinsons Law: theres
always one more little thing to add, one little refinement to be made. Instead of
quantity of work done (number of pages or hours spent), aim for greater quality, and
when youre happy with it leave it alone. Know where to draw the line so you dont
spend a lot of time overdoing it.

3. Set Clear Boundaries

Most of the time, Parkinsons Law kicks in when were doing too much stuff at the
same time. The dreaded multi tasking! Avoid at all costs! Days become a jumble of
tasks and hardly any ever get completely finished. And, with the huge number of
distractions that tend to creep in, it only gets worse.
To avoid the effects of Parkinsons Law and to finish tasks sooner, work on them one
at a time, focused and with as few distractions as possible.
Restrict time allocations to tasks. Short bursts of focused activity, under the pressure
of time limits, will make you more productive and effective. Give yourself only five
minutes to answer emails. Youll surprise yourself by how succinct you manage to be:
one word will often suffice. If you are afraid of seeming rude, add a line to appear
along with your automated signature: Please forgive my brief response, but I value
your time as well as mine. Or explain, I am experimenting with minimalism!
Allow yourself only a limited time with your PA. See how that restricted timescale
shifts your focus to pinpoint your priorities. All else falls by the wayside. Which is as
it should be.
4. Challenge Yourself
A tight time limit or deadline forces your brain to figure out ways to get the job done
in the restricted time available. Dont add safety buffers when you estimate and
allocate time for your tasks. If you pad your estimates with spare time and
contingency, that time will be wasted as a result of Parkinsons Law kicking in.You
will simply take as long as you have time available. So keep it tight.
Set almost impossible, yet believable, challenging deadlines for yourself. And
achieve them. Underestimate the time it will take at least internally within your
business. Its no good telling a client you can complete this project in a week, when

your team will actually need two weeks. This is not about putting unnecessary
pressure on yourself or staff, or jeopardizing customer relations and accountability by
imposing unrealistic or impossible deadlines.
Your aim is to encourage yourself and other people to work differently, and to take
some risks. It will involve stepping outside your own comfort zone; so appreciate that
for everyone getting outside the comfort zone means an element of discomfort.
Introduce this as a challenge, not a threat. Encourage yourself and others to rise to the
challenge by making it fun and offering rewards, not by threatening with punishments
and adverse consequences.
5. Create Incentives to Finish Early
One reason Parkinsons Law is so prevalent in businesses is that people rarely have
the right incentives to finish early:

Finished already? Heres more work for you.

Youre fast! Guess we can bring the deadline forward next time!

Even when youre the leader, it can be more desirable to continue perfecting your
current task for as long as possible than to start another. It can act as a security
blanket. Maybe youre avoiding your next task because it seems too daunting, for
example. Its the unknown! Cue: spooky whoo-oo-oo! sounds. But set an example to
your staff. Finish early when you are done.
So build in some incentives to finish each stage of your work. Promise yourself that if
you finish them early, you will give yourself mini-rewards. Take a quick break,
browse the web, go for a walk. Do whatever takes your fancy and enjoy the feeling of
having deserved it. The key here is to associate rewards with results, not with time
spent so dont fool yourself. Make the results tangible in their outcome your goal
should be to finish this project, not to spend an hour on it (and still leave it
unfinished).

6. Know Whats Next

We often hang on too long to a task, simply because we dont know exactly what to
do next. So ensure that you always have a few next actions on your to-do list or in
the pipeline, to keep the momentum going and avoid any stopping to reassess what
you should be doing.
Move on. Enjoy having no time to think. Use instinct and intuition instead to make
your decisions. Then act on them. As Malcolm Gladwell says in Blink: too much
thinking, and too much information just clouds the issue. Your gut reaction is usually
the right one.
7. Consider how you can Use Parkinsons Law to change the rules of the game.
Deliberately use your awareness of Parkinsons Law to achieve things. If you know
how it works, how can you use the law to accomplish incredible things in short spaces
of time?
Set yourself apparently impossible (but achievable) artificial deadlines and then
announce them publicly. Tell everyone, The project will be finished in three months!
Do or die. Decide on an audacious goal, and tell everyone your deadline to set up a
public expectation. This also sets you up for public humiliation if you dont complete
it when you say you will. This can be sufficient incentive to ensure that you do it
within that time limit! However, the journey towards that goal and deadline should
proceed from that moment onwards.
17) Peter principle
The Peter Principle is a concept in management theory in which the selection of a candidate for a
position is based on their performance in their current role rather than on their abilities relevant to the
intended role. They only stop being promoted when they are out of their league in a job they cannot
do. Thus, "Managers rise to the level of their incompetence." This also supposedly explains why so
many of the managers at every company you work for are incompetent.

