Raising the BAR!

The future belongs to organizations that can figure out how to make money in a way that is consistent with a sustainable planet and a sustainable society.

The definition of success for organizations of all types (profit seeking, non-profit, and government) is continuously changing and increasingly complex. From the mid 1940s to the 1970s the limited global competition allowed business leaders to focus mainly on financial results. The “party” ended sometime around 1980 when Xerox woke up to a situation where the Japanese were selling copiers in the US for what it was costing Xerox to make them (Kotter and Heskett, 1992). During the 1980s quality became a key success factor and was directly linked to market and ultimately financial success. In the beginning many proposed that high quality was simply too expensive. However we eventually discovered that high quality = reduced cost and increased market share or as Phillip Crosby wrote in a book by the same title - Quality is Free! As the service industry and in particular the knowledge worker industries increased in size and importance they discovered that talented passionate people are also a key to high quality and financial performance. During the 1990s successful organizations became quite good at “connecting the dots” or as FedEx called it - “people, service, profit” (AMA 1991).  The “bar” is being raised once again to include sustainable results in three key areas - financial, environmental, and societal or as Elkington, Emerson, and Beloe (2006) call it - the triple bottom line. For more information on the evolving conversation concerning the environment and societal challenges facing organizations today check out the web resources from the recent Aspen Environment Forum 2008 - The Future of Our Shared Environment Today. For more on the management dilemmas facing high performing organizations check out Latham 2008. There will be much more on this topic in the coming months.  

References

AMA. (1991). Blueprints for Service Quality: The Federal Express Approach. New York: American Management Association.

Elkington, J., Emerson, J., & Beloe, S. (2006). The Value Palette: A Tool for Full Spectrum Strategy. California Management Review, 48(2), 6-28.

Heskett, J. L., Jones, T. O., Loveman, G. W., Sasser Jr., W. E., & Schlesinger, L. A. (1994). Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work. Harvard Business Review, 72(2), 164-170.