segunda-feira, novembro 27, 2006

As ferramentas de gestão não são más, os humanos é que podem fazer mau uso delas

"Benchmarking involves identifying competitors and/or companies in other industries that exemplify best practice in some activity, function, or process and then comparing one's own performance to theirs."

"The Performance Measurement Manifesto", de Robert G. Eccles, publicado no número de Janeiro-Fevereiro de 1991 da revista Harvard Business Review.


As ferramentas de gestão não são más, os humanos é que podem fazer mau uso delas. Assim, cuidado com o uso do benchmarking: “Quem quer fazer bem deve olhar para o lado e ver quem sabe fazer. Deve tentar, depois, fazer ainda melhor.” Como proposto no artigo “PME ganham instrumentos que permitem comparar desempenhos” da autoria de Luísa Pinto e José Manuel Rocha, na página 32 do jornal Público, de 20 de Novembro de 2006.


Quando as empresas se concentram, única e exclusivamente, em desenvolver actividades de melhoria incremental das suas operações, normalmente acordam num mar sangrento, infestado de tubarões.

Michael Porter diz: “Managers who think there is one best company and one best set of processes set themselves up for destructive competition. "The worst error is to compete with your competition on the same things," Porter said. "That only leads to escalation, which leads to lower prices or higher costs unless the competitor is inept." Companies should strive to be unique, he added. Managers should be asking, "How can you deliver a unique value to meet an important set of needs for an important set of customers?"

Outra fonte de erros consiste na confusão de que as melhorias operacionais do desempenho são estratégia: “Operational effectiveness is, in essence, extending best practices. Good operations can drive performance, Porter said, but added: "The trouble with that is it's hard to sustain. If it's a best practice, everybody will do it, too."
None of this is easy, he conceded. "The real challenge of management is you have to do these things together at the same time. You have to keep up with best practices while solidifying, clarifying and enhancing your unique positions."
Managers often tend to let incremental improvements in operations crowd out the larger strategy of building a unique business that will retain its competitive advantage, Porter noted. To bypass this problem, managers must keep the competitive strategy in mind at all times.”

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