in an organizational structure, the assessment of the potential of an employee for a promotion is

often based on their performance in the current job which results eventually in their being promoted
to their highest level of competence and potentially then to a role in which they are not competent,
referred to as their "level of incompetence". The employee has no chance of further promotion, thus
reaching his or her career's ceiling in an organization.
Peter suggests that "[i]n time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent
to carry out its duties"[2] and that "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet
reached their level of incompetence." He coined the term hierarchiology as the social
science concerned with the basic principles of hierarchically organized systems in the human
society.
He noted that their incompetence may be a result of the skills required being different rather than
more difficult; by way of example, an excellent engineer may find that he or she made a
poor manager due to a limitation of the interpersonal skills required by a manager to effectively lead
a team.
Rather than seeking to promote a talented super-competent junior employee, Peter suggested that
an incompetent manager may set them up to fail or dismiss them because they will likely "violate the
first commandment of hierarchical life with incompetent leadership: [namely that] the hierarchy must
be preserved".
If you find yourself in a similar position, where you dont really know what youre doing just as all
eyes are set on you, then here are a few tips based on my sometimes-bungling-but-never-boring
experiences.

1. Dont assume authority until it is conferred on you from those on

your team.
This is perhaps the most important lesson any person new to managing should learn. While
someone above you has deemed it appropriate to leave you in charge of a handful of people, the
people you will be working with on a daily basis probably had no say in the decision.
Even if you are technically above them on the hierarchical ladder, you do not truly become a leader
until your employees see you as one. It is absolutely essential to curry favor with and gain respect
from your colleagues before theyll listen to you.

2. Listen carefully and always ask questions.

I really did not know what I was doing when I first started my new position. After a few weeks, I was
soon becoming the perfect Peters Principle poster girl.
Since I did not yet possess the management skills, I figured out early on that Id have to learn by
listening to my colleagues carefully and observing other managers who were skilled and respected.

Main point: you can effectively avoid becoming a victim of the Peter Principle by making a
commitment to learning from others.

3. Get to know your teammates strengths and weaknesses.

As this Business Week article notes, its important to demonstrate to those who you will lead that
youre going to take charge and make substantive changes to team operations that will make
everyones job more efficient and enjoyable.
The best way to give this impression from the beginning is to make a genuine attempt to get to
know everyone by meeting with each team member individually. Become acquainted with their
personal work-related aspirations, their working styles, their weaknesses and any other information
that will help you manage more effectively.
4. Always own up to mistakes.
Theres no escaping the fact that you are going to screw things up fairly often when you first start.
The quickest ways to lose respect from your colleagues is to cover up your mistakes, pass the
blame around, or simply just portray an image of yourself that you havent yet lived up to.
If you want your team to admit to their own mistakes and correct them, then youll have to do the
same yourself.
5. Understand that you cant make everyone happy.
While being liked is an instrumental component of succeeding as a manager, you will often be
forced to make decisions that not everyone will agree with. Dont kowtow to others desires just
because you want to please everyone. Assess every decision you make and by all means consult
others opinions. But in the end, once youve chosen a particular plan, stick to it until significant
evidence demonstrates its not working.
Of course, even if youre a completely incompetent manager, youll likely still keep your job for
awhile. But eventually youll lose your sense of personal accomplishment, and your colleagues will
begin to resent you, especially those who feel that they can do a better job than you can. So
commit yourself to rising to the challenge and striking out into uncharted waters and youll
eventually excel in your work.
18) When Jack Welch took over GE in 1981 and became the youngest CEO in GEs history, the legendary
leader made a resolution to transform GE into the worlds most competitive enterprise. Welch is a strategic
thinker, business teacher, corporate icon and management theorist. If leadership is an art, then surely
Welch has proved himself a master painter. With his unique leadership style and character, Welch made
history during his 2-decade journey at GE. While most leaders talk a good game on leadership, he lived it.
In this article, we feature Welchs 12 lessons and how they contributed to the largest corporate makeover in
history.
LEAD, Not MANAGE
Welch doesnt like the term manage. To him, it conjures up negative images, such as keeping people in
the dark and controlling and stifling people. Welchs goal is to lead, create a vision and make people
passionate about their work. Leadership, according to Welch, can be found in anyone as long as they
contribute, come up with good ideas and can energize, excite and inspire rather than enervate, depress and

