Fountain of Integration

Fountain of Integration is the introduction of PERSTICLE Framework and the VERCKRAD model for strategic analysis. PERSTCLE framework looks at the strategy design while VERCKRAD model looks at the system of implementation of strategy. These are systems for quality integration into operations management, hence it is termed fountain of improvement. These are strategic management tools to aid the development of systems and processes for implementation of corporate or organizational strategies. The model reviews some of the relevant strategic tools presently in use and modifies them to support the implementation of strategy in the 21st century. The factors of strategic framework and evaluation tools have changed and the boundaries shifted to accommodate organizations right across the globe, culturally, politically and economically.

It has been observed that the reason for strategy failures in most cases is not due to the inability to design good strategies, as there are good strategic frameworks available in management to write effective policies and procedures however, the inability to successfully implement it to achieve the fundamental purpose of an entity is the daunting problems facing many organisations. This is evident in all levels of management, be it corporate or government. One of the main factors is due to lack of shared vision as management is still practicing the top down system in the 21st century. Some of the contributing factors to strategy or policy failures are as listed below:

  • Lack of understanding of organisation’s vision and the envisaged outcomes of its strategy by those charged to implement it.
  • Lack of concerted dedication by operations managers and their teams
  • Interference by the controlling powers and stakeholders
  • Lack of continued education and training
  • Inherent culture (especially culture specific)
  • Corruption
  • Nepotism and putting wrong person in charge

As the world has gone global, strategy implementation is no longer a matter to be left for the inept managers, hence every failed or wrongly implemented strategies or policies affect many stakeholders. This may be UK designed strategy to be implemented in Africa, Asia, or other European country. As businesses are intertwined right across the world, it is important that compatible homogeneous strategic framework is designed to aid common implementation across the world. Globalisation is the intertwining of systems and procedures to achieve common purpose. Therefore, a common model of environmental evaluation must be incorporated into policy making.

There have been various publications regarding strategy design and its implementation. Some of them are theoretical and lacking substance other than repeating what writers had written nearly 100 years ago. All the known strategic tools such as PEST(LE), SWOT (TOWS), 5Forces, are relevant but need to be modified for the 21st century management whereby merger and acquisition are the common approach of expansion and growth. This approach more often than not, leads to foreign cultural and system implant into an acquired organisation with a long standing tradition. The above factors result to resistance, suspicion and undermining of strategy and policy implementation.

The success of any organisation is the effective implementation of its policies. The policy designers and the implementers must be made to understand the frameworks on which the policies are based. To start with, I modified PESTLE during my MBA International programme in 2002 to PERSTICLE. This framework may not make sense in English language but it certainly makes sense in business and management. PERSTICLE stands for: political, economic, relationship, social, technology, infrastructure, culture, legal and education. To buttress my points, there are four added characters to the original PEST. The characters are:

R  = stands for Relationship

I   = stands for Infrastructure

C  = stands for Culture

E  = stands for Education

Relationship: The effects of Relationship are huge, be it corporate or government. The relationship an organization has with its funders, suppliers, buyers and the co-operating competitors in terms of research and partnership are beneficial. In terms of governments, it is equally important for governments to have good rapport and co-operation with each other in implementing global strategies. International or global management needs good relationship that is focused on understanding national or international cultures and the factors affecting relationship.

Infrastructure: Infrastructure has both enabling and disabling effects on organizations and governments. The level of infrastructural developments in any organization or country enables or disables strategy implementation and business development. Lack of infrastructure delays, prevents or thwarts the implementation of any strategy however good it may be. Advanced nations and organisations take infrastructure for granted however, it is inevitable that policy writers must place relationship and infrastructure at the centre of their planning.

Culture: Culture is another factor that is taken lightly. UK is a multi-cultural society. This means that one does not need to travel overseas to interact with foreign culture.  Managers do need to include the evaluation of culture into strategy planning and implementation. The neglect of culture is equally as dangerous as corruption. The culture of any country plays a part in the behaviour of its workforce. In Europe there are different cultures dictating individual behaviour and attitude to work. It is equally so in Africa, Asia and the America. The inherent culture of those charged to design and implement strategies plays important role in its success. It could be the enabling or disabling factor for strategy implementation.

