The Welch Company
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POIMS Technology
Integrates People, Process, Time
CEOs and economists are banking on
information technology (IT) to improve productivity; however, evidence
indicates that more information actually reduces management productivity. IT
causes mistakes and missed opportunities, stress, anger and reduced earnings
due to
information overload.
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Communication Metrics
uses POIMS technology to automate and integrate the basic elements of
management,
people,
process,
time,
to solve this problem.
People are
yelling at each other instead of
communicating;
executives accuse managers of
not telling the truth,
while managers withhold information because executives
cannot handle the "truth"
that is drifting in a sea of details. Managers do not have
time to think,
yet "thinking" is the engine of civilization, indeed the sole source of
productivity and wealth.
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New realities
of technology have
produced an Information Highway of endless meetings, calls, fax and email, yet
the Associated Press reports that managers waste
70% of the day in unproductive meetings. Dr. Henry Kissinger, former
Secretary of State, and National Security Advisor decries the quality of
management as an "Alice
in Wonderland" environment. Everybody is talking, nobody is listening.
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Andrew Grove, Chairman of Intel Coropration, says managers must adjust to
new realities by changing their work practices. Peter Drucker says the
growing
complexity of management
due to faster information requires changes in
the structure of management. Grove calls fundamental shifts in the business
environment that require new methods "Strategic Inflection Points;" but, he,
also, notices that good managers and executives are loath to change due to the
inertia of success
that causes denial of problems in order to avoid the effort
of improving work practices. Stephen Covey explains that
changing work habits is hard, and so causes denial that change is needed.
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This poses a challenge for leadership:
How to help managers with 20th century skills adjust to new realities
that require new tools and skills for
a "New World Order."
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The solution is "intelligence"
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Managing in a complex, fast paced environment requires a
different kind of technology: one that helps people
"think" faster and better without changing work habits. This means converting
the constant flow of information from present technology and methods
into what managers really need:
knowledge and ideas, i.e.,
intellectual capital.
Better "intelligence"
reduces mistakes caused by information overload; it improves communication,
reduces hurt feelings and stress, and improves earnings.
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POIMS technology
supports basic human mental machinery, commonly called
intelligence
as a continual process of setting
objectives, carrying out plans (i.e., doing things to satisfy needs) and
accumulating
experience
that forms patterns of cause and effect which then
enable the mind to make new plans and perform new actions more successfully.
Using technology to aid the intelligence
process of integrating daily tasks
leads to the idea of "automated integration of...
people,
process,
time
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Good technology alone is not enough. At the dawn of the 21st century, we need
a more robust concept of "management," one that deals with the primary activity
managers perform, "communication." The Welch Company has formulated a
management science of Communication Metrics to
ensure that technology makes managers productive despite lack of time to
learn new methods.
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Managers who do not have
time to think,
do not have enough time to learn new
technology, nor to study business trends that show better methods are needed.
Since managers burdened by "success" want to use what they already know, a new
player with professional skills in Communication Metrics
is needed to pilot the new technology. Enhancing management structure with
a new role ensures that managers get the "intelligence" needed to succeed, and
allows them time to learn new methods at their own pace. This makes the
Information Highway an asset rather than a liability.
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Good technology, good science and good people require another key ingredient to
meet the challenge of new realities. Leaders with courage to take the first
step and strength to withstand the first resistance are essential to overcome
fear of change so that people can discover the power of POIMS -- automated
integration of people, process and time. This takes leadership
with a broader vision.
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Updated: Aug 10, 1998