Unbundling Corporate Management: From Strategy — Structure — Systems to Purpose — Process and People

By B Urban Lombard

This management approach derived its importance from the shift in focus on human resources management as a traditional personnel administrative and unaccountable expense point of view to an investment in core skills, core competencies and empowerment. In addition, the ever increasing demands made on corporate management to empower employees to participate more freely in decision making and to ensure that companies maintain their competitive edge, compels Group executives to develop a management strategy to combat the loss of critical skills and competencies embedded in their human resources to their competitors.

The aim of presenting this corporate unbundling management approach is to provide executives with a practical methodology and workable Manual that will allow executives to release their human resources’ knowledge, skills and experience in a more empowering manner. This approach has proved its success over a number of years in large project management, mining houses and financial service organisations in South Africa and USA corporations. The application and personal commitments of the managers and workers alike at various levels in these organisations have all contributed to the success of this new management style.

While the existing theories of systems management and strategic planning provide a sound foundation for discovering the basic elements for corporate management, they do not fully provide answers to companies wishing to reshape their industries and compete successfully for the future. While they assist us to understand the strategy – structure – system doctrine, they provide little insight to the “new age” executive’s requirements for managing companies by a purpose, process and people approach. While these theories highlight the attributes of scientific management, they are silent on what it takes for executives to develop and successfully manage an organisational employee empowerment culture. Furthermore, while they provided and persuaded management on how to “hardwire” and develop eloquent strategic plans and structural changes, they failed to point out the dynamics of how to “soft wire” and build the complementary core competence and core skills view into the minds and hearts of every manager and individual worker.

The intellectual gap that developed between the management systems theory, the practical experience, observations and the many personal interviews in the corporate world of work led to the compilation of this book.
Several business issues and challenges are identified that face executives to manage and compete for the future successfully. It is concluded that much more emphasis should be placed on the empowering of employee decision-making at all levels and the early identification of core skills and core competencies in employees doing critical jobs. Subsequently, the effective and efficient utilisation of these employees is one of the key factors for the survival, growth and profitability of Group companies.

Hopefully, the management guidelines, corporate Manual and behavioural change model presented will significantly contribute to a better understanding of the unbundling process and the management of the critical human resource so necessary for company competitiveness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: B Urban Lombard
• Release date: Jan 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301445158

B Urban Lombard

Dr. B Urban Lombard, (a.k.a. BuL), is a Business Economist, Management Consultant, Industrial Psychologist, Professional Manager and former Professor of Business Economics at UNISA. In later years he was the Chief Executive Officer of Micro Finance South Africa, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and the Wholesale and Retail SETA, Director of the Premier Group Food Division and senior General Manager in various companies. He worked for more than fifteen years in the corporate business and consultation sectors and thus gained and shared invaluable experience in management. He has also published more than 20 professional management articles and two post graduate books. As sportsman, he held the Africa junior shot put record and was a member of the then Northern Transvaal (Northern Gauteng) Veterans Squash team for many years.

Book preview

UNBUNDLING CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

FROM STRATEGY – STRUCTURE – SYSTEMS TO PURPOSE – PROCESS AND PEOPLE

B URBAN LOMBARD

Published by BULMAS PUBLISHERS at Smashwords

Electronic version prepared by Kosie Eloff

Copyright 2012 B Urban Lombard

First Edition 1998

Second Edition 2013

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Keywords: Business, Management, Organisation Structure and Behaviour, Leadership, Motivation, Productivity, Empowerment, Core Skills and Core Competencies, Management Change and Implementation.

