MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Dossier on Business Management

(Excerpt from Manual and Presentation)

Fernando Fuster-Fabra Fernández

Management Consultant

(The reproduction or use of any part of this publication without the Author’s written consent is punishable by Law.)




Management consists in the planning, organisation, coordination and execution of any and all actions by a person and/or group of persons, all acts intended to achieve an objective or several objectives.No matter if said acts are intended towards economic goals or simply pretend to achieve a personal aim, each individual exercises management, whether he likes it or not, when he administers in such orderly manner his actions.As one grows in knowledge and experience, we realise that managing our lives is essential towards personal well-being and professional attainments. Then we work out a scheme that leads to better management of our assets and a better knowledge of our environment. This type of management is what is termed “strategic management”.Each person possesses qualities that are combined in such a manner that are exclusively his, making him different from all the rest around him. Life teaches us to find means of developing our natural potential, employing our assets in each situation before us. Varying situations require different strategies. It is best to start off by knowing one’s self and establishing your weak and strong points. In this manner, you are better equipped to face up to any unforeseeable situation with total confidence in your capacity to resolve any given issue. That is what management strategy is all about.How well do you know yourself ? In spite of the fact that the most difficult question anyone may put up to you is – “Describe yourself.”, deep down inside, each one of us knows exactly how he is, his strong points, his weaknesses, his character under stressing situations and his fantasies.Why is one’s profile so relevant ? In any action, an individual will act and react according to his personality, that which he may keep hidden to himself. To know how he will respond before a given situation, he must know what he has.The Visionary :He who is full of ideas for all occasions normally walks through time without limit. He may seek in the past to do in the present, peep into the future to do now what no one sees as possible, or simply project from his inside a series of sensations that others would like to have as their own.Any action starts off with an idea. The visionary is therefore needed to plant the seed of the idea to get any action into motion. Nevertheless, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he who has the idea also has the capability to carry out the actions towards the objective to be reached.The Visionary only is worth his weight in gold if he is capable of depositing the seed, his idea, on fertile ground, and hopefully sharing the task of nurturing his idea with a green-thumb farmer.The Revolutionary :The man who predicts and practices change is responsible for the world advancing towards new goals, thus the very essence of progress.The Revolutionary takes an idea, whether his own or someone else’s, and lifts it up as a standard in battle. His mission in life is to defend that standard and carry it up across adversity until he crosses the lines to victory.The force that anyone proposing change must have is comparable to that of a team of race horses hitched to a chariot. The Revolutionary has the power to drag towards the finish line each and everyone that flocks around his standard.The Enquirer :That individual that has a ready-made “Why?” to question every action or event in life is The Enquirer. He needs to know the reason for every movement that occurs around him in order to act himself.The Enquirer not only clarifies his own position but also obliges those in his surrounding to reflect as to the reason for any action. This facilitates the analysis of cause and effect, so valuable in setting up strategy.Individuals of this nature may question an idea or the cause defended by another but not necessarily be against the idea or the cause. In fact, his query is intended to clarify doubts and once convinced of said idea or cause, he will give all out support willingly and even convince others with fervent conviction.As a supporter of any idea or cause, he is better equipped to evangelise others to same, even better than the very author that created the idea or envisioned the cause.The Easygoing :Some persons take life as it comes. Their positive nature sees the sunny side of things even when thunder clouds threaten with a spring shower. Their outlook permits them to face up adversities with a smile.The Easygoing appear to be insensible to problems and some may accuse him of not assuming his share of the burden. What really occurs in him is that his assertiveness makes him see problems from a different angle, casting light into the shadowy areas.This very nature is his biggest asset, if and when, he keeps his feet on the ground and takes time to value the weight of the negative aspects. The Easygoing tends to infect those around him with his bright optimism, helping others to be better equipped to fight towards a goal.The Worrier :The other extreme of the picture is The Worrier. He has a pessimistic view of life and thinks that the balance is always on the unfavourable side. Rather than question to clarify, he directly rejects ideas or causes because the actions to be taken are too risky, complicated or simply the load is too heavy.The Worrier objects to most anything for the simple reason of weight of difficulties