The Eight Quality Management Principles

Principle 1 - Customer-Focus
Your organization depends on customers and therefore your organization should understand current and future customer needs, meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations (see clause 5.2; 7.2; and 8.2.1).

Principle 2 - Leadership
Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They should create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organization's objectives (see clause 5)

Principle 3 - Involvement of People
People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization’s benefit (see clause 6.2).

Principle 4 - Process Approach
A desired result is achieved more efficiently when related resources and activities are managed as a process (see clause 4.1).

Principle 5 - System Approach to Management
Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objective (see clause 4.1)..

Principle 6 - Continual Improvement
Continual improvement of the organizations overall performance should be a permanent objective of the organization (see clause 8.5.1 and 4.1).

Principle 7 - Factual approach to decision making
Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information (see clause 4.1e and 8.4).

Principle 8 - Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
An organization and its suppliers are interdependent, and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value (see clause 7.4).

These eight management principles form the basis for all QMS standards within the ISO 9000 family. Each of these principles is included as requirements in one or more clauses of the ISO 9001:2000 standard.

Disciplines

Above explanations, principles and general techniques lies the many professions in which changing minds is a core discipline. This section digs directly into the literature of these subjects to bring you some of the key aspects of the major disciplines of changing minds.

The disciplines list: A long list of disciplines that seek to change minds.
Argument: Classical argumentation, critical thinking and logic.
Brand management: Includes subtle changing of minds from a distance.
Coaching: Helping people develop.
Communication: Connecting with one another.
Change Management: Creating change in organizations.
Human Resources: Providing the right people for organizations.
Job-finding: One of the most critical skills you may need.
Leadership: Leading people requires much influencing of what people think.
Negotiation: Request, concession and exchange.
Politics: Power and influence in the large.
Propaganda: covert persuasion of populations.
Psychoanalysis: Freud and beyond.
Rhetoric: The art of persuasive language.
Sales: Perhaps the most direct and obvious discipline for changing minds.
Sociology: Understanding and supporting society.
Storytelling: Using stories to change minds.
Teaching: Educating others (mostly young people).
Warfare: Fighting the enemy.
Workplace design: The places where we work affect how we feel.

Managing Quality

This first step in building a ISO 9000 Quality Management System is the creation of a "Quality Manual". This is a separate and distinct step from developing quality procedures. The purpose is to state in a concise and brief format, the policies and objectives of the company required to achieve a desired level of quality for the organization or division.

More than likely the input for the Quality Manual will come from your customers. It is the customer that drives the Quality Process. There requirements, needs, and future desires are the basis for implementing an ISO 9000 quality system in the first place.

At a minimum, the ISO 9000 Quality Manual is required to address each one of the paragraphs of the applicable ISO 9000 Series that the company plans to become registered against. ISO 9001:2008 is the focus of this manual. But, you may need to expand the scope to include EMS 14001, QS-9000, AS-9000, or other industry specific quality requirements.

Each area that is written should include, at a minimum, three parts: Scope, Policy and Responsibilities.

The Scope portion should simply state the purpose of the covered area.
The Policy portion should state the company policy regarding the applicable ISO clause.
The Responsibility portion should state who, in generic titles or positions, is responsible for the policy.

ISO 9000 does not require a specific format for the Quality Manual. A sample manual is provided in this guide for your use as a template to create your own Quality Manual. The Quality Manual Table of Contents is based on the ISO 9000 standard itself. This ensures that each required element is addressed and provides an excellent starting point for building your Quality System.

ISO 9000 Quality Manual Consist of:

Master List
Forward
Administration
Company Information
Quality Management System
Management Responsibility
Resources Management
Product Realization
Measure Analysis Improvement
Attachment

b. ISO 9000 Operating Procedure
The ISO 9000 Operating Procedure Template includes and integrates the top level ISO 9000 quality manual and the six required quality procedures, thus containing the most difficult part of the ISO 9000 documentation. The ISO 9000 Operating Procedure Template include the detailed samples of the Operating Procedures to fulfill the ISO 9001 : 2008 requirements for the procedures, making the customization process even easier. The entire manual follows the structure of ISO 9001 : 2008.