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Table of contents

Quote

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview

Chapter 2: Theoretical Models

2.1. Human Capital Theory

2.2. Corporate Management Philosophy

2.3. Striving Towards Excellence and Professionalism

2.4. Corporate Culture, Organisational Climate and Values

2.5. Management Effectiveness and Efficiency

Chapter 3: From Strategy - Structures - Systems to Purpose, Process and People

3.1. From a Systems to Human Resources Management Approach

3.2. Integration of the Corporate Management Systems

3.3. The Unbundling Process of Corporate Management

3.4. Management Premises, Principles and Axioms

3.5. Management Process and Empowerment

3.6. Management Performance

3.7. Transformation

3.8. Empowerment

3.9. Small Group Empowerment

3.10. Dumping Session

Chapter 4: Corporate Management Mega Trends

4.1. Management Trends

4.2. Management of Change for 2022

4.3. Leadership for 21st Century

Chapter 5: The Corporate Manual

5.1. Foreword

5.2. Introduction

5.3. Mission statement

5.4. Goals

5.5. Corporate management unbundling strategy

5.6. Management philosophy

5.7. Specific goals

5.8. Policy guidelines

5.9. Core competencies

5.10. Core skills

5.11. Responsibility, structures and group functional support

5.12. Group management forums

5.13.Guidelines for SBU strategic business plans

5.14. Strategy for human resources management

Chapter 6: Prerequisites for Sucessful Change

6.1. Behaviour Change Model

6.2. Prerequisites for Effective Change Steps

6.3. Implementation Change Programme

6.4. Critical Success Factors and Useful Considerations

Chapter 7: Future Challenges

7.1. Future Profitability and Growth

7.2. Project Champion

7.3. Corporate Dream Executive

Chapter 8: Summary

Chapter 9: Conclusion

Chapter 10: Postscript

Chapter 11: References

Chapter 12: Bibliography

Chapter 13: Subject and Author Indexes

Chapter 14: List of Author's Publications

About the author

QUOTE

"ALL MEN SEEK ONE GOAL: SUCCESS OR HAPPINESS, THE ONLY WAY TO ACHIEVE TRUE SUCCESS IS TO EXPRESS YOURSELF COMPLETELY IN SERVICE TO SOCIETY.

FIRST, HAVE A DEFINITE, CLEAR, PRACTICAL IDEAL, A GOAL, AN OBJECTIVE.

SECOND, HAVE THE NECESSARY MEANS TO ACHIEVE YOUR ENDS — WISDOM, MONEY, MATERIALS AND METHOD.

THIRD, ADJUST YOUR MEANS TO THAT END"

— ARISTOTLE (384–322 BC)

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all those Executives whom I have shared my working career with and who have through their actions, suggestions and persuasion influenced my thinking, management style and behaviour. I am indebted to them, particularly those Executives:

* Currently, stressing through their workdays as a result of the frustrations in democratising the workplace, empowering employees and striving to ensure the profitability and growth of their companies;

* On retirement, engaging themselves in other activities and who have achieved their personal career objectives; or

*Already enjoying their place of peace

I wish to express my sincere gratitude, appreciation and thanks for their encouragement, moral support, creative ideas, strategic thinking and unselfish timely advice to me to take the required decisions, however difficult and sensitive, to act boldly and to be cautious in not overreacting to crisis situations. Without the opportunity to personally interact with them over many years, this book is, to a large extent, the product of those creative interactions and contributions, which without this manuscript would not have been possible.

FOREWORD

There is no greater satisfaction to an aging professor than to read an outstanding work by a long-admired former student. In many ways, the essence of Bul Lombard’s professional life is concentrated in these pages. UNISA professor, consultant and manager within both established and start-ups — he has done it all and it is all here. He has distilled from worldwide learning the essence of the human resource management thought of a generation and gone beyond it from his own research and experience.

This is not just a theoretical work, but a practical how to do it one, advice from the firing line to those on the firing line of business management. It progresses from philosophical treatise to practical handbook from which one learns both why and how. To unbundle is to get to the essence of what both corporate management and corporate leadership are all about. Strategy, structure and systems are not left behind, but are dissected to their essential core and guided to their intended destiny through clarified purpose, exemplary process and exalted people.

The book’s guidance is as applicable to the public as to the private sector. Reminiscing to time spent in South Africa twenty years ago, I thank God for being wrong in predicting a bloody revolution long before this. Despite its continued problems, a new nation seems to be underway which can profit from Lombard’s counsel in many ways. Those engaged in commercialisation and privatisation of state-owned enterprises should use it as a guidebook. Economic policymakers could extend its practical advice to those who must enhance the performance of industry for the sake of both job creation and international competitiveness. All of those charged with teaching managerial skills — universities and colleges as well as management development conferences and workshops should have this book prominent among proffered resources. Unbundling Corporate Management also strikes me as a unique product that the international market should recognise and adopt as a pioneering contribution.

There is no need to state here what is better said by the book and its author. It is enough to say that no manger and business leader will ever be the same, nor will the business he or she leads, after having followed the blueprint herein — and all to the good. Read, follow the blueprint, and then lead as a corporate dream executive whoever and wherever you are.

Prof. Garth L Mangum

Former Director: Human Resources Institute

University of Utah

College of Business

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to share with the reader a practical approach to and methodology for unbundling corporate management that will assist business leaders in improving their company’s results and provide corporate executives with an employee empowerment management model.The foundation of this corporate unbundling management model is based on the theoretical framework of the human capital school and the employee empowerment management approach. Their applicability to corporate management in South Africa and internationally is therefore considered to be universal.

This management approach derived its importance from the shift in focus on human resources management as a traditional personnel administrative and unaccountable expense point of view to an investment in core skills, core competencies and empowerment. In addition, the ever increasing demands made on corporate management to empower employees to participate more freely in decision making and to ensure that companies maintain their competitive edge, compels Group executives to develop a management strategy to combat the loss of critical skills and competencies embedded in their human resources to their competitors.