and hardly considering the possibilities, much less the probabilities. Some of his objections may be logical and even valid but he tends to exaggerate the level of difficulty of any given situation.Unlike the optimistic who sees the good side of an issue, he tends to see first that which makes a task impossible or difficult to accomplish. In a group of assertive persons, he may be the ideal element to step on the brake when euphoria tends to get out of hand.The Prodder :Impulsive and impatient, The Prodder pushes to get things done so the goal may be reached, the sooner the better. He usually provokes and irritates the other less agressive individuals around him. Needless to say, he keeps everyone on the go.The Prodder is also a worrier in the sense that he is concerned about reaching the objective. Contrary to the pessimist, who refuses to act, he worries because people don’t act or react to given situations, slowing down the trend of affairs.His contribution in a rather relaxed environment, is to keep things going when the negative inertia almost brings things to a standstill. In a balanced atmosphere, he whips the slowpokes up and bridles the positive energy in the right direction.The Finisher :Observing details is the path towards perfection. Such is the route The Finisher usually takes. He observes carefully every action and object so as to reach the goal in the most perfect manner.The Finisher, however, may forget that time ticks away while he seeks perfection and that time may be an essential factor in reaching the goal. Also, his concentration is normally such that he forgets there are others around him.It is perhaps due to the need of concentrating on finishing a task that he generally isolates himself both mentally and physically, preferring to work on his own in an independent space. If anyone is to get a task done perfectly, then one must trust The Finisher. Just remember to keep tag of his fulfilling the mission within the estimated time limit, otherwise he wouldn’t even bother to check his watch to see how much time he has left.The Appeaser :He, who is capable of being accepted by all around him, shows a high level of comprehension. The Appeaser is such a person. He has a great capacity to listen to others, sufficient impartiality to weigh between opposed views and firmness to transmit his criteria without receiving any rejection.In any group of highly contrasted individuals, the presence of The Appeaser is the only guarantee that said individuals may ever reach a consensus. Without ever leaving anyone’s point of view out of the scheme, he is capable of proposing a common ground acceptable to the majority and then seeing that said shared view be respected by all concerned.The Appeaser generally never expresses his own view until it becomes utterly necessary. In this manner, he controls the situations by having an influx of information and reserving his own information to the very end.The Obedient :A person may feel it natural to toe the line and let others take the lead role. His main goal in life is to fulfill the role assigned him by others. He is usually outstanding in loyalty to a cause.The Obedient observes the rules set up and does his bit towards any objective, without too much ado. On the contrary, when he is asked to express an opinion or to give out orders, he feels out of place and rather uncomfortable.His contribution towards a goal is a steady-pace activity that guarantees things getting done. Others around him may not realise it but without his regularity, the objective may never be reached.The Jack-of-all-Traits :He who is a handyman around home or the office and can solve a number of issues or do a lot of different types of jobs is The Jack-of-all-Traits.His versatility and adaptability makes him a wild card in any card game, easy to fit into any hand. Generally, he is adaptable into most roles, although he may not feel naturally suited to all in the same intensity.In a group, The Jack-of-all-Traits can put up with tasks temporarily or permanently whenever the absence of another individual creates an emergency situation. Like everyone else, he has his own preferences as to tasks he likes best but will never turn down putting up with a role if necessary.As a whole, we must say that each individual has one or more profiles of those described but generally there is one predominant profile in him. This outstanding description of the individual’s potential permits him and those who work with him to know what to expect of him in any job development.This predominant profile must be analysed in consonance to the secondary profiles of said individual, usually not more than two. The combination of profiles defines better the potential traits of the person and his capacity in any given task.Each individual will express outwardly his personal profile in coherence with his personal objectives and then proceed to adopt his behaviour to the dimension of his personal priorities in the combined personal-professional activities.An objective is that situation or condition we wish to reach by any given action or series of actions. Each person establishes a number of objectives at different moments of his life, some that must be reached to continue towards other objectives and others that take a life-time to accomplish. A priority is anything or anyone that has preference over all the rest.Everyone sets up priorities everyday. The relevance of these priorities may not seem of importance taken on a case by case basis but in fact, these personal priorities constitute the mode of action of any given person. In other words, his manner of establishing his own