The Knowing-Doing Gap and Organizational Success

Managerial fads and fashions

Why do organizations succeed or fail?

What is knowing – doing gap?

What are some of the managerial practices that lead to knowing – doing gap?

The Annual Management Tools and Techniques Survey

Benchmarking. Compares a business' activities to those of the best companies. Core competencies. Build capabilities that customers will value and that

competitors can't replicate. Customer satisfaction. Focuses on identifying and meeting customer needs. Growth strategies. Aim to lift profits by expanding revenues, not just cutting costs. Mission and vision statements. Describe what the company will become and

how it will get there. Pay for performance. Ties compensation to reaching specific business goals. Reengineering. Radically redesigns business processes to improve productivity. Strategic alliances. Create business partnerships among customers, suppliers,

and even competitors. Strategic planning. Develops a comprehensive program to position businesses

for long-term success. Total quality management. Seeks to eliminate errors in order to reduce costs

and better serve customers.

Prepared by Darrell K. Rigby for Bain & Co., of which he is a director. The database includes 4,137 survey responses and 224 personal interviews with senior managers in 15 countries.

Why do organizations succeed or

fail? What are the sources of competitive

advantage 1- Economies of scale 2- Access to financial resources 3- Protected and regulated markets 4- Product and process technology 5- Management of human assets

What are the elements of sustainable comp. Adv.?

Not directly visible Difficult to understand Difficult to imitate

Competitive advantage comes from being able to do something others cannot do.

What is Knowing-doing Gap?

We know we Should do this

We are Doing it already

Using an active assessment process for hiring new employees

Providing employees with frequent feedback

Sharing information about your organization’s performance with everyone

Using practices that ensure fast and reliable customer service

Your own project?

What Is Knowledge Management?

0 10 20 30 40 50

Generating new knowledge

Accessing valuable external knowledge

Using knowledge in decision making

Embedding knowledge in process & products

Representing knowledge in databases

Facilitate knowledge growth through culture

Transferring knowledge within the firm

Measuring the value of knowledge assets

Lessons Learned from thriving giants:If it is common sense, why can’t we do it ? Accept change: Willingness to make your own

products and services obsolete

Listen to customers: Fight against isolation and arrogance

Decentralize authority

Hire carefully: Sign up skilled people

Teach continuously: Do not skimp on training even in lean times

Foster a frugal corporate culture: Lavish perks send the wrong message to employees

Because…….

Sometimes Talk Substitutes for Action

Making decisions Making

presentations Writing reports Planning for the

future Developing mission

statements

Evaluations based on sounding smart

Increased status by talking

Business schools teach it

Consultants preach it We believe that

managers talk and others do

Talking by But why?

When is organizational memory a substitute for managerial thinking?

A strong identity of who we are A strong need to be consistent with past

decisions and to show perseverance Our strong desire to avoid ambiguity and

uncertainty Our use of implicit and untested models

of behavior and performance in decision making

Our expectations about what is possible