Small Business Management

Don’t Go For The Latest Small Business Management Model

One way to get in way over your head when searching for a small business management system model that will work for you, or correct some elements in your present system that are not working properly, is to try the latest fad. Not all management models are going to be around forever. Systems come and go at great regularity, often hyped as THE solution every business owner wants by a publisher bringing out a new book. Never become an early adopter of any new management model you’re considering. It’s always a good idea to let others play system tester and learn from the mistakes that they make, because not every new management model will be right for you or consider all your business variables.

No where is this truer than with computer software programs, which often contain many program bugs that have yet to be discovered or worked out. Some software manufacturers release software versions long before they are finished, expecting that their buyers will become unpaid beta testers to identity the things that don’t work, so their Information Technology gurus can fix them as they go. While this is hardly ethical behavior, it does happen.

While a small business management model publisher will not perform the same action, the best thing you can do is sit back and wait, keeping informed in the trade press about what is working or not. Stories of other company’s success or failure are good for you to base your decision to implement a change. Don’t forget, employees are involved and employees frequently don’t like change. Neither do some mangers. Reluctant employees and managers will comply, but the implementation many not go as smoothly as you envision.

Available System Models

Some small business management systems that have some longevity and still work include these:

Management By Objective

An oldie but a goodie with its goal setting objective still workable in today’s buses style.

Participatory Management

This model as great in theory but often difficult to implement. Not all employees in your company will have the mindset necessary for it to work, instead they will retain their employee mentality instead of gaining an ownership mentality that the model hopes to instill. And certainly not all employees need or want added responsibility.

Employee Ownership

Owning a piece of the pie is a great motivator, providing that every employee wants one or won‘t quibble about different pie slice sizes. Some employees would rather trust T bills instead of dangled shares of stock for an upcoming IPO. When businesses do go public, minority shareholder employees will always have an opinion about how things should or shouldn’t be run, and expect a say in how things should be managed, which may conflict with yours.

Total Quality Management TQM

This model focuses employees upon increasing customer awareness, decreasing costs and increasing profits by increasing overall product or service quality. But these are exactly the takes that a small business owner and his managers should already be doing.

Reengineering

This one examines all aspects of your business with a powerful microscope in order to make every aspect more streamlined and efficient. This is similar to the above referenced functions of a business owner.

Open-Book Management

This model assumes that employees will make good informed decisions about their department within their expertise, better than a distracted and distanced manager. This models works but has a downside, in that information seeking employees may become informed about areas you’d rather them stay ignorant about, which can spark grumblings about excessive “management” perks.

Eclectic

This is the model takes a little from all the exiting systems, which is what you seek to do. Some things work and some thing won’t. You know your business better than any other, and should have a good idea of what you could incorporate and what you can’t. Make small changes, through trial and error. Ask your employees about what they would want to improve from production to benefits programs, breaks and time management, equipment and information technology maintenance. Most of the time your employees may have clearer ideas of what will work for them then you do. Encourage employee suggestions and reward good ideas with money, dear to any employees heart, or a promotion if the employee that came forward was previously unseen as management potential. Paid consultants are a last resort. You’re got plenty on your payroll. And remember, that there will always be employees content not to rock the boat, while others are chomping at the bit to make changes and a name for themselves. As with all management plans and employees, the cream will rise to the top. It will be your job to identify the cream in your company and gain from it.