Conventional Business Change is the Problem, Not the Solution

Since the beginning of business, various methods forstopped to think, "Is the way things have always
operating and developing the business have beenbeen done the best way". What we do is to accept
identified and refined. These have evolved into thethe way that things have always been done as the
conventional methods that we use today. Webasis and try to improve the way that things have
improve management and effect business change byalways been done.
adding new conventional methods on the existingSo no one ever studies the possibility that the
methods in place.fundamentals of how we define a business enterprise
We now have a large business change andmay be faulty, or that basic definitions employed in
management improvement industry. There areour management methods and books may be flawed.
thousands of books explaining business andNew conventional business change methods devise
management improvement. Management gurus putways to alleviate the symptoms of fundamental
on all kinds of seminars. Many companies participate,problems inherent in the way things have always
such as vendors with packaged solutions, websitesbeen done. This we can do ad infinitum without ever
selling improvement methods and techniques,solving the problems.
business change consultants and their methodologies,Management improvement books are written using
etc. The whole industry is based on touting differentthe academic approach, where the existing body of
ways to do the same things.knowledge or published record is accepted as the
Over the past decade, we saw supposedvalid basis. Many of the books cut, reorganize, and
breakthroughs like business process re-engineering,paste what has already been written. Other books
business transformation methods, and enterprisedescribe innovative ways enterprises are coping with
resource planning. But, these were notconventional methods. The objective is to produce
breakthroughs, since they did not addresssome incremental improvement.
fundamental problems. They were just new namesConventional approaches to business change and
and methods to do the same old things.management improvement prevent the breakthrough
Why are there so many different ways to do theneeded to solve problems inherent in the
same thing? Why isn't there just one right way? It isfundamentals of what we are trying to change or
simply because all of these different ways are theimprove. We come up with more and more solutions,
wrong way, because they build on fundamentalenterprises spend more and more money on change
problems. Since all the different ways we do thingsand improvement, and the fundamental problems
are wrong, we can only define the right way byremain untouched. This is great for the booming
identifying the wrong ways that arebusiness change and management improvement
generally-accepted. The basis for our methods andindustry. But is it great for our enterprises and their
standards is not because they are the fundamentallyinvestors?
sound and understood right away, but because theyWe need to step back and take a completely new
are the most widely-accepted wrong way. If anyonelook at the basics of our business enterprise. What
ever comes up with the one right way, it would beare the basic things the enterprise does? Can we
known and accepted and all of the wrong waysdefine and measure these basic things? What are the
would be obsolete.commonalties that are basic to all enterprises? Can
How many methods do we have and how manywe construct a strong foundation from the basics of
books have been written about the symptoms ofwhat all business enterprises do?
fundamental problems that arise in corporateWe should also look at what differentiates our
governance, organization and change management,enterprises. Can we define a specific areas that
investment management, capital development,enterprises design for themselves to gain advantage?
performance management, cost and valueCan we standardize other areas for collaboration and
management, solution alignment, businesscommon solutions?
collaboration, etc. Why do we keep coming up withIf we do this properly, we will have one fundamental
new solutions, if previous solutions were supposed toright way to describe and organize any enterprise
have solved the problem?and one right way to solve each of the business
Since the beginning of business, no one has everproblems we all face.