William Montes-Pack

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These books, workbooks, sites and associations are media that I consistently use to provide the best in management methodology. If you have questions, comments or additional resources, please send an e-mail to me.

Definitions:

Management consultant: Project management experience, responsible for process/systems analysis and implementation for a portion of a project -- Business Consulting, Hot Spots, ComputerWorld magazine, page 80, November 15, 1999

Senior-level consultant: Responsible for overall project management, including deliverables and schedule – Business Consulting, Hot Spots, ComputerWorld magazine, page 80, November 15, 1999

Best practices: the best ways to perform a business process – Best Practices: Building Your Business with Customer-Focused Solutions

Benchmarking: a measurement tool used to gauge a company’s operating performance against that of competitors to identify best practices and make improvements – Business Quickstudy, ComputerWorld magazine, page 52, November 22, 1999

Customer: anyone who has a stake or interest in the ongoing operations of the company. A customer can be internal or external to the organization. It is anyone who receives the output of labor or is affected by its quality and timeliness -- Benchmarking: A Tool for Continuous Improvement

Quality: defined from a user’s point of view is anything that enhances satisfaction – Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese about Quality

Readings:

Must haves are highlighted in yellow

The Communication Plan: The heart of Strategic Communication, 1997, Lester R. Potter, ABC, (The Strategic Communicator Series, International Association of Business Communicators)

Topics:

The critical link between organizational strategic planning and communication

Techniques and methods for evaluating and measuring communication programs

A 10-step planning process

Clear, concise examples

Case Studies:

The Consumers’ Gas Company Limited

Carl Thompson Associates, Inc.

Cathay Pacific Airways Limited

South Texas Health Research Center

Carpenter Technology Corporation

TRW Info-Nation Systems & Services

United Parcel Service – Americas Region

Ketchum Public Relations/Atlanta

Benchmarking: A Tool for Continuous Improvement, 1995, C.J. McNair, CMA and Kathleen H.J. Leibfried (The Coopers & Lybrand Performance Solutions Series, John Riley and Sons, Inc.)

Topics:

Creating value from the customer’s perspective

How to develop both qualitative and quantitative benchmarks

How to identify key performance drivers

Realizing the most effective methods for implementing and managing a benchmarking initiative

Featured Companies

Avon Products

AT&T

Janssen Pharmaceutica

Business Process Benchmarking: Finding and Implementing Best Practices, 1995, Robert C. Camp (ASCQ Quality Press, American Productivity and Quality Center)

Topics:

Key success factors for the leadership and management of benchmarking

How-to information that will improve operations in your organization for quick results

Case studies that highlight current success stories

TQM tools that be used to analyze benchmarking resources

Reference materials that provide the best in bench marking resources

Featuring case studies of 40 companies from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

Measuring Customer Satisfaction: Survey Design, Use, and Statistical Analysis Methods, Second Edition, 1998, Bob E. Hayes (ASCQ Quality Press, American Society for Quality)

Topics:

Understanding the scientific methodology used to construct questionnaires utilizing the author’s systematic approach

Important scientific principles are presented in simple, understandable terms

Both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of questionnaire design and evaluation

Project Management: Planning and Implementation, Business Process Improvement 2000 Edition, 1999, Bennet P. Lientz and Kathryn P. Rea (Harcourt Professional Publishing)

Topics:

Developing the project plan

Building the effective project team

Project resources and funding

Methods and tools

Project communications

Management support

Tracking and analyzing project results and status

Collaborative scheduling

Assessing project effectiveness

Managing issues

Multiple projects

e-Commerce

Managing crisis

Best Practices, Building Your Business with Customer-Focused Solutions, 1998, Robert Hiebeler, Thomas B. Kelly and Charles Ketteman (Arthur Andersen, Simon & Shuster)

Topics:

Ø how more than forty best-practices companies focus on their customers, create growth, reduce cost, and increase profits

Ø Documented data on hundreds of companies worldwide

Ø concentrates primarily on customers and how to involve them in the design of products and services to marketing, selling, and product delivery

Ø helps diagnose company processes to determine how best to improve those processes

The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, Second Edition, 1994, W. Edwards Deming (W. Edwards Deming Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Engineering Study.)

Topics:

Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge – the knowledge needed for transformation to a new style of management

Creating product and service to achieve continual growth, innovation, and improved market position

Why cooperation, not competition, is vital to success

Developing joy in working and learning

Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality, 1990, Rafael Aguayo (First Fireside Edition, Simon & Shuster)

Topics:

Ø What is quality?

Ø Stable systems

Ø Cooperation between supplier and division s

Ø Cooperation between management and workers

Ø Cooperation among competitors

Ø The need for transformation

Ø Focus and philosophy

Ø Importance of training

Ø Leadership

Ø Driving out fear

Out of the Crisis, 1986, W. Edwards Deming, Dr. Deming’s Classic Book for Management (W. Edwards Deming Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Engineering Study)

Topics:

Ø The 14 Points for Management:

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business and to provide jobs

2. Adopt the new philosophy

3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place

4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust

5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs

6. Institute training on the job

7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job

8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company

9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service

10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the workforce asking for zero defects and new levels or productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force

11. a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership

11. b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership

12. a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality

12. b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating of management of objective

13. Institute a rigorous program of education and self-improvement

14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job

Ø The deadly diseases and obstacles of management

Ø Theory of a system: common causes and special causes of improvement

Ø Quality and the consumer

Ø Quality and productivity in service organizations

Ø Some new principles of training and leadership

Ø Rules for inspection

The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action, 1996, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass.

I was amazed when I found this book – it was so much like my own business methodology but much, much more in-depth. It is a “management system” that uses performance based metrics and knowledge capital to achieve results in your business strategy.

Topics:

Financial performance metrics

Customer knowledge

Internal business processes

Learning and growth

Periodicals:

Contract Professional: “The magazine for IT contractors and consultants” If your are a technical consultant, IT contractor, application consultant or recruiter, you must subscribe to this magazine.

http://www.cpuniverse.com/

Consulting Magazine: “The only magazine written exclusively for management consultants - Consulting is dedicated to fostering performance excellence and career success in management consulting through editorial articles and features discussing innovative ideas, intelligence and guidance. The monthly publication answers the unique information needs of individual consultants responsible for shaping the business strategies and performance of their client companies. Editorial features examine consulting's growing career options, while discussing the challenge of creating a rewarding work/life balance”

http://consultingcentral.com/magazine/index_mag.html

ComputerWorld: “The newspaper for IT leaders” Our best industry rag! Watch for Business Quickstudy and Technology Quickstudy sections, they are excellent for a quick run-down on new management practices and technologies. News and articles are great for determining which companies are worth investing your money, time and resources.

http://www.computerworld.com/

InfoWorld: “Defining technology for business”

http://www.infoworld.com/

PC Week: “Building the .com enterprise”

http://www.pcweek.com/