control.
Below are tips to become a great leader like Welch:
Articulate a vision and lead others to execute it
Dont manage very little details
Involve everyone and welcome great ideas
GET LESS FORMAL
When people voice their ideas, or call him Jack instead of Mr. Welch or when his Work-Out process is
utilized, the corporation gets less formal. Jack doesnt wear ties to work, he often holds informal meetings
and encourages everyone to lighten up. Informality inspires people to have more ideas and it is one of the
keys to GEs success.
How can we get less formal?
Brainstorm with colleagues and bosses
Hold more informal meetings
Consider occasional informal get-togethers
Dont TOLERATE Bureaucracy, BLOW it Up!
Bureaucracy, the cancerous element of an organization, can create waste and slow the decision making
process, leading to unnecessary approvals and procedures that make a company less competitive. Welch
stressed that each employee should work on getting rid of bureaucracy every day. Bureaucracy can be the
most stubborn disease, but we can simplify and remove complexity and formality to make a company more
responsive and agile.
To kick bureaucracy and simplify things:
Drop unnecessary work
Work with colleagues to streamline decision making
Make your workplace more informal
Face REALITY. Stop Assuming
When Welch joined GE, the company was assumed to be in good shape, but Welch saw a sinking ship and
many troubles-the company was losing its market value and there was too much bureaucracy. Instead of
kidding himself and assuming that things would improve, Welch made a resolution and created a face
reality decree. He laid out strategies and initiatives that made things better.
Here are suggestions to help us see things as they are and not to assume:
Look at things with a fresh eye
Dont fall into the false scenarios trap
Leave yourself with several options
SIMPLIFY Things
Welch didnt think business had to be complicated, thus, his goal at GE was to de-complicate work. He
developed and initiated a signature program that made GE a simpler organization. To Welch, business can
be exciting and simple, without jargon and complexity.
Isnt simplifying things great? It allows our organizations to move along faster. Lets try Welchs advice:
Simplify the workplace
Make meetings simpler
Eliminate complicated memos and letters
CHANGE- An Opportunity, Not a Threat
When Welch joined GE, many didnt understand why he needed to make changes. They saw things as a bed
of roses, while Welch saw the reality and faced it. He initiated the necessary changes to make GE a far
more flexible and competitive organization. He made change a part of GEs shared value. Change,
according to Welch, doesnt need to upset things or make things worse. It can mean opportunities, good
ideas, new business or new products.
So, what are we going to do to cope with change?
Know that change is here to stay
Expect the least expected, but move quickly to stay a step ahead
Prepare those around you for the inevitable change that will affect their lives
Lead by Energizing Others, not Managing by Authority
Leadership does not mean control or command. Welch called his leadership ideal boundaryless, which
means an open organization, free of bureaucracy and anything that prevents the free flow of ideas, people

and decisions. He did not support the i-am-the-boss-and-you-will-do-what-i-say style. He preferred

inspiring others to want to perform.
To make others passionate about doing their jobs:
Never lead by intimidation
Let others know exactly how their efforts are helping the organization
Send handwritten thank-you notes to colleagues and customers
Defy, not Respect Tradition
As the heir of the worlds most sacred corporate institutions, Welch had a choice of whether to respect the
companys tradition and long-standing reputation for excellence or defy a century of history, rocking the
existing boat. Welch made the riskiest move - defying most every aspect of the companys history to make
GE the most competitive enterprise in the world. To him, what worked in the past would not necessarily
work in the future.
Lets look at Welchs tips for success:
Hold a why do we do it that way? meeting
Invite colleagues from your department to contribute one idea on changing something important at the
company
Dont be afraid to buck conventional wisdom
Dont Make Hierarchy Rule, but Intellect
Welch thinks it is a horrible way to run a business when managers rule and the staff listen and do what the
managers say. To him, it prevents good ideas and creative solutions to problems. Welch believed business is
about capturing intellect and that the organization must encourage people to articulate their ideas and
solutions. To do so, Welch turned GE into a learning organization in which ideas and intellect rule over
tradition and hierarchy.
How we can immerse ourselves in learning?
Spend 1 hour per week learning what competitors are doing
Offer a reward for the best idea
Work for organizations committed to training and learning
Pounce Everyday, Dont Move Cautiously
In todays lightning-paced competitive arena and wired world, Welch knows there is no time to deliberate or
consider thoughts. He wants his employees to pounce everyday, move faster than competitors to win
business, please customers and snap up opportunities. His strategies were to remove the shackles from
employees feet so they could move quickly.
How to live this edict?
Live with a sense of urgency
Make decisions faster
Work harder
Put Values First, not Numbers
Certainly Welch cares about the numbers, but he doesnt want to spend too much time on figures and not
enough time on values. GEs values are not based on antiquated ideas about etiquette and proper behavior.
Instead, the values include pleasing customers, disdaining bureaucracy, thinking globally and being open to
ideas.
To balance the attention of numbers and values:
Dont harp on the numbers
Lead by examples
Let values rule
Dont try to Manage Everything, Manage Less
This means no micro managing details. Companies should encourage their employees to have their own
opinions and think for themselves. Welch believes it is the responsibility of the company to provide the tools
and training employees need to perform their jobs better. In the end, it is the managers job to create the
vision and let their team act on it. It is best to stay away from over management.
To avoid being a micro-manager:
Dont get bogged down in meaningless details
Manage less
Empower, delegate, get out of the way