Education: The effect of education is enormous. Good education could be embedded through primary and secondary school up-bringing. Good primary and secondary school education dictate the attitude in adult life. Any country without good established educational system lacks knowledge, as the phrase goes ‘catch them young’.  As the world is getting older, it is equally good to encourage education at all levels. Educational factor is equally part of strategy or policy design. It is vital for organizations to include education as part of the framework for policy design so as to meet the needs of customer satisfaction. Any organization without a well-established training and development system lacks knowledge store and core competency. Education goes beyond training as it helps to shape attitude, motivation, commitment and desire for success. Training and development focus on acquisition of skills to meet present organisational needs. However, education goes a long way to prepare individuals for the future, as in the case of expansion and growth.  This factor affects their competitive advantage.

PERSTICLE Framework
P Political
E Economical
R Relationship
S Social
T Technology
I Infrastructure
C Culture
L Legal
E Education

Having demonstrated the importance of PERSTICLE framework, it is important to focus on the reasons for the failure of good policies and strategies. My observation has shown that the absence of effective model has led to policy and strategy implementers struggling to achieve success. One of the reasons for policy failure is the absence of empowered structure of control that effectively delegate responsibilities and also the absence of reward and punishment system. This day of political correctness and the force of human right frighten managers from taking decisive actions to implement policies as it should be. This leads to haphazard policy implementation, resulting to failure. The solution to policy implementation is the application of VERCKRAD model and CIFS policy.

VERCKRAD Model and CIFS Policy

The research regarding this publication was not limited to the already mentioned PERSTICLE framework. The implementation of strategies and policies depends on VERCKRAD model and the CIFS policy. It is noteworthy that PERSTICLE framework is used to support strategy or policy formulation while VERCKRAD model and CIFS policy are used to support the implementation of strategy and policy. Business managers may have to get used to adopting and adapting to the framework, the model and the policy for a successful implementation of their action plans on management and operations, be it transformation of input, logistics and value chain management.

Management and Operations

Operations management transformation of input into output, logistics and value chain analysis need to be modified to accommodate those relevant factors necessary to enable strategy implementation. For effective and efficient implementation of strategy and policy in the twenty first (21st) century management require the redesigning of an environmental analytical VERCKRAD model. To support the effectiveness of VERCKRAD model, I have also designed a guiding policy of CIFS. These combined factors enable fountain of improvement. VERCKRAD is an improvement on Peter Senge’s shared vision. VERCKRAD is an acronym for vision, education, resources, co-operation, knowledge, review, attitude and distillation (VERCKRAD). The CIFS is an acronym for curtail ineptitude for success. The relevance of this model and policy for the successful implementation of organisational strategies and systems are as expanded below:

VERCKRAD Model CIFS Policy
 

V  Vision

E  Education

R  Resources

C  Co-operation

K  Knowledge

R  Review

A  Attitude

D  Distillation

 

  C  Curtail

I    Ineptitude

F   For

S  Success

VISION: Vision that enables direction needs to be shared. It needs to be clarified and it needs to be understood by all those involve in implementing any policies or strategies. It is a level playing field. There must be an identified leader, and vision must be shared within the team. The knowledge of the leader on the issue at hand must be shared within the team. The principles surrounding the policy and strategy must be share within the team. Every member of the team must have adequate knowledge of the principles surrounding the policy or strategy. The vision, the knowledge and principles must be evenly shared to achieve the aims and objectives behind any policy or strategy. These factors must not be hoarded to maintain power and control. It must be shared by all participants for results to be achieved.

EDUCATION: All participants of strategy and policy implementation need to be educated on the principles, factors and elements of any strategy and policy to be implemented. Education may be a planned study, training, coaching, workshop, shadowing or mentoring as long as adequate knowledge is imparted on those charged with the strategy or policy implementation. Acquisition of skill and development of competence are long term processes. Education enables discipline needed for behavioural change. Behavioural change is at the centre of any strategy and policy implementation. Education enables the acquisition of mental attitude needed for a long term plan. Knowledge store of every organisation depends on education and training of the workforce.  There must be a complete understanding of the system of any strategy or policy. The expected outcomes of any strategy or policy must be communicated and assimilated by all those involved to implement it.