The aim of presenting this corporate unbundling management approach is to provide executives with a practical methodology and workable Manual that will allow executives to release their human resources’ knowledge, skills and experience in a more empowering manner. This approach has proved its success over a number of years in large project management, mining houses and financial service organisations in South Africa and USA corporations. The application and personal commitments of the managers and workers alike at various levels in these organisations have all contributed to the success of this new management style.

While the existing theories of systems management and strategic planning provide a sound foundation for discovering the basic elements for corporate management, they do not fully provide answers to companies wishing to reshape their industries and compete successfully for the future. While they assist us to understand the strategy – structure – system doctrine, they provide little insight to the new age executive’s requirements for managing companies by a purpose, process and people approach. While these theories highlight the attributes of scientific management, they are silent on what it takes for executives to develop and successfully manage an organisational employee empowerment culture. Furthermore, while they provided and persuaded management on how to hardwire and develop eloquent strategic plans and structural changes, they failed to point out the dynamics of how to soft wire and build the complementary core competence and core skills view into the minds and hearts of every manager and individual worker.

The intellectual gap that developed between the management systems theory, the practical experience, observations and the many personal interviews in the corporate world of work led to the compilation of this book.

Several business issues and challenges are identified that face executives to manage and compete for the future successfully. It is concluded that much more emphasis should be placed on the empowering of employee decision-making at all levels and the early identification of core skills and core competencies in employees doing critical jobs. Subsequently, the effective and efficient utilisation of these employees is one of the key factors for the survival, growth and profitability of Group companies.

Hopefully, the management guidelines, corporate Manual and behavioural change model presented will significantly contribute to a better understanding of the unbundling process and the management of the critical human resource so necessary for company competitiveness.

Second Edition

As time passes and you experience more interaction with consulting colleagues, friends, professional associates and students, one becomes aware of the new ideas, new trends and updated practices in the management environment.

I am therefore grateful towards all of them for their contributions over the years for the enhancements to the point of views expressed in this edition, also, for the revision of the text for this second edition. I trust that these additions, revisions and new attitudes of mind will assist you in managing more professionally and effectively in future. At the same time you are cordially invited to express and submit your constructive comments on this book’s edition, thereby contributing to the body of knowledge for management’s governance and foundation.

BuL Lombard

Pretoria

2012

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book was written as a personal objective that has taken more than a decade of continuous effort to reach this point.

A word of sincere appreciation is therefore expressed to my long standing tutor, supervisor and special friend, Professor Garth L Mangum, at the College of Business, University of UTAH, Salt Lake City, who has over more than 20 years continued to encourage, support and motivate me in the search for excellence, fairness and effectiveness in the Human Resources Management and Development field. Had he been able to work closer with me on this manuscript, it would have been a much better book.

To the Executive Chairman of one of the leading international Project Management Corporations in South Africa, a very special word of thanks for his encouragement, motivation and assistance in making the contents of the corporation’s corporate management manual available for publication. Without his input, this book no doubt would have been incomplete and less effective for practical implementation by executives.

I have also benefited greatly from the pioneering research, thought provoking articles and innovative strategic management approach of Professors Hamel and Prahalad, from the London Business School and Michigan’s Graduate School of Business Administration respectively. They are truly recognised as the new age corporate and strategic management pioneers. This book reflects partially their perspectives and guidelines to companies wishing to compete successfully for the future markets by identifying, developing and accumulating distinctive core competencies and core skills. I have drawn great inspiration from these scholars in particular to develop the corporate Manual as presented in Part 3. For readers interested in these scholars recent work that formed the basis for Chapters 3 and 5 and others as quoted, a bibliography is provided at the end of this volume.

Most of all, I wish to sincerely thank my wife Bregda, my children Conrad and Renette, Pierre, Bossie and Tanya, my late mother Ann, sister Amanda and my bosom friends and companions Lorrie and Estelle, Marius and Ria, Count and Alida and Johann and Irma who where all there when needed in very stressful times and tribulation and to all my other special friends and professional associates, who, over more than two decades, each shared and showed love, understanding and moral support in their own quiet and special way.

Finally, to Kosie Eloff, a special word of appreciation and thanks for his belief in this ebook’s value and in assisting me to make this manuscript more focused and preparing and submitting the text for electronic publication.

No one else but the author is responsible for the content.

In this book, unless the context indicates otherwise, the male shall import the female and the singular shall include the plural and vice versa.

PART 1: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

During the past two decades I have been engaged in various aspects of strategic planning and corporate management. In this extended period, experience has shown that a decentralised decision-making approach to solving management and client problems appears to be a more effective