1396
n
Myths in management
it to spread. So next time you are attending a business seminar,
and the presenter tries to convince you with a ashy PowerPoint
presentation of the brilliance of this new management technique
they’ve been using, and you’re feeling that you are about to be
convinced, just imagine him as a dog with a foaming mouth, and
then think again.
ISO 9000 makes you reliable, myopic, efficient, and
dull – and unable to invent Post-It notes
Sometimes, management practices, intended to improve the
functioning of an organization, are not merely ineffective but
have unanticipated consequences. Sometimes these conse-
quences are negative but only apparent in the long run, making
rms adopt techniques which are really not very healthy for
them (at least in the long run).
Take ISO 9000. ISO 9000 certication constitutes a process
management technique through which rms are expected to
follow (and document) a number of procedures, aimed at creating
consistent, efcient processes, in which best practices are stand-
ardized and deviations from the best practice are avoided. It leads
to efcient, high-quality products with minimal digression from
the standard.
This all sounds very logical, justied and desirable, right? So what
am I whining about?
Well, Professors Mary Benner from the University of Pennsylvania
and Mike Tushman from the Harvard Business School examined
what happened to the innovation output of rms adopting ISO
9000 techniques. They collected information on 98 rms in
the photography industry and 17 rms in the paint industry,
which they followed from 1980 till 1999. They measured, among
others, all their patents and documented whether these innova-
tions were really “close to home” for the rm (representing
minor variations on what they were already doing) or more
exploratory discoveries (representing truly new potential avenues
for growth). And they found a very clear pattern.
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