priorities defines his habit of priority-setting in his professional activities.Priorities can be measured according to the importance of preference. Any and all actions that are indispensable or obligatory to attain a final goal are considered PRIORITY 1. In turn, that which being rather relevant to carry out, convenient to do but not indispensable to reach the final goal, are catalogued as Priority 2. Finally, any action leading towards the fulfillment of an intermediate objective, generally offering the possibility of being substituted by other similar actions, are labeled as Priority 3.Time management takes care of organising priorities towards intermediate objectives and final goals, at the same time preventing that non-priority issues turn into Priority 1, simply due to the need of urgent solutions rather than to the matter’s relevance. Priorities are established according to a time schedule and executed on the basis of a preference list which defines the order of execution and the time allotted each action.Any person that mismanages his time would finally upset any given priority schedule. For this reason, personal time management is fundamental for individual priority fulfillment. From there on, team priority accomplishment is smooth sailing.In general, priorities may be set up on short-term, medium term or long-term. Long-term priorities are less frequent for the younger generations. This is so due to the uncertainty of the future in the New Millennium denominated The Information Era. The rapid technological changes in constant evolution and the elevated consumers’ propensity of our developed free-market economies have magnified the lack of security and indecision of most professionals. Regretfully, this tendency favours day to day improvising and margins coordinated long-term planning.We are of the belief that personal organisation is the basis for guaranteed personal & professional success in a globalising accelerated society that demands better equipped individuals to face up challenges of a time-conscious competitive population.To consolidate results on long-term, priorities spread out over a span of time must consider an orderly and organised sequence executed with the adequate temperance and coherence. In the setting out of The Information Era of the New Millennium, temperance is a highly desirable virtue in order not to be dragged into the whirlpool of time, a degrading spiral that may unseat us from coherent targets.What really counts is today, in as much as tomorrow depends on how well you perform in the daily priorities before you. Today’s attainments will condition tomorrow’s priorities and thus on to the medium-term or long-term ones.When setting up a global Priorities’ List, take into account the various activities you are involved in.Here is a reliable guide to observe when you draw up a Priorities’ List :-1. Establish the bases for the list before you even start to make one. Said bases must define the actions covered, the periodicity of list revision and/or modification and the margin of flexibility of changes.2. If priorities have to be urgently established, develop a short-term priority list to face the emergency and proceed to draw up the global list as soon as possible, taking into account the results attained on the initial short-term planning. In such cases, Priority 1 will include urgent matters that require immediate attention, not necessarily indispensable actions towards the final goal or its relevance on a medium-term or long-term basis.3. Organise the list starting off with the main goal or the most relevant intermediate objective (Priority 1 or 2) and work downwards towards the least important objective and/or most immediate priority (Priority 2 or 3) that may be urgent though less important.4. The coordinated action of the priorities’ list and the respective agendas improve the time efficiency of any work team. It also compiles in one single document the team’s priority obligations, permitting a better control of the progress made.Remember that priorities are set up to reach a goal and not goals established to attain priorities. Therefore, consider priorities as marking stones towards a concrete objective and work out said list with your objective in mind.Concluding, priorities are time-sensitive and MUST be accomplished in the time limit set, with an allowable margin of error NEVER in excess of the permissible safety factor established within the framework of your global negotiations strategy.Let’s proceed to consider the drafting up of our objectives, be these intermediate ones or final goals. How does personal goal-setting go about ?Let’s try to lay out a basic guide towards objective-setting in our persona life :-Select all the actions you would like to carry out during a given period of time.Identify the actions according to priorities or urgency. Urgencies are those actions that must be done even though these haven’t been classified as priorities.Mark the time you consider appropriate to carry out each action. Remember to establish a time margin for any unforeseeable event.Extrapolate the actions and the total time distributed in your daily agenda. Make sure you apply a realistic planning of activity execution.Transfer to the following days any non-priority action that may be in excess of your daily time plan.Revise your agenda regularly, preferably on a daily basis, to make sure you don’t overlook any activity that may later on become an urgency due to repeated postponement.Any individual that experiences personally the added satisfaction of seeing activity accomplished as planned, on time, and availing of free time to