ISO 9000 Operating Procedures Consist Of:

Control of documents
Control of records
Internal Audit
Control of non-conformance product
Corrective Action
Preventive Action
Training
Purchasing

c. ISO 9000 Forms
ISO 9001 : 2008 does not require forms but ISO 9001 : 2008 requires to keep records. Our well-designed forms make it easy to record the necessary information. In addition, our well-designed forms guide the user through a business process (for example, our Corrective & Preventive Action Plan Form guides you through the entire corrective action process), ensuring not only that all data is recorded but that all steps have properly been executed.
All our ISO 9000 Forms:
can immediately be used without any or with only little modifications(if you really need to, you can easily edit and customize in Microsoft Wordor Excel).
are designed by experienced quality managers and ISO 9000 auditors so that all forms are fully compliant with ISO 9001 : 2008 requirements.
are professionally laid out so that they are really easy to use without separate instructions.

ISO 9000 Forms Consist Of :

Orientation Checklist
Training Calendar
Training Needs Analysis
Training Record
After Training Valuation Form
Training Request Form
Application Form
Leave Application Card
Meeting Attendance
Training Attendance List
Store Card
Order Tracking Form
Material Issue Record
Material Return Note
Document Issue Record
Request For Uncontrolled Document
Document Change Notice
Preventive Maintenance Record
Approved Supplier List
Selection / Evaluation of Supplier
Audit Schedule
Internal Audit Checklist
Corrective Action Report
Preventive Action Report
Outgoing Form
Corrective &Preventive Tracking List
Equipment Calibration Tracking List
Customer Semi-Product Inspection
Non Conformance Corrective Action Report
Record Master List
Customer Feed Back Form
Customer Satisfaction Evaluation
Customer Information List

Trait Theory

Assumptions
People are born with inherited traits.

Some traits are particularly suited to leadership.

People who make good leaders have the right (or sufficient) combination of traits.

Description
Early research on leadership was based on the psychological focus of the day, which was of people having inherited characteristics or traits. Attention was thus put on discovering these traits, often by studying successful leaders, but with the underlying assumption that if other people could also be found with these traits, then they, too, could also become great leaders.

Stogdill (1974) identified the following traits and skills as critical to leaders.



Traits Skills
Adaptable to situations
Alert to social environment
Ambitious and achievement-orientated
Assertive
Cooperative
Decisive
Dependable
Dominant (desire to influence others)
Energetic (high activity level)
Persistent
Self-confident
Tolerant of stress
Willing to assume responsibility
Clever (intelligent)
Conceptually skilled
Creative
Diplomatic and tactful
Fluent in speaking
Knowledgeable about group task
Organised (administrative ability)
Persuasive
Socially skilled




McCall and Lombardo (1983) researched both success and failure identified four primary traits by which leaders could succeed or 'derail':

Emotional stability and composure: Calm, confident and predictable, particularly when under stress.
Admitting error: Owning up to mistakes, rather than putting energy into covering up.
Good interpersonal skills: Able to communicate and persuade others without resort to negative or coercive tactics.
Intellectual breadth: Able to understand a wide range of areas, rather than having a narrow (and narrow-minded) area of expertise.
Discussion
There have been many different studies of leadership traits and they agree only in the general saintly qualities needed to be a leader.

For a long period, inherited traits were sidelined as learned and situational factors were considered to be far more realistic as reasons for people acquiring leadership positions.

Paradoxically, the research into twins who were separated at birth along with new sciences such as Behavioral Genetics have shown that far more is inherited than was previously supposed. Perhaps one day they will find a 'leadership gene'.

See also
Preferences

Stogdill, R.M. (1974). Handbook of leadership: A survey of the literature, New York: Free Press

McCall, M.W. Jr. and Lombardo, M.M. (1983). Off the track: Why and how successful executives get derailed. Greenboro, NC: Centre for Creative Leadership

