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Managing People with OzTeamOur participative/supportive managing process provides for people throughout the enterprise to participate in decisions which affect their work, to the extent to which they are equipped and ready to do so. Then managers at all levels support their staff in the achievement of the agreed objectives and plants. When this process is applied throughout the enterprise, and it involves the operating staff in the analysis and improvement of their work, substantial improvements in cost effectiveness can result. The following public statements describe the benefits being derived by clients worldwide, from our participative/supportive improvement approach when fully implemented throughout the organisation. B.H.P.Mr Gordon George,the finance manager with Australian Iron and Steel, spoke to a gathering of Canberra's top public service executives about the participative program in the laboratories and officers of BHP, highlighting;
EXTRACT“The program introduced employee participation, particularly in relation to methods and working conditions. People at all levels have self-expression and assistance in putting their suggestions forward. The program permits delegation of responsibility for productivity, and motivation improvement, to front-line supervisors and operating staff. The senior management role is supportive and their involvement essential. Reversing the ideas flow.My studies in the United States reveal that it takes two years to push an idea from the top of a large organisation to routine acceptance at the workplace – some ideas never make it. It therefore seems to me to make sense if we can have ideas starting at the workplace and flowing up through the organisation. This is one of the most important aspects of our participation process, that operating staff are encouraged to develop their own ideas for improvement. Client – consultant relationshipIn the case of BHP there was no doubt that the program and system belonged to the client from the start. The function of the consultant is to make the client self-sufficient and capable of continuing the program without further consulting assistance. The consultant had a training and guiding function and we had no problem in clearly understanding our separate roles.” STANDARD TELEPHONES AND CABLES LTDMr Frank Whitehouse, director of industrial engineering, STC Ltd, spoke to a luncheon gathering of 70 senior executives about our approach to participation in improvement, stating;
EXTRACT“This is a supervisory development programme with high participation on the part of first-line supervisors and operating staff. I believe this will ensure permanent improvement and avoid the problems we have had previously. The program has been so popular with the line and staff people that we have continued this year, and we now have some nine improvement teams working on major cost areas of the company and we have made substantial cost savings in the productivity area and in the cost of quality area. I believe the overall programme concept is a powerful tool for change and provides a major breakthrough.” A.M.P.SOCIETYMr Alan King, manager – Administration of the AMP Society, addressed a group of senior executives from Sydney's leading insurance companies, about our programme of participative improvement at AMP. He stated that the society had achieved;
EXTRACT“I cannot stress to strongly that in my view the staff relations side is paramount. This, and the technique of handling people within the program, is what we in AMP bought from the consultants, having been unable to find anyone else who could point us in this direction as well as they did.” LONDON TRANSPORT AUTHORITY.The London transport authority reported in The Financial Times of London about our participative improvement program.
EXTRACT“London transport O Isand M Department established from a pilot study that clerical productivity could be increased by an average of one third. When the program was fully implemented, office effectiveness has improved by as much as two thirds. These results would not be possible without the blessing of the trades union. But George Graves, Line Secretary of the Transport Salaried Staff Association believes that the rationalisation program is 'equitable and democratic'. It offers his members more job satisfaction, cutting out repetitive work, and, through increased productivity, leads to higher gradings. 'No redundancies' is part of the deal.” LEVER BROTHERS,U.K.A letter was sent from the UK to all Lever Brothers companies worldwide endorsing the participation program, and announcing productivity gains of 35% at Port sunlight. Extract.“Implementing the savings identified has not presented any difficulty, being mainly absorbed by normal wastage, and further potential saving still exist. The supervisory control of clerical resources has been greatly improved and board support for the scheme justified.” NATIONALE NEDERLANDEN NVOne of Europe's largest insurance companies published their results in the journal International Management. The results of the program.
Extract from “International Management” article.“Senior managers also feel that the exercise has helped to create an atmosphere in which people feel their potential is being fully utilised. This is reflected, they say, in lower labour turnover and absenteeism. “Employees are also now more organisation minded. They appreciate better how procedures in their departments affect other departments and how their own departments in turn are affected by others. The company also believes that middle managers have improved as a result of the exercise. They now see more clearly the need to distinguish between their managerial responsibilities and routine clerical tasks with which managers tend to get themselves involved.” PRIVATE PATIENTS PLANThis UK hospital service Organisation published its results of a participation programme in the journal Business Administration. Benefits included –
Extract from the journal article“.......they prefer working in a situation where there are performance standards and goals to aim for. They are now more highly motivated. There are constant examples of this in the efforts of supervisors to ensure that their departments reach their targets. When their workload slumps, they pressure management will try to take on work from other sections to meet their performance goals.” NORTH WESTERN ELECTRICITY BOARD,U.K.The board wrote up its results in the Journal of the Institute of Directors, highlighting –
Extract from the 'Director.'“One of the attractions of the consultant's method of working is that they systematically worked themselves out of a job. Not only has this the advantage that consulting costs are circumscribed, but also the program becomes wholly the client's own baby. Indeed the emphasis in this process is to involve staff from the outset – at every level – so that staff understand the program, identify with it, and want it to succeed. It is their program. As an indication of the overall acceptance of the new working conditions, the manager for the Manchester area, Mr Kennett Whittle pointed to his area's recruitment figures. Previously as many as 43% of clerical staff had to be replaced each year; this figure had dropped to 31 per cent in the first year and then to 25% in the second year after the program. This program was written up in the Journal Office Methods and Machines, showing –
Extract from the journal.There is no question of having an outside organisation supplying a set of recommendations and then leaving. The employees who run the improvement program stay with the company, and ensure the perpetuation of the savings. UNITED NATIONS.The Sydney morning Herald features the introduction of a participatory of improvement programme to the United Nations headquarters in New York, against strong competition from all leading international consulting companies. Extract from the article.Sydney management consultants, have won a seven-month contract to improve staff efficiency at United Nations headquarters, New York. They gained the contract against competition from European and US companies. The UK Journal, The Banker on wrote an article about our participation programs with such clients as –
Extracts from 'The Banker.'“The more participative approach can provide several benefits important to the long-term health of any organisation as labour-intensive as a bank. Apart from the productivity improvements of 20-25%, increased job interest results from the opportunity to exercise management initiative and judgement, and experience a first taste of management disciplines for staff, who are after all, the future source of the bank's management.” NRMA INSURANCE LTD.NRMA has on four separate occasions reported to groups of senior executives, in Sydney and Melbourne, upon their results from a participative improvement program, mentioning –
Extract from the report.“One of the most striking things that has happened in our company has been the change in attitude of the supervisors and staff to their jobs. We present them with the challenge of rethinking their jobs, of determining their own targets for labour effectiveness, and of reporting on these targets in quantitative terms.” Improving Results and Job Satisfaction Through ParticipationList of ClientsA growing number of public and private bodies, in Australia and New Zealand, have introduced the Participation in Improvement programs. They include:-
British ClientsThe use of the participation in improvement program expanded rapidly in Britain. In some cases the programs were introduced on the recommendations of previous clients in Australia. For example, Qantas recommended the program to B. O. A. C. In the majority of instances, however, recommendations were from one British client to another. Clients include:
Continental EuropeIn Belgium, France, Holland, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany, an increasing number of organisations have introduced participation in improvement programmes. In Holland, for example, clients include
Introduced Participation in Improvement Programmes – Pakistan, PhillipinesIn PakistanPakistan International Airlines (recommended by Qantas) ++ In PhillipinesSan Miguel ++ | ||
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