dedicate to other objectives, will definitely continue exercising the goal-setting practice. Furthermore, creating the habit of personal goal-setting leads to an assertive view in the professional organisation of targets.What difference is there in setting up business objectives ? From the personal point of view, there should be none. However, whereas personal objectives generally affect you in at least more than 80 % of the accomplishment, in business objectives, the personal role may be reduced to 20 % or less, depending on the professional role you are to play in each case.This is so because the business objectives, in general, are set up by others and we are then asked to participate towards said target. Also, it must be remembered that an enterprise requires group action, in which we are just one of the participating elements.This doesn’t prevent one from applying his basic guidelines, as if he were acting on the personal status. The only condition to take into account is the need to overlap time-plans and intermediate goal attainments in order to progress as a work group.To attain coordinated organisation, it is best to know well both one’s personal preferences as well as one’s role in the enterprise on hand. Only then can one plan out accordingly.Why does one work for a given company ? The motives shall be as varied as the professionals working in any single firm. We can name a few, those we consider the most relevant for workers in this New Millennium society :-1. To earn a living and/or accumulate wealth2. To learn from the experience acquired3. To acquire a professional status4. To acquire a social status5. To attain better quality of living6. To enjoy the work that one is performingOne may think that he, in fact, is working for more than one reason. Such is usually the case. Then too, depending on one’s age, his motivations will be different. No doubt, the first reason is the most extended, at least in the sense of earning to be able to reasonably survive in this accelerated consumers’ world. Nevertheless, as one matures, aside from earning a living and acquiring experience, it is necessary to attain a certain level that permits a general recognition of one’s efforts, whether in the professional, social o economic fields or in more than one of these.One may reach a level that permits him to gain quality in his overall living standards and even be able to really enjoy his job. This is the ideal professional state which not always is so accessible.It is essential to note that maximum professional success without fulfilling the personal and familiar aspirations is well worth nothing. A balanced goal plan must consider all the elements that make a human being tick and stay happily alive, not just merely exist and survive.The Human Resources or Personnel Department of a firm must describe the job on hand, so as to establish the worker’s responsibilities and the limitations of his competence, said description may not be handed over in writing to the interested party but only communicated verbally.The correct procedure is that both parties involved in a work contract know and can demonstrate the functions involved in the execution of the contractual duties. All contracts should, in fact, have a job description annexed.What does a job description include ? Let’s analyse the contents of such a document :-It indicates the title of the post assumed. This identifies one’s place in the company organigram. In it, the command responsibility flow is established.It describes the tasks that are of one’s competence and responsibility, the duties one must fulfill while occupying said post and the authority one can exercise and over whom.It mentions the modus operandi to be followed in the execution of the tasks and the exercise of the authority, including the inalterable conditions and the flexible terms of said exercise of duties.It could also specify the mode of seasonal job interruption the worker is allowed to exercise with a mere previous reasonable notice. This is optional and subject to the contents of the terms & conditions of the actual work contract agreement.It is convenient to note that a written Job Description is a contractual clause of the labour agreement between the parts. This creates a better working atmosphere that avoids misunderstandings between company and worker. One knows what he can do and what he mustn’t do at all times and has no excuse to say he ignored the situation and/or condition. On the other hand, the enterprise cannot abuse its authority imposing that which the worker is not obliged to do.Personal InvolvementEach person acts and reacts according to his inner dictates. At work, this effect is called involvement. Once the functions are known, an individual can follow one of the following paths towards work objectives :-· Fulfill strictly that expected of him· Render to the best of his ability· Contribute towards a better working atmosphereIn the first case, it soon becomes obvious that the person concerned is working to deserve what he earns but is not involved in the company’s project.The second case is that individual who delivers all he is capable of because he feels that is his best way to contributing to the company’s cause, the economic angle being secondary in his scale of values.The individual in the third case evaluates all the aspects of involvement and understands that by working regularly towards the company’s goals in a favourable atmosphere, the individual efforts tend to be more productive both for him and his firm.If a worker is able to keep an open mind towards work situations, he will definitely comprehend that each one is a part of a system. Each one is equivalent to a mechanism in a machine, without which the machinery as a whole cannot be put into operation. This we term as personal involvement.On the other hand, the company must reward personal involvement with the corresponding mechanisms to encourage the workers towards the continuance of this type of conduct.This is done by giving the work group reasons for which to be participating in a project. We call this package motivation.To motivate any work group, the enterprise may opt for any of the following :-· Establish a common goal one may become identified to.