Reading Financial Statements

The balance sheet and income statement are fundamental to any business. They could be thought of as a "report card" on the performance of the business for the period. But what do they really tell you, other than the bottom line result? Once the financial statements have been prepared for your own business, how can you use them and learn from them to help you manage your business? Or, if you are considering making an investment in a company’s stock, how can you use its financial statements to help you decide whether it might be a good investment? One of the tools you can use is ratio analysis.
Ratio analysis as an evaluation tool
Obviously there are many different aspects and factors involved in evaluating a business, including management capability, innovations in products and technology, shifts in market demands, and general economic conditions, among others. But one of the advantages of using financial statements is that they provide you with objective, concrete data with which to perform analysis. Ratio analysis by itself is just one tool you can use in evaluating your own business, or a potential investment opportunity. For example, comparisons of balance sheets and income statements from one period to another can be very effective in detecting changes, trends and shifts. Calculating ratios based on the current period balance sheet and income statement can be very useful, and when combined with a comparative analysis from period to period, it becomes a very dynamic way of gauging performance.
How you use the insights you gain from your analytical work will of course depend on your purpose in reading the financial statements. If you are looking at a company in which you already have an investment, or in which you are thinking about investing, you may use the results of your analysis to either buy or sell, or to increase or decrease your holdings of that stock. If you are looking at your own company, you can use your analysis to see where your business is strong, and where it could use some adjustments or improvements. This will help you make financial decisions about your business operations.
Types of ratios
Some of the different types of ratios that can be calculated from data in the financial statements and used to evaluate a business include:
Liquidity ratios
Solvency ratios
Activity ratios
Profitability ratios
Liquidity ratios
Liquidity ratios measure a business’s ability to cover its obligations, without having to borrow or invest more money in the business. The idea is that there should be sufficient cash and assets that can be readily converted into cash to cover liabilities as they come due.
One of the most common liquidity ratios is:
Current Ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities
Current assets basically include cash, short-term investments and marketable securities, accounts receivable, inventory, and prepaid expenses. Current liabilities include accounts payable to vendors and employees, and installments on notes or loans that are due within one year. This ratio could also be seen as a measure of working capital – the difference between current assets and current liabilities. A company with a lot of working capital will be in a better position to expand and improve its operations. On the contrary, a company with negative working capital does not have sufficient resources to meet its current obligations, and therefore is not in a position to take advantage of opportunities for growth.
Another stringent test of liquidity is the:
Acid-test Ratio = Current Assets minus Inventories / Current Liabilities
Inventory is a current asset that may or may not be quickly converted into cash. This depends on the rate at which inventory is being turned over. By excluding inventory, the acid-test ratio only considers that part of current assets that can be readily converted into cash. This ratio, also called the Quick Ratio, tells how much of the business's short-term debt can be met by using the company's liquid assets at short notice.
A ratio that shows how many times inventory is turned over, or sold during the period is:
Inventory Turnover Ratio = Cost of Goods Sold / Average Inventory
A high turnover ratio is a sign that products are being produced and sold quickly during the period. A ratio of 1.0, for example, would mean that at any given time you have enough inventory on hand to cover sales for the entire period. The higher this ratio, the more quickly inventory is being turned over and producing assets that are more liquid -- accounts receivable and then cash.
If you want an even clearer idea of exactly how much ready cash is on hand to cover current liabilities, you can use the:
Cash ratio = Cash + Marketable securities / Current Liabilities
The cash ratio measures the extent to which a business could quickly cover short-term liabilities, and therefore is of particular interest to short-term creditors. A ratio of 1.0 would indicate that all current liabilities would be covered at any average point in time by cash and marketable securities that could be readily sold and converted to cash. A ratio of less than 1.0 would mean that other assets, such as accounts receivable or inventory, would have to be converted to cash to cover short-term obligations. A ratio of greater than 1.0 means that there is more than enough cash on hand.
Solvency Ratios
Solvency ratios are measures to assess a company’s ability to meet its long-term obligations and thereby remain solvent and avoid bankruptcy. Two general, overall solvency ratios include:
Solvency Ratio = Total Assets / Total Liabilities
and
Solvency Ratio = Net Worth (Total Capital or Equity) / Total Liabilities
These ratios basically tell whether a company owns more than it owes. The higher the ratio, the more solvent the company.
Another ratio that can tell how much a company relies on debt to finance its assets is:
Debt Ratio = Total Debt / Total Assets
Traditionally, both short-term and long-term debts and assets are used in determining this ratio. In general, the lower a company’s reliance on debt to finance its assets, the less risky the company.
The debt to equity ratio is a measure of a company’s leverage – how much financing it has in the form of debt as compared with how much it has invested in the business.
Debt-equity Ratio = Total Liabilities / Total Owners’ Equity, or
Debt-equity Ratio = Long-Term Liabilities / Total Owners’ Equity
