How to create jobs?

We are organized in vertical silos. These silos have names: Marketing; Operations; Finance; Purchasing; and so on. We belong to a specific silo. And business results are measured in terms of Profit.

Over the years, silos build strong barriers of non-communication.

Management schools, across the country, support this line of thinking. Graduates specialize in a singular silo. These graduates are successfully placed, at premium salaries, in global corporates and consultancies. QED.

This form of management focuses on: Financial Planning; Financial Control; Financial Improvement. Excellent. So why do organizations have problems? Chronic problems, in particular.

Organizations have chronic problems in the work they do, within a silo. Adding to the organization’s Cost Of Poor Quality (COPQ). These chronic problems are traceable to the inputs they receive from their internal suppliers. If only the internal supplier had understood my needs …. the internal customer.

It is worth noting that work flows horizontally across the silos of an organization to external customers! Therefore, each silo must play a triple role: internal customer + internal operator + internal supplier.

In this context, I wish organizations and educational institutions remember the quote of Mahatma Gandhi: The customer is the reason for your existence.

In the current business world, for customer focus, most organizations tend to focus on market segmentation, based on demographics. According to Dr J M Juran, the Quality Guru, their real need is customer segmentation, based on buying behaviour.

This small paradigm shift can alter the way we manage organizations. As a basic, we will need owners of horizontal cross-functional processes that deliver to external customers. Managing these processes will require: Quality Planning; Quality Control; Quality Improvement. Results will need to be measured in terms of Customer Loyalty and COPQ Reduction.

If these guidelines are applied to the tourism sector in India, we could create jobs, as well as live happily thereafter. Gifting dignity to our citizens.

Do you know any other sector that can deliver this magic?