· Create a corporate image that the individual can uphold.· Set up an incentive system that recompenses the worker for his involvement.· Permit the worker to feel that he is part of the project or company.Any single option or a combination of these will create the adequate climate that will spearhead motivation.What is the relevance of project motivation in a business strategy ?Needless to say, a motivated work group tends to work better in all senses. Workers who defend a cause are not only eager to reach the objectives but also consider the quality of their individual performances towards said targets. The motivated work group tends to :-1. Fulfill the tasks in the terms demanded2. Save time in the execution of the tasks3. Improve the quality of the product or service4. Deliver the product or service assertively5. Enjoy the process of job fulfillment6. Transmit a solvent corporate imageThe overall effects are positive all around, not only for the work group and the company but for the clients as well.We would like to emphasize the importance of motivation in designing a solid business strategy that necessarily must contemplate the marketing aspects. Clients are a MUST for any business, both potential as existing, for which reason, business strategy pays particular attention to developing their markets.What one must remember is that any Customer Service starts in-office. THE FIRST CUSTOMERS OF ANY FIRM ARE ITS WORKERS. Motivating them is the first step towards giving a better service to the company’s customers.Let’s talk about tools on hand but first let me say that effectiveness is only attained when one is capable of making at least 80 % of our effort produce the desired effects.All persons avail of basically the same tools but not everyone knows how to make the most of them. There lies the essence of effectiveness in management.Business strategy is based on the use of these tools to the utmost, combined with the agility of action and the firmness of decision of he who is coordinating the actions towards a given objective.We consider four elements involved in the tools on hand and these are :-· People· Information· Communications· TimeEach element contributes an essential component towards business and the absence of any one of these will deter the development of enterprise.Life is a compilation of information in time. Each period of a person’s existence is composed of personal data that have affected his life, sometimes directly and even more times indirectly. Any and all information of whatever nature plays a vital role in the developments not only of our personal lives but also that of the community we live in or the country of which we are citizens of. For this reason, information is gathered, analysed, used, transmitted & spread, filed and updated.Whatsoever the type of information, what really counts is its veracity. For this reason, anyone who seeks and finds information is obliged to countercheck same to ascertain that the information gathered is true and/or that his sources are trustworthy.Information gathering is generally made on issues that affect an individual, his personal project or his professional task. This doesn’t eliminate the possibility of collecting other non-priority information of interest which is then filed for future use.As a guide, to handle incoming information more effectively, ask yourself :-Ø Which is the topic I’m interested in ?Ø Am I just searching for current events or also historical files related with the subject matter ? Identify the sources where said files may be available.Ø How much coverage do I want to deploy ? Establish a limit as to the sources you want to check, as to extension, languages, media, etc.Ø How much time do I avail of ? Remember that after a given time, THE INFORMATION MAY NO LONGER BE USEFUL OR NEEDED.The human mind, through the memory, is the best register of incoming information in the world. The exercise of one’s memory facilitates the registration of relevant information, both for immediate use as well as for future reference. I. T. serves as the memory’s backup to file voluminous information that we may not recall in detail. A combined filing system of incoming information is the best guarantee of information availability when needed.When we have information and we transfer same to any person or spread out said information en masse, we are in reality exercising communications. It is important to note that anyone that communicates any given information has the duty to transmit the truth and nothing but the truth. In the same manner that he wishes to obtain verified facts, he is obliged to transmit only true information. False or misleading information is not only time-consuming but likewise non-professional.In fact, in business, we use the outflow of information and try to establish a reputation for ourselves and/or our firm. When we do it on an individual basis, we establish prestige. If we act strategically in favour of our company, we create a corporate image. Corporate image is that vision of our