In assessing solvency, it is also important to take into consideration the breakdown of a company’s liabilities. Not all liabilities are debt in the form of bank loans or notes payable, for example. There are also accounts payable to vendors, salaries and wages payable, taxes payable, and accrued liabilities, among others. One of the measures of what debt constitutes in terms of total liabilities is:
Indebtedness Ratio = Total Debts / Total Liabilities
In general, a company that is heavy on debt may be better leveraged, but is also less solvent.
The debt repayment terms are another consideration. Short-term debt, payable within one year, may pose a greater burden on cash flow and eventual solvency than long-term debt, which is due beyond one year. A ratio used to quantify this is:
Short-term Debt Ratio or Quality of Debt = Short-term Debt / Total Debt
A lower value for this ratio would indicate less concern for installments coming due within a year.
There are other ratios intended to assess a company’s capacity to cover its debt repayments and financing costs. One of these ratios measures how interest expense is being covered by the net income the company is generating:
Interest expense coverage = Net income before interest and taxes / Interest expense
This ratio is also called Number of Times Interest Earned, and represents how many times the net income generated by the company, without considering interest and taxes, covers the total interest charge. The higher the ratio the more solvent the company.
Another similar ratio often used to measure a company’s capacity to cover its fixed charges is:
Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges = Earnings before income tax and fixed charges / Interest expense (including capitalized interest) and amortization of bond discount and issue costs
Capitalized interest is the amount of interest on a loan to finance a project or acquisition of fixed assets, that has been capitalized and included as part of the cost of the project or asset on the balance sheet. You will probably need to see the notes to the financial statements to find this figure.
Activity Ratios
Many useful gauges of operations can be calculated from data reported in the financial statements. For example, you can determine the average number of days it takes to collect on customer accounts, the average number of days to pay vendors, and how much of the operation is effectively being financed with payment terms extended by vendors.
Accounts Receivable Turnover = Total Credit Sales / Average Accounts Receivable
This tells you the average duration of accounts receivable for credit sales to customers. This in turn can be expressed in terms of the collection period, as follows:
Average Collection Period = Days in Year / Accounts Receivable Turnover
or
Days to Collect = Trade Accounts Receivable / Credit Sales x 365
A similar calculation can be made on the liabilities side, with accounts payable to vendors:
Days to Pay = Trade Accounts Payable / Purchases x 365
To determine how much of a company’s accounts receivable and inventory are effectively being financed by the credit extended to the company by its vendors:
Financing of Trade Accounts Receivable in terms of Trade Accounts Payable = Trade Accounts Payable / Trade Accounts Receivable
Financing of Inventory in terms of Trade Accounts Payable = Trade Accounts Payable / Inventory
Effectively managing the credit extended by vendors can help a company’s cash flow and therefore its liquidity and solvency.
From data reported on the income statement, various relationships can be calculated between different expenses and revenues, or a certain type of expense as a percentage of total expenses.
Labor Cost Percentage = Payroll and Related Expenses / Total Revenue or Total Expenses
Interest Expense Percentage = Interest Expense / Total Revenue or Total Expenses
These types of ratios or percentages can be calculated for any item on the income statement. Which accounts are more important will depend on the nature of the business. For example, some operations are more labor intensive and some are more capital intensive. In a labor intensive operation, the percentage that employee-related expenses, including wages, salaries and benefits, represent in terms of total operating expense is relevant. In a capital intensive operation, repairs and maintenance may take on more importance.
Profitability Ratios
One of the most common profitability ratios is the profit margin. This can be expressed as the gross profit margin or net profit margin, and it can be expressed by company, by sector, by product, or by individual unit. The information reported on the income statement will enable you to determine the overall profit margin. If additional breakdowns are provided, more detailed margins can be calculated.
Gross Profit Margin = Gross Income / Total Revenue
Net Profit Margin = Net Income / Total Revenue
Other commonly used ratios are returns, expressed as return on investment or equity, return on assets, and return on capital employed. These ratios measure a company’s ability to use its capital, or its assets, to generate additional value.
Return on Investment (ROI) or Return on Owners’ Equity = Net Income / Average Owners’ Equity
Return on Assets (ROA) = Net Income / Average Total Assets
Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) = Net Income Before Interest and Tax / Capital Employed (Total Assets minus Current Liabilities)
When evaluating investment opportunities, profits are often measured per share:
Earnings per Share = Net Profit After Tax and Dividends / Ordinary Shareholders' Equity
Another commonly used ratio to show the yield on an investment is:
Dividend Yield Ratio = Dividends per Share / Market Value per Share
And, to measure how the price of an investment correlates with the earnings on that investment, you can use the:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Market Value per Share / After-Tax Earnings per Share
Summary
The bottom line on the income statement is not the only important figure on the financial statements, and may not even be the most important. There is another whole dimension of valuable information that can be obtained from the data reported in the financial statements. Ratio analysis is one of many tools that can be used to evaluate a company’s performance, its current status, and its evolution over time. And if you are the owner of the business, this type of analysis can help you make the right decisions to improve your operations and make your business stronger and more successful.

