BuSineSS exeCutive • May 11


an effective strategy has three key components: product/ market, knowledge and innovation


dynamic team leadership. This means understanding the factors at play within an action team’s environment. Then identifying what a leader needs to do in order to shape the development and capabilities of the team. Such leaders are supervisors or leaders


operating within small groups, well placed to make changes which have the greatest impact. Middle managers are the nucleus of an organisation, the nerve centre, permeating many levels and sectors of the organisation. There is a premium on team leadership, to


make sure that there are capabilities when the situation demands flexible adaptive performance. To be effective in the first place, the leader must already possess certain intrinsic qualities. In dynamic team leadership situations, team members are usually equally matched in terms of competencies and capabilities. The aim is to build the capabilities of members so that teams can effectively self-manage. Further information: info@insead.edu


This research is really effective backing for Blaire Palmer’s ideas that middle management is the most essential functional area in any organisation.


huMan Capital MeaSureMent Collecting, evaluating and reporting on human capital management helps better business decision-making. It deepens understanding of the link between human resources, business strategy and performance, according to new research from CIPD. The research report examines the appetite


of the investment community for such reporting and investigates whether, following the financial crisis, levels of interest have changed since an earlier survey. The research highlights a gap between the data currently available and the actual demand for specific types of data which stakeholders require when making business decisions. Investors want comparable data, related to organisational key performance indicators. However, there are issues around the capability of current data to provide the type of information stakeholders require; there is a need to develop appropriate


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measurement frameworks. The research has shown that it is important for organisations and investors to understand the people drivers of sustainable success. Further information: k.breeze@cipd.co.uk


Corporate reSponSiBility reporting Ongoing research at Cranfield School of Management reveals that corporate responsibility (CR) practitioners are facing increasing difficulty in managing the large volume of information required to meet growing internal and external demands for


transparency. Key challenges include: l


Collating and using the information; l Responding to external demands; and l Managing dialogue and CR initiatives. More daunting for CR practitioners is the


need to cope with the levels of uncertainty and complexity that are a natural part of their cross-disciplinary role. CR practitioners need practical guidance for managing the information challenges in the complex and uncertain world of today’s organisations. A major idea is that the CR practitioner must act as a ‘master storyteller’ who builds a corporate community of CR practice whose members craft the organisation’s sustainability story. To create a story that is coherent, authentic,


relevant and dynamic, the researchers developed a three-step model for analysis and


action. l


l l


Assess the current corporate sustainability


Commit the organisation to creating a better corporate story, and


Tell the revised story to stakeholders through formal and informal communication channels.


By repeating this cycle, a company can


sustain a corporate ‘conversation’ about sustainability issues with stakeholders and keep the story ‘live’, relevant, and evolving. Further information: info@cranfield.ac.uk


integrating innovation Style and Knowledge Wide ranging research at MITSloan has concluded that traditional thinking about strategy is woefully incomplete in its focus on the positioning of products or services. Once taken for granted, knowledge is now being explicitly regarded as having value and therefore as a resource that must be managed. Many companies have now created the position of chief knowledge officer and put knowledge management initiatives in place. The problem, however, is that managing knowledge is being viewed as an operational issue, not as a strategic one.


Endpiece


I read a lot of books on management; most have something to say, even though the text is sometimes so dense and academic that it is difficult to understand. A few books that come my way are pure waffle and rehashing of old ideas dressed up in fancy verbiage. But just occasionally a book comes in which can be read with real pleasure, written in good plain easily understood English and with some original ideas. We reviewed one such book Business Exposed in


our February 2011 issue. When you find a good thing you generally want to get as much of it as possible. So we persuaded the author to contribute a punchy Viewpoint about top executive pay to this issue. Another book that has really enthused me is


reviewed in this issue. The Fine Art of Success looks at management in an entirely novel way, through the world of arts (in the broadest sense), and analyses why, for example, Madonna, Picasso or Tintoretto were such successful business people (as well as artists). This has been a delight to read; although the English is at times a bit quaint (that doesn’t matter though, because it is so easy to understand), I have learned a great deal besides management from this book. Reading for work isn’t always a chore. Now where is that unusual book that just arrived.......?


In today’s dynamic economy, organisations


have to continually reinvent who they are and what they do in both large and small ways. An important means of doing this is through innovation. Products and services are like the tip of an iceberg when it comes to positioning. They are the visible aspects of an organisation’s product/market position. But, like an iceberg, most of what is important lies below the surface. What remains out of sight (and too frequently, out of mind) is the organisation’s knowledge that enables it to deliver those products and services. An effective strategy has three key


components: product/market, knowledge and innovation. As the competitive landscape changes, organisations need to continually revise their positions. Competing is based not only on what an organisation makes or the service it provides but also on what it knows and how it innovates. Each aspect represents a competitive position that must be evaluated relative to the organisation’s capabilities and to others in the marketplace battling for the same space. The research describes what it means to compete, based on product, knowledge and innovation, and if necessary adjust all three positions. This has major implications for strategic managers. Further information: info@mit.edu


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