Good To Great: Why some companies are successful compared to others?

 

   

    To begin with, after reading the book by Jim Collins you can notice the values he put forward in becoming a successful company. He pushes the concept of Good to Great framework forward which is based on the ideology of discipline in every aspect of the organizational goals and objectives. Looking at the findings based on the POLC framework, the theory of “First Who Then What” basically depicts the idea of how great industries work. The spotlight here is put on the internal organizational structure and the efficient performance of each employee to maintain consistency in goal-orientedness. As I learnt from the previous teachings, it is hard for any company to make decisions when it comes to planning what strategies to implement and how to use the resources efficiently. Following Collin’s proposed concept, in his book he encourages managers to begin the planning concept initially from selecting the right human resources (right workers) that are willing to learn and work for the company to achieve its organizational set of goals and actions afterwards. He also points out that great companies will always begin their initial steps by focusing on individuals rather than goals and set of actions an organization should perform.

                                                                   POLC Framework

      

    When it comes to the concept of organizing, he drives the Hedgehog concept. The Hedgehog concept mainly focuses on performing the one vital task in perfection rather than various number of tasks performed by a one individual which later could harm the image of the great company and the manager itself. To maintain the consistency of performance, it is useful for an organization to have job specification attributes and looking at the book, the Hedgehog concept provides insight data for the company to become successful in a way that the managers and their subordinates do not outperform the assigned tasks. As the outcome of organizing, is the creation of an organizational structure, a formal system of task and reporting relationships that coordinates and motivates members, the Hedgehog concept emphasizes the facts that, individuals themselves can identify their capabilities and limits in a company as a whole, so they work together to achieve organizational goals. It is beneficial in terms of personal growth in an organization and to create a core competency for the company as well. Finally, it also drives an organization to build a culture of freedom and responsibility between team members if the organization has such defined framework.

    The book “Good to Great” suggests quite a strategic concept that can be applied to run a smooth business in terms of the leadership domain of the POLC framework. The author points out the concept of Hierarchical Leadership and particularly the Level 5 leadership. Managers who are in Level 5 are believed to be great and effective leaders and the book highlights their potential skills of will and humility. According to the data presented in the book, the Level 5 leaders are paradoxical and self-driven to produce efficient and sustainable results. These types of leaders are also considered to be great leaders that build successful subordinates, always share praise with team players, and are mostly focused on the basis of contributing to the growth of the organization. These traits I believe are equal to the leadership powers that we learned in class and that concept basically highlights the authority of the managers using their expert, legitimate, referent and reward power of the leadership styles. Also, the book encourages the great leaders to not to use coercive power, lead the team with freedom, build information power and organizational culture through engaging in debate and discussions, and allow the subordinates to make particular decisions which in turn provides them with a little authority in an organization and the potential to learn from their own mistakes if the things go wrong. 

    Furthermore, the Stockdale Paradox concept involves working on your weaknesses to avoid potential risks and threats damaging the company, so that you can turn your weaknesses into opportunities and motivate members to tackle difficulties and eventually become large scale lucrative company Finally, great managers are advised to build red flag mechanisms so that the whole HR would focus on what is indispensable to perform required tasks with efficient level of performance.

    Controlling is the major domain of management which requires the managers to perform insight analysis on the companies performance and productivity levels to measure how well an organization is doing to achieve its set of goals and objectives. The book suggests building a Flywheel effect in an organization to create the consistent flow of income and customers. To create such effect the managers should examine the performance of the team members and put forward the focus on Hedgehog concept that in turn provides the company to sustain the organization’s core values and create competitive advantage focusing on the basis of quality production and performance.

    Additionally, the book provides valuable information for managers to keep an eye on its Doom Loop which highlights how bad the organization is performing. This is where the Level 5 managers should step in to avoid the drawbacks. Doom Loop concept evaluates the process of quality performance and company’s duality in managing the regarded tasks. It also provides analysis on how well a particular strategy is influencing the organizational structure. If the implemented strategy is underrated, then an immediate action is required to change the situation for the better.

    Lastly, the author proposes the importance choosing of the right employee to perform a task and if the performance is not adequate for the applied strategy, it is advised to take action to change that particular employees position so that he/she could develop the task variety and eventually learn the importance of the job he is doing through feedback. If that is not helpful it is better for the company to completely remove the individual and hire a new employee who could perform the job better.

• 👉 In my opinion, this suggestion is partly unfair regarding the employee performance, but the book also highlights the fact that maybe that potential employee has better skills performing the other types of tasks and the position change is an option, which is quite good. However, thinking the overall structure of the organization I believe the above average performer is needed to gain better results.