10 Principles of Change Management

Market transparency, labor mobility, global capital flows, and instantaneous communications have blown that comfortable scenario to smithereens. In most industries — and in almost all companies, from giants on down — heightened global competition has concentrated management’s collective mind on something that, in the past, it happily avoided: change. Successful companies, as Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter told s+b in 1999, develop “a culture that just keeps moving all the time.”
This presents most senior executives with an unfamiliar challenge. In major transformations of large enterprises, they and their advisors conventionally focus their attention on devising the best strategic and tactical plans. But to succeed, they also must have an intimate understanding of the human side of change management — the alignment of the company’s culture, values, people, and behaviors — to encourage the desired results. Plans themselves do not capture value; value is realized only through the sustained, collective actions of the thousands — perhaps the tens of thousands — of employees who are responsible for designing, executing, and living with the changed environment.
Long-term structural transformation has four characteristics: scale (the change affects all or most of the organization), magnitude (it involves significant alterations of the status quo), duration (it lasts for months, if not years), and strategic importance. Yet companies will reap the rewards only when change occurs at the level of the individual employee.
Many senior executives know this and worry about it. When asked what keeps them up at night, CEOs involved in transformation often say they are concerned about how the work force will react, how they can get their team to work together, and how they will be able to lead their people. They also worry about retaining their company’s unique values and sense of identity and about creating a culture of commitment and performance. Leadership teams that fail to plan for the human side of change often find themselves wondering why their best-laid plans have gone awry.
No single methodology fits every company, but there is a set of practices, tools, and techniques that can be adapted to a variety of situations. What follows is a “Top 10” list of guiding principles for change management. Using these as a systematic, comprehensive framework, executives can understand what to expect, how to manage their own personal change, and how to engage the entire organization in the process.
1. Address the “human side” systematically. Any significant transformation creates “people issues.” New leaders will be asked to step up, jobs will be changed, new skills and capabilities must be developed, and employees will be uncertain and resistant. Dealing with these issues on a reactive, case-by-case basis puts speed, morale, and results at risk. A formal approach for managing change — beginning with the leadership team and then engaging key stakeholders and leaders — should be developed early, and adapted often as change moves through the organization. This demands as much data collection and analysis, planning, and implementation discipline as does a redesign of strategy, systems, or processes. The change-management approach should be fully integrated into program design and decision making, both informing and enabling strategic direction. It should be based on a realistic assessment of the organization’s history, readiness, and capacity to change.
2. Start at the top. Because change is inherently unsettling for people at all levels of an organization, when it is on the horizon, all eyes will turn to the CEO and the leadership team for strength, support, and direction. The leaders themselves must embrace the new approaches first, both to challenge and to motivate the rest of the institution. They must speak with one voice and model the desired behaviors. The executive team also needs to understand that, although its public face may be one of unity, it, too, is composed of individuals who are going through stressful times and need to be supported.
Executive teams that work well together are best positioned for success. They are aligned and committed to the direction of change, understand the culture and behaviors the changes intend to introduce, and can model those changes themselves. At one large transportation company, the senior team rolled out an initiative to improve the efficiency and performance of its corporate and field staff before addressing change issues at the officer level. The initiative realized initial cost savings but stalled as employees began to question the leadership team’s vision and commitment. Only after the leadership team went through the process of aligning and committing to the change initiative was the work force able to deliver downstream results.
3. Involve every layer. As transformation programs progress from defining strategy and setting targets to design and implementation, they affect different levels of the organization. Change efforts must include plans for identifying leaders throughout the company and pushing responsibility for design and implementation down, so that change “cascades” through the organization. At each layer of the organization, the leaders who are identified and trained must be aligned to the company’s vision, equipped to execute their specific mission, and motivated to make change happen.
A major multiline insurer with consistently flat earnings decided to change performance and behavior in preparation for going public. The company followed this “cascading leadership” methodology, training and supporting teams at each stage. First, 10 officers set the strategy, vision, and targets. Next, more than 60 senior executives and managers designed the core of the change initiative. Then 500 leaders from the field drove implementation. The structure remained in place throughout the change program, which doubled the company’s earnings far ahead of schedule. This approach is also a superb way for a company to identify its next generation of leadership.
4. Make the formal case. Individuals are inherently rational and will question to what extent change is needed, whether the company is headed in the right direction, and whether they want to commit personally to making change happen. They will look to the leadership for answers. The articulation of a formal case for change and the creation of a written vision statement are invaluable opportunities to create or compel leadership-team alignment.
Three steps should be followed in developing the case: First, confront reality and articulate a convincing need for change. Second, demonstrate faith that the company has a viable future and the leadership to get there. Finally, provide a road map to guide behavior and decision making. Leaders must then customize this message for various internal audiences, describing the pending change in terms that matter to the individuals.
A consumer packaged-goods company experiencing years of steadily declining earnings determined that it needed to significantly restructure its operations — instituting, among other things, a 30 percent work force reduction — to remain competitive. In a series of offsite meetings, the executive team built a brutally honest business case that downsizing was the only way to keep the business viable, and drew on the company’s proud heritage to craft a compelling vision to lead the company forward. By confronting reality and helping employees understand the necessity for change, leaders were able to motivate the organization to follow the new direction in the midst of the largest downsizing in the company’s history. Instead of being shell-shocked and demoralized, those who stayed felt a renewed resolve to help the enterprise advance.