RESOURCES: There should be adequate resources available for those who are charged to implement strategies and policies. The resources include human, material and financial. In addition to the known resources is emotional resource. Emotional resources include anything to enhance mental wellbeing. Mental wellbeing includes anything that reduces anxiety and stress. Reduction of anxiety includes factors such as imposition of unnecessary orders, control, structure and interference. Resources will also include information and data to be made available to the strategy and policy implementers. The human factor should possess required education tailored to the tasks assigned to participants. Though finance factor is important, efficiency of distribution should be applied to acquire the required skills, knowledge, data, information and other materials needed to achieve the aims and objectives of the strategy and policy.

CO-OPERATION: Like-minded people should be put together to accomplish a task. The strategy implementers should be given free hand to work as a team. Management at all levels should avoid exerting influence on the participants unless it is absolutely necessary. The co-operation factor must encourage the flow of information at every stage of the implementation. Feedback system should be built around the periphery of the systemic tasks. Anything that may hamper the smooth implementation of the process or activity should be avoided. Though there may be hiccups along the way, any emergent difficulty should be discussed, evaluated and agreed upon before it is tackled. Delay should be avoided for the interest of enthusiasm, motivation and continuity.

KNOWLEDGE:  Knowledge should be adequate. Knowledge should be diverged. Knowledge should be pinpointed or targeted. Systemically, the synergy of diverged knowledge should complement strengths and weaknesses of the implementers. Example, the knowledge of warehousing, processing, engineering, customer services, etc., come together as a pool of knowledge to accomplish a mission. Knowledge should attract training, observation, professional advisor, etc. Knowledge should start from the shared vision and participants’ contribution on the design stage. Knowledge of communication channels should be advantageous. Knowledge of verifying system is desirable for clarification. Access to the data that informed the decisions at planning stages should be available to the implementers to enable effective communication for interlocking processes.

REVIEW:  Review process should be established to make sure that the strategy is being implemented according to plan. The diagram and the data that informed decisions shall be made available for reviewing. Alignment is the focus at this stage. The review for alignment will look at the rationale behind the strategy design, and the result envisaged. All the hallmark of project management should be established so as to ‘check and balance’ the systemic parts that form the chain of activities leading to the achievement of the objectives of the mission.

Communication system and processes should be at the forefront of the review process. This forms the operations implementation systems. Effective communication system enables feedback. Feedback traces the activities from the current reality to the vision that ignited the strategy formulation.  There are two ways of reviewing and managing communication system. These are:

  • The Interlocking Linear System
  • The Interlocking Cycle System

 The Interlocking Linear System (ILS)

The Interlocking Linear System forms a linear chain of activities of interrelated disjointed parts. At the interlocking juncture, there is a manager or someone who is responsible for interlocking the system to ensure that the interlocking of the linear system is not obstructed, so as to enable interlacement. There should be an interlacement manager and all the necessary resources should be provided for him or her to acquire all the necessary skills, knowledge and material. This system is akin to a train in motion and the rail track at a junction. Strategic management should learn the intricacy of interlocking train tracks that enable trains to change tracks, to continue on a linear track for its journey. The provision of necessary resources for the interlacement manager attracts conditions for the assumed responsibility. The condition is a reward and punishment contracted into the operations management for greater responsibility. The reward and punishment policy is termed Curtail Ineptitude for Success (CIFS policy).

CIFS Policy: Many organizations and governments are now managed by less intelligent and experienced personnel who have connections or god fathers in corrupt political and management systems. Many intelligent and skilful people are languishing at the middle or bottom of management, implementing strategies they are not properly educated for. This action results in managers losing track midstream of strategy implementation, as they are neither part of the strategy formulation, nor properly informed on the vision that led to the mission they are working on to achieve.

