Topic 1: Empowerment

Professor Zairi, (SABIC Chair in Best Practice Management, Head of the European Centre for TQM), says, "To empower is to authorize, enable and to permit." Empowerment is a highly practical approach to get the best from your employees. By empowering employees, the decision level gets closer to the customer and there are good chances then that the customer may bond with your organization and provide a lifetime of value. This sub-theme unfolds the importance of Empowerment for you. A detailed case study on 3M, one of the world’s most innovative organizations and a step-by-step approach to ensure empowerment and engagement of your workforce makes this learning package a must for any senior executive who manages a large, distributed team that handles a wide portfolio of customers or products / services or operations. A blend of theory, other’s experiences and tips and tools will help you figure out a model of empowerment that is best suited for your organization.

Topic 2: Relationship Management

Is "relationship" just a marketing gimmick to gain customers' attention in a cluttered market? Does it merit the attention of a senior executive such as you? Or does it matter only to your employees who interface with customers, suppliers or other stakeholders who impact on your organization? to know more about the latest in Relationship Management, it would be worth while to go through this sub-theme. While normally one focuses only on managing relationships with customers, since CRM is a rage everywhere, we have taken care to ensure coverage of both the top-end of managing relationships with suppliers and the tail-end of managing relationships with customers. Dave Cheeseright from ASDA Logistics lectures about the top-end and how it is a very important piece of ensuring customer delight, while Prof. Zairi details the customer end of relationship management. The usual blend of case studies, tips and tools besides lecture notes and theories behind the topics will ensure that there is something in this for everyone who has an interest in the topic.

Topic 3: Culture & Values

Technology, stakeholder value, efficient processes and many such issues definitely contribute to the success of an organization. However, these factors operate smoothly only when the organization’s culture permits them. A strong, adaptive culture that is non-complex, non-bureaucratic, risk-taking, and high on creativity, results in highly motivated, satisfied and loyal employees. So how do you ensure that your organization’s culture does not inhibit your employees from delivering the best? In fact, how does it encourage them to perform well, set benchmarks and encourage them to strive for excellence? To know more about this, please go through this theme, which includes an excellent lecture from Alan J. Herd of Dupont, some interesting case-lets besides lecture notes. Four models of organizational culture will also help you understand where your own organization stands in terms of culture and help you figure out for yourself what you can target.

Topic 4: Leadership

Professor Mohamed Zairi traces the change in leadership from product-based economy to the current, knowledge-based economy and presents its new face. He stresses upon the need to rethink leadership for the knowledge economy and presents a new leadership model. The basic principles and implications of the model are illustrated using a case study of the US-based Dell Inc.

Topic 5: Learning & Innovation

“Do you want a collection of brilliant minds or a brilliant collection of minds?” -Meredith Belbin; If you were to answer this question, what would you prefer? It’s rather difficult without a clear understanding the concept of a team. Today’s knowledge-based economy calls for continuous innovation and for this, team and teamwork imperative. This session aims to:

First, give basic inputs on the concept of team and teamwork. The concept is illustrated with a case study which looks at how Employee Empowerment Workout teams helped improve productivity and reduce cost at Waste Management Inc. Explain the significance of teamwork in today’s knowledge-based economy. For this, a variety of teams with their functions are explained with examples.

Topic 6: Team work & Synergy

Professor Mohamed Zairi explains how to build a culture of learning and innovation in three parts:

• What characterizes the culture of learning and innovation such that it creates a world-class organization?
• Building a culture fuelled by learning and innovation.
• Dr. Edward Deming and his philosophy on innovation and learning.

Topic 7: Communication & Governance

Paul Statter, Head of Strategy and Support Services (Facilities & Property Services, United Utilities) explains what it takes to implement an excellent strategy in an organization. He lists out three ways to make communication effective during implementation of strategic change in an organization. Paul illustrates the significance of communication in change through a case of United Utilities. In this, Paul describes how they communicated and managed the EFQM Excellence model-driven change initiative at United Utilities.

Topic 8: Intellectual Capital Management - What, Why & How?

What is the transformation in assets from the agricultural era to the information era to the current, knowledge era? How the assets of the knowledge economy are weightless? What is the difference between Intellectual property and intellectual capital? How can we measure intellectual capital? To find out answers to these questions, listen to Mr. Christian Stam (Research Fellow at INHOLLAND University, de Baak – Management Centre VNO-NCW). He discuses the topic in three parts:

• What is intellectual capital? Mr. Stam talks about the meaning of intellectual capital and its importance in today’s business environment.
• Why should we measure IC? Mr. Stam gives the various reasons for a business to measure intellectual capital. This part also comprises a case study about Intellectual Capital being a part of the assets of a company. The case is about Cisco Systems Inc.’s takeover of Cerent Corporation in August 1999. It talks about how Cisco valued the intellectual capital it acquired from Cerent.
• How to measure IC? Mr. Stam lists various methods that can be used by companies to measure intellectual capital.