Dr. Tom D.
McFarland, Management Consultant
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Dr. Tom D.
McFarland, Management Consultant |
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| Success: The success of a company is confirmation of a good management team that has set proper priorities and has satisfied the essential demands of the firm’s stakeholders. But success is fluid and what is successful today could result in failure tomorrow. Leaders must know not only how effective the firm has been but also what will determine success in the future. They must determine how to measure effectiveness and over what time period. Leaders must determine how conflicts among criteria will be resolved and what resources will be needed to be successful. In a stable business environment a strategic plan would seem adequate for success, but in the uncertainty of a dynamic world, leadership with a clear mission developed around a core set of values must drive the firm. Leaders must understand the business, technological, societal, and political environments within which the company operates, the current and forecasted conditions that exist within the industry, and they must know the internal characteristics of their firm. This understanding is created during the strategic planning process. Business plans for marketing, operations, financing, accounting, and human resource then must be developed to meet future needs. The planning process is the beginning of successful leadership. Leaders must anticipate the conditions under which they will execute their plans. Because effectiveness is measured through multiple, dynamic criteria, the company’s processes, systems and structures must match the external and internal environments. Employee activities and behaviors must be focused on company and the team goals as established during the planning process. The company must be adaptable if it is to effectively respond to its changing environment. Quality is the one constant criteria of success. But many short and mid-term criteria must be met if the long-term goal, survival, is to be achieved. Criteria that determine the effectiveness of a firm includes: productivity, efficiency, profitability, financial capacity, culture, member satisfaction, technology, learning capability, management and member development, and the business’s competitive position. Quality is easy to say—meeting the needs and expectations of clients and customers—but hard to do and even harder to delegate. Members of the firm must meet production, efficiency, and satisfaction requirements while developing the organization’s capacity over time by adapting to a changing environment if it is to sustain quality. Quality, and success, is a dynamic challenge for the best managers. But not achieving effectiveness can have a serious impact for the company its members, and all that have a stake in the firm. William E. Holler stated “Success is good management in action.” However, the art and science of management is mastered through sound knowledge coupled with meaningful experience—there is not one best way, nor often even an easy way, of becoming a successful, effective leader.
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