5. Create ownership. Leaders of large change programs must overperform during the transformation and be the zealots who create a critical mass among the work force in favor of change. This requires more than mere buy-in or passive agreement that the direction of change is acceptable. It demands ownership by leaders willing to accept responsibility for making change happen in all of the areas they influence or control. Ownership is often best created by involving people in identifying problems and crafting solutions. It is reinforced by incentives and rewards. These can be tangible (for example, financial compensation) or psychological (for example, camaraderie and a sense of shared destiny).
At a large health-care organization that was moving to a shared-services model for administrative support, the first department to create detailed designs for the new organization was human resources. Its personnel worked with advisors in cross-functional teams for more than six months. But as the designs were being finalized, top departmental executives began to resist the move to implementation. While agreeing that the work was top-notch, the executives realized they hadn’t invested enough individual time in the design process to feel the ownership required to begin implementation. On the basis of their feedback, the process was modified to include a “deep dive.” The departmental executives worked with the design teams to learn more, and get further exposure to changes that would occur. This was the turning point; the transition then happened quickly. It also created a forum for top executives to work as a team, creating a sense of alignment and unity that the group hadn’t felt before.
6. Communicate the message. Too often, change leaders make the mistake of believing that others understand the issues, feel the need to change, and see the new direction as clearly as they do. The best change programs reinforce core messages through regular, timely advice that is both inspirational and practicable. Communications flow in from the bottom and out from the top, and are targeted to provide employees the right information at the right time and to solicit their input and feedback. Often this will require overcommunication through multiple, redundant channels.
In the late 1990s, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Charles O. Rossotti, had a vision: The IRS could treat taxpayers as customers and turn a feared bureaucracy into a world-class service organization. Getting more than 100,000 employees to think and act differently required more than just systems redesign and process change. IRS leadership designed and executed an ambitious communications program including daily voice mails from the commissioner and his top staff, training sessions, videotapes, newsletters, and town hall meetings that continued through the transformation. Timely, constant, practical communication was at the heart of the program, which brought the IRS’s customer ratings from the lowest in various surveys to its current ranking above the likes of McDonald’s and most airlines.
7. Assess the cultural landscape. Successful change programs pick up speed and intensity as they cascade down, making it critically important that leaders understand and account for culture and behaviors at each level of the organization. Companies often make the mistake of assessing culture either too late or not at all. Thorough cultural diagnostics can assess organizational readiness to change, bring major problems to the surface, identify conflicts, and define factors that can recognize and influence sources of leadership and resistance. These diagnostics identify the core values, beliefs, behaviors, and perceptions that must be taken into account for successful change to occur. They serve as the common baseline for designing essential change elements, such as the new corporate vision, and building the infrastructure and programs needed to drive change.
8. Address culture explicitly. Once the culture is understood, it should be addressed as thoroughly as any other area in a change program. Leaders should be explicit about the culture and underlying behaviors that will best support the new way of doing business, and find opportunities to model and reward those behaviors. This requires developing a baseline, defining an explicit end-state or desired culture, and devising detailed plans to make the transition.
Company culture is an amalgam of shared history, explicit values and beliefs, and common attitudes and behaviors. Change programs can involve creating a culture (in new companies or those built through multiple acquisitions), combining cultures (in mergers or acquisitions of large companies), or reinforcing cultures (in, say, long-established consumer goods or manufacturing companies). Understanding that all companies have a cultural center — the locus of thought, activity, influence, or personal identification — is often an effective way to jump-start culture change.
A consumer goods company with a suite of premium brands determined that business realities demanded a greater focus on profitability and bottom-line accountability. In addition to redesigning metrics and incentives, it developed a plan to systematically change the company’s culture, beginning with marketing, the company’s historical center. It brought the marketing staff into the process early to create enthusiasts for the new philosophy who adapted marketing campaigns, spending plans, and incentive programs to be more accountable. Seeing these culture leaders grab onto the new program, the rest of the company quickly fell in line.
9. Prepare for the unexpected. No change program goes completely according to plan. People react in unexpected ways; areas of anticipated resistance fall away; and the external environment shifts. Effectively managing change requires continual reassessment of its impact and the organization’s willingness and ability to adopt the next wave of transformation. Fed by real data from the field and supported by information and solid decision-making processes, change leaders can then make the adjustments necessary to maintain momentum and drive results.
A leading U.S. health-care company was facing competitive and financial pressures from its inability to react to changes in the marketplace. A diagnosis revealed shortcomings in its organizational structure and governance, and the company decided to implement a new operating model. In the midst of detailed design, a new CEO and leadership team took over. The new team was initially skeptical, but was ultimately convinced that a solid case for change, grounded in facts and supported by the organization at large, existed. Some adjustments were made to the speed and sequence of implementation, but the fundamentals of the new operating model remained unchanged.
10. Speak to the individual. Change is both an institutional journey and a very personal one. People spend many hours each week at work; many think of their colleagues as a second family. Individuals (or teams of individuals) need to know how their work will change, what is expected of them during and after the change program, how they will be measured, and what success or failure will mean for them and those around them. Team leaders should be as honest and explicit as possible. People will react to what they see and hear around them, and need to be involved in the change process. Highly visible rewards, such as promotion, recognition, and bonuses, should be provided as dramatic reinforcement for embracing change. Sanction or removal of people standing in the way of change will reinforce the institution’s commitment.
Most leaders contemplating change know that people matter. It is all too tempting, however, to dwell on the plans and processes, which don’t talk back and don’t respond emotionally, rather than face up to the more difficult and more critical human issues. But mastering the “soft” side of change management needn’t be a mystery

