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February 2003 |
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paperworks
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making
the right connections
It’s a philosophical viewpoint that has been honored more in thought than in practice. In hard times in particular, many businesses adopt a bunker mentality and revert to old-style adversarial relationships not only with their suppliers, but with their own employees. Dan Balan has an unflattering opinion of the way most American businesses are run, but he also offers guidance on how business leaders can begin to transform their own enterprises. Specifically, Balan, the CEO of PMCV Technologies, a consulting and training firm, has harsh words for how most American businesses have handled the recent economic downturn. “Our corporate lives are but a musical chairs game of borrow, binge, bleed, burst, blame, and break down,” he writes. The problem, as Balan seems to see it,is that while business executives continue to operate with a sort of tunnel vision, the economy is far too interconnected to operate in that way.When one part falters,others are certain to follow. His argument is that business leaders,in order to prosper in the future, must take a more holistic approach to the way they organize their businesses and business relationships, that they must understand and nurture the people in their company, and that they must take a much longer-term view of how they run their business. Not surprisingly, Balan focuses a great deal of attention on supply chains and what makes them work or fail. He argues that businesses must pay “absolute attention” to the interconnectedness of their parts. His ideas, though, go beyond the structural: He discusses ways of thinking that he contends are essential to true business transformation. Not too many business texts look at left brain-right brain differences normally confined to the humanities. Balan does. The effort to join creativity and concrete management of business processes makes the book an intriguing addition to the business library.
let's
get spiritual The concept of corporate Nirvana seems almost an oxymoron: the detachment of those who are fully enlightened would hardly seem a part of the workaday world of business. The depredations of companies like Enron shake the confidence of even the most committed business person. But there are businesses where workers are committed and satisfied, where business processes are ethical and fair, where integrity and profitability are fully aligned. Judith Anderson aims in her provocatively titled book to provide guidance on how to develop that sort of business in a competitive and unforgiving marketplace. She illustrates how many businesses are undermined by often unconscious behaviors and attitudes. Anderson, founder of the consulting firm Anderson & Rust, brings an unusual perspective to business management. In addition to a master’s degree in economics, she holds a graduate degree in spiritual psychology. What matters, she argues, is not just mastery of business processes, but of relationships. Too often, the unspoken rules within a business—the lack of trust and openness, the suspicion and doubts—cause people to withhold or at least temper their communication within the organization. That, in turn, inhibits its success. This text is not as naïve as it might at first appear. Anderson has a great deal of experience as a business manager and consultant, and she understands what happens inside a business. She deals with issues of fear, betrayal, anger, defensiveness and disapproval that hamper business performance. Her goal is to help readers to understand and manage their own emotional responses to become happier and more productive people and to help others along the same path. |
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