Problems, causes, solution

An increasing number of Russian companies are feeling the impact of the crisis. Profit is revenues minus expenses, while in the current situation, revenues have significantly decreased under the influence of falling demand, and work with expenses is carried out at the maximum level of staff reduction and reduction of activity in proportion to falling demand. In some cases, the fall in revenues was compensated by the devaluation of the ruble (which reduced costs), but this effect is also limited.

As a result, many companies now face two major problems:

• decreased demand and increased competition (related to income);
• the inefficiency of the organization (related to costs).

Consider the voiced problems in terms of the main aspects of their solution:

• Organizational moments - answer the questions "What to do and how to do?".
• Technical moments - answer the questions "What to do?"
• Implementation - conceived still need to implement.

Organizational issues

One way or another, but most of the reasons, and consequently the solution of problems, should be sought at the level of company management. To illustrate, we will use the well-known model of the Shewhart-Deming cycle (PDCA cycle: Plan-Do-Check-Act), which presents management as a cycle.

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This model describes the management cycle within the company's structural unit (department, direction) or in the company as a whole, where Plan is the stage of goal selection and planning, Do is the stage of implementation, Check is the stage of testing the success of the implementation, Act is the stage of goal adjustment, planning and organization of work.

As can be seen from the diagram, different parts of the cycle require the manager to play different roles: at the time of setting the goal, he must be a strategist, at the time of implementation and monitoring of implementation, the operational manager, in the cycle responsible for adjusting the tasks, the analyst.

The causes of problems in organizational aspects should be sought in whether management is able and willing to fulfill this or that role. Strategic managers, in principle, are few, and in Russia this is aggravated by the most common autocratic management style, which is manifested, in particular, in that the strategist in the company is only one — its head, all the rest are only soldiers.

Questions of operational management are reduced to the following points:

• Does the manager organize people?
• Does it set clear and understandable tasks?
• Does motivate subordinates?
• Is coordination and communication established between employees and management (vertical) or between employees and line managers (horizontal)?
• Is there control over the execution of orders?
• Is there an objective and correct assessment of the work of subordinates and the activities of the division or the company as a whole?

The final role of the manager in the management cycle is the analysis of the work of the company's division and the adjustment of the goals and work processes of the division.

One way or another, all organizational problems are reduced to managers and to roles that they do not fulfill. If a company’s senior managers instill a “wrong” management culture, then the manager below is unlikely to be able to change this situation (especially in an autocratic organization).

Technical points

The technical aspects include the implementation of those and other management systems.

• process management system (Workflow Management - WM);
• project management system (Project Management - PM);
• knowledge management system (Knowledge Management - KM);
• customer relationship management system (CRM);
• Business Intelligence System (Business Intelligence - BI);
• other systems.

It should be noted that the implementation of technical systems is impossible without the decisions of the corresponding organizational issues.

Each of the above systems has its own level of importance depending on the scope of activity and the current situation in the market and in the company.

If the organization has a predominantly functional structure, then the process control system is the most important. This applies to government organizations and other companies with a rigid hierarchy. Such a system is important if you have obvious problems with the efficiency of processes within the company (but for this you must first understand and formalize the company's business processes).

If an organization is a matrix or project structure, then the implementation of a project management system will come to the fore. This is also important if the organization functionally works well, but projects are implemented poorly, which has an impact on business agility and adaptation to the external environment in a crisis.

If the most valuable thing in an organization is knowledge, then it is important to implement a system for managing them. An example of such organizations is consulting and analytical companies. It is also important if there is a high risk that knowledge holders may leave the company (for example, retire).

In the event that an organization works in the sphere of trade, then it makes sense to first of all implement a system for managing relationships with consumers. This is important in other organizations in the event of a drop in demand and an intensified struggle for the consumer.

The business intelligence system acquires particular importance in times of crisis, when the dynamism of the business environment increases and you need to understand the trends of the external environment and the efficiency of the company in a constantly changing environment.

The absence of the most important systems for the organization or their poor functioning is a huge risk and the source of many problems in times of crisis.

Implementation

It is not enough to know “What to do, how to do and what to do?”, It is important to put this knowledge into practice.

How conservative is your corporate culture? Is the organization able to quickly adapt to new realities? Is it possible to quickly, inexpensively and efficiently implement organizational changes and introduce new management systems?

The short answer lies in people - will you find inside the company or outside of it professional managers who can do all this for you? If you find them, give them authority, carte blanche and political support, and your chances of surviving and improving your market position will increase.

Conclusion

The main idea of ​​this article is more intended to bring to thought, and not to give a specific solution to the problem, and is in the capacious expression "Look at the root." Understand the existing or possible problems of the organization, find the reasons in the organizational or technical aspects and eliminate them by finding the appropriate professionals.

Even if your company feels good, but there is a feeling that “not everything is smooth,” you should be active, start analyzing the work of the company and implement the changes now, without waiting for difficult times.