Off-the-Shelf Management Systems: Your One-way Ticket to Mediocrity
- by Nigel George. First published: 8th February 2009
Show me a company with an off-the-shelf management system and I will show you a company who has completely missed the point.
Key Points
- [Insert name here] management systems are for also-rans
- The potential of a good management system goes way beyond certification.
We’ve all seen them – 'Welcome to [company]'s Management System’. Done well, they can save you a lot of time and get you through your certification audits, done badly and they are unreadable 'search and replace’ crap that sits on the shelf in an office.
However, any business that has a cookie-cutter management system – either standards based, or industry based – is fundamentally missing the point of a good management system.
Ok, in the beginning management systems were all about keeping contracts. Government departments the world over got all warm and fuzzy about 'Quality Management’ and more recently 'Environmental Management’ and we dutifully went out and got certified to keep our contracts. But it’s a bit like the Qantas Club1 – there is no benefit when everybody is in it.
In those early days it was far, far easier to get a consultant to give you a manual, roll out some procedures, bend them to fit the way you do things and hire an auditor who would say nice things about you each year.
Sadly, this way of thinking is ensuring you are only using a small fraction of the potential of a management system.
Bottom line, if your system is the same as everybody else’s and it is just there to get you through your audits, you are on the road to mediocrity.
Getting it Right
There is nothing new about creating consistent management systems that are owned at all levels of a business. The franchising industry has been doing it for decades. That’s why they are usually far more successful than 'We, Us & Co’.
The single most important concept to realising the potential of a consistent management system is that it must fit your business first.
Write your system to suit you. Then cross reference it with relevant standards, legal requirements and codes and see where there are gaps. There is a lot more on this in another article Building a Results-based Management System.
Taking Action
- If you have a management system ask yourself whether it really fits your business.
- If you are thinking of creating a formal management system, run far away from anyone offering you 'ready made’ systems.
- For more detail on getting it right, read Building a Results-based Management System and go from there.
1Not really bagging Qantas here – I hear the whole lot of the airlines have the same issues. And for the non-frequent fliers out there – airline clubs are supposed to give you a bit of exclusivity, proirity baggage handling and an airport lounge a bit more upmarket that the terminal. Trouble is, they are open to everybody willing to pay. So it is a bit pointless when every bag on a flight has a priority tag on it, the lounges are just as full as the main terminal and you still get somebody’s kids running amok while you are trying to work. Pet peeve of mine. Will get off the soapbox now.
