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Challenges We Need to Face

Problems, more problems

All organisations have problems with the way they undertake their work and tackle change. Problems may be related to any aspect, be it technology, people, processes, systems or structure. Theme is always something, somewhere that needs to be created or improved. Since the later part of the twentieth century a variety of techniques and offerings has been available to business leaders to enable them to do this, including:

• O&M;
• Total Quality Management;
• Six Sigma;
• Business Process Reengineering.

All these have contributed greatly to the performance of a significant number of organisations but it is a sad fact that many organisations have failed (and continue to fail) to secure the enduring benefits which were initially promised. Something has gone wrong. It would seem that we are not all as good as we should be at managing and controlling change in order to achieve sustained benefits from such initiatives.

‘Grand’ initiatives of the kind just mentioned are not the only ones that can fail; organisations must continually strive to solve particular problems or achieve specific objectives. For example:

• new products and services are developed, old ones are enhanced or withdrawn;
• supply chains are changed;
• manufacturing processes are altered to take account of new methods and technologies;
• sales channels are developed;
• new plant and offices are opened, old ones are closed;
• key business functions are out-sourced;
• businesses are disposed of;
• acquisitions are integrated into the mainstream business;
• computer systems are built to give greater efficiency and add to the overall effectiveness of the operation.

Again, many of these initiatives fail. Either they:

• cost too much;
• take too long;
• are inadequately defined and specified;
• or simply don’t realise the expected benefits.

This amounts to failure on a scale which costs billions every year and for some organisations results in their demise. It happens in both private and public sectors, small undertakings and major multinational enterprises. In our new world of the twenty-first century no organisation is immune from ‘shut down’ if it fails to perform.

Initiatives fail, are cancelled or never get started – why?

A review of a representative cross-section of large companies reveals a common pattern of cause and effect. Figure 1.1 shows that the fundamental reasons are twofold:

• Organisations don’t know HOW to control change. There is no ‘organisation-wide’ way of undertaking business change initiatives.
• Organisations don’t know WHAT they should be doing. There is no clear strategy driving requirements and decision making.

This book concentrates on how you can solve the first of these root causes (how to do it) but, as Figure 1.1 shows, successful projects rely heavily on the latter (what to do) being in place. You will, therefore, see frequent references to business strategy throughout the book. For a practical approach to developing your strategy, read and use Cyril Levicki’s The Interactive Strategy Workout: Analyze and Develop the Fitness of Your Business (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003).

If any of the problems identified in this chapter or drawn out from Figure 1.1 are familiar to you and recognisable in your organisation, there is clearly scope for improving your performance:

• The solution to issues relating to single initiatives in isolation I refer to as project management.
• The solution to issues relating to groups of connected projects I refer to as programme management.
• The solution to issues relating to the undertaking of a large number of programmes and projects I refer to as portfolio management or business programme management.

If an organisation is to reap the full benefits, it must be competent at all three.