CIFS policy is a declaration by an interlacement manager that he or she will be removed, sacked or dismissed from his position if he or she demonstrates ineptitude that delays, prevents, disrupts the activity in motion from being interlaced for smooth continuation of strategy implementation. If shared vision is practiced by organizations, and the strategy implementers are properly trained, there should be no reason why the interlacement manager should not properly manned his position. This policy will remove inefficiency and ineffectiveness from management. One has to take responsibility for his or her action. This policy should be enforced rigorously by government and those responsible for business development and growth.

An example of this is like a train full of commutes or an army commander on a war front. Any silly mistake costs lives that are irretrievable. Every shared vision must build in the CIFS policy to enable responsibility for success. CIFS challenges political correctness, nepotism, god-fatherism, and my-turn-syndrome that have rendered projects and workforce ineffective and inefficient.

The Interlocking Cycle System (ICS)

Interlocking Cycle System  of review places a manager at the middle and encircled by interlacement supervisors responsible for interlocking the activities. Again there must be shared vision and training to equip the strategy implementers. Every interlacement supervisor is responsible for his junction and making sure that the activities are interlocked to the next activity as planned. CIFS policy for this system removes mediocrity and somnambulism. The manager and his supervisors will subscribe to the same undertaking that empowers management to remove, demote, sack or dismiss the agent concerned. Though there is a collective responsibility, the particular person responsible for the interlacement at any junction should be disciplined should anything go wrong at his junction. There will be no room for an agent to claim that he or she is misled, unless there is evidence of sabotage or counter instruction by a superior.

ATTITUDE: Attitude as a strategic factor should be addressed properly, taking into consideration the globalization and diversity. Attitude is responsible for failure and success. Culture and motivation are responsible for attitudinal projection. Cultural values of every strategy implementer need to be evaluated. Different countries and tribes have traceable values and beliefs. For the reason that tribes with different languages have been dumped into one state as a country does not necessarily mean that they possess unique culture. Culture is traceable to languages. There are two relevant cultures at this stage. Inherent culture and adopted culture.

Inherent Culture: This culture is traceable to origin. Inherent culture is traceable to the origin of your grandparents. The world must understand that Nature divided people by language. One may not understand the in-depth of a culture without understanding the basics of that culture. The basics of a culture are like Johnson and Schole’s paradigm. It is systemic. Culture follows the interlocking chains of events that culminate into the values and beliefs. The world has converged together on a global stage, bringing with them their diverse cultures. International management must evaluate culture effectively as it makes or mars success. For strategy to be implemented effectively, inherent culture needs to be effectively evaluated as attitude is traceable to inherent culture.

Adopted Culture: As the name implies, adopted culture is acquired, depending on how or where one lives or works. It also depends on association, interaction, imposition, or peerage (peer group). This factor is found in corporate culture, introduction of new global product, spreading inherent culture that has spilled beyond its boundary, technology, etc. This factor may enable or disable the implementation of strategy. It was a notion of the West that whatever worked for the implementation of its strategy will work in other parts of the world.  In the 21st century this is not so. Yes it is true that some of it has worked in the past and may still work now, there should be a change of attitude to incorporate and evaluate other cultures. Adopted culture sometimes may be confusing at first and there is every need for education and training to blend it in for the implementers. This is the reason for all the factors and vision to be distilled.

DISTILLATION: Distillation is like the review factor but it goes further to look into the strategy, the rationale behind it, and the formation of the strategy, the implementation process and the expected outcome. Distillation looks at the ‘bigger picture’. For the purpose of growth and improvement, the vision and the outcome of corporate strategy should be distilled.The end result of the strategy (negative or positive) should be reviewed by using the Lewin’s strategy of unfreeze, process and refreeze. The distillation process is like separating wheat from the chaff to add more values to the fundamental purpose, hence the fountain of improvement.

Distillation system looks into products, prices, customers and competitors. It looks at systems and processes at work. It looks at core competences and what defines it. Distillation system differentiates human resource development and human capital development. Distillation factor aligns corporate vision and mission, mission and its objectives, objectives and strategies designed to achieve them, strategies and the CIFS policy, and strategies and the end results.

By: Oguchi Martins Egbujor

MBA International Management