防范

防范掠夺的小贴士：
1． 尽量结伴外出。
2． 选择州在于交通工具方向的路旁，因为这可以看得见迎面而来的车辆，加以防备。
3． 将手提袋或背包背或拿在靠内的方向，使近身的匪徒较难以下手抢夺。
4． 情况容许的话，勿带手提袋出门，尽量使用腰包或将钱包放进裤袋里。
5． 身上避免带过多现金以防钱财露眼。
6． 尽量选择人多的大路或光亮的马路，避免走偏僻小巷的捷径。

防范抢劫小贴士：
1． 勿携带过多现金出门，使到钱财露眼招惹匪徒。
2． 勿佩戴耀眼的饰物，如果非得如此，则找人陪伴，避免落单。
3． 商店装设闭路电视，确保正常操作。

防范破门行窃小贴士：
1． 确定你采用稳固的门锁。
2． 不管出门多久都需要有深锁大门的习惯。
3． 各个走廊，出入口处以及屋外需够明亮。
4． 经常修剪长得过高的树枝或草丛以防止不速之客利用作为隐蔽之处，进而闯入屋内造案。
5． 避免把锁匙藏在显眼的地方如地毯或花盆下。
6． 安装警报系统。
7． 若离家一段时期，需交代邻居或附近巡逻的警员，留意屋子的状况。

防范偷车小贴士（包括电单车）：
1． 把车辆停放在较亮的地方。
2． 紧记得锁车门，包括在驾车时。
3． 避免把重要物件包括密封的包裹或箱子留在车内显眼的地方，引起匪徒注目。
4． 在下车后确定车门已安全的锁上。
5． 在离合器与煞车器上装置安全锁，以及加上防盗系统。
6． 尽可能在下车前拆下光碟机，收藏在隐秘的地方。
7． 用最安全实用的锁头紧锁电单车。
8． 喷沙汽车镜子。
9． 别把车锁匙交给代客泊车员。