firm we wish to project towards our potential market so as to obtain the client fidelity to our line of products or services. Therefore, we are basically facilitating selected information in our favour in the form of communication transmittal to persons principally in our market scope. The potential client may make use of said information instantly or file same in his mind for future use.Communications is the base of all human relations. No man is an island, each individual needs of others to belong to a social group. The relationship between any two beings necessarily passes through the use of communications in a two-way flow of information.While the lack of information will provoke stress in any given person, the incapacity to communicate creates a fear for the development of human relations. In as much as it is practically impossible to isolate yourself in a naturally social world where others will tend to establish a flow of information towards you, in an attempt to establish communication, you shall be forced to reply to the intent and thus close the circuit of two-way flow.Communications may be in any of these forms – written, verbal, gestures or mental. Verbal communications are the most frequent in daily life, private or professional, although written communications form part of professional communications necessarily. Generally, a professional expresses 80 % of his communications verbally and 20 % in writing.It must be remembered, that the most effective use of communications in relations is that which permits one to control the information flow in at least 80 % of the dialogue and/or negotiation. The establishment of a regulating mind filter that controls the outward flow of data is an excellent tool that prevents the adversary from knowing more than what he should know or having information too soon in the negotiating process.In communications, as in any other parcel of daily life, the coordination of all actions guarantees the best attainable performance. Coordination starts off by planning. Any Action Plan must consider time. Integral Coordination considers all activities in 24 hours of a day and not just a parcel of said day. It is noteworthy to point out, that except for our rest period which generally occupies a maximum of 1/3 of our day, the rest of the time, we are in fact communicating.We propose you an easy to remember formula to keep fit in coordinating activities. We identify our formula with A I D A, the extraordinary opera by Maestro Giuseppe Verdi. It’s a four-step infallible formula towards goal attainment that has a lot to do with the manner we communicate everyday. If we learn to observe this routine in our action planning, we shall be a step closer to reaching top performance in any of our daily endeavours.Here is our formula, in this order :-A A S KI I N F O R MD D E C I D EA A C TFollow this pattern in any information flow and get more out of communicating with others.Let’s talk about time management as a whole. Ever since Soviet neuro-surgeon, Dr. A. R. Luria, discovered that the front lobes of our brain are involved in a “program that not only makes a subject react to actual stimuli but also prepares him to foresee the future within certain limits, conditioning his scheduled behaviour ...”, investigations in this field have gathered proofs that the farther one can see into the future, the better one will be prepared to face up to and handle responsibilities or challenges. This window into time has an essential role for any negotiator, in fact an important factor in all the positive results in the life of any human being.The essence of negotiations groups up the following indispensable components – time, information & communication. Each component jointly contributes towards the attainment of a given goal, generally measured in terms of gain or profit. Negotiations forms part of a management strategy in an effective manager’s Business Plan.According to Dr. Elliott Jaques, renowned psychologist especialised in social behaviour and dedicated to the study of executive training & upgrading, there is a relevant connection between the time horizon of a person and his work capacity. His conclusions, based on experiments, affirm that there is a direct link between the person’s time management and his professional effectivity.Every second consumed in communications has an equivalent cost of opportunity and results in an effective profit or loss of goal attainment. In as much as business negotiations primarily tend towards economic gains, time is therefore expressible in units of currency.In consideration of better results in a period of time, consider the effectiveness of working with others towards a common goal. In business negotiations, rarely do people accept a challenge single-handedly. Each individual is equipped with positive characteristics that distinguish him from his colleagues. Thus, no one can individually possess the ideal combination to obtain maximum effectivity in any combination of actions. For this reason, teamwork reduces the risk of individual inefficiency and guarantees team effectivity in the estimated completion time to reach the respective objectives.Finally, it must be said that the value of time varies according to the counterpart before you. Whereas business in developed countries of the Western World generally value their time and try to reach agreements in reasonable periods of time, most developing countries have a rather lax notion of the passing of time. Socialising may be an essential element in their negotiations scheme, to which you must accede. Then again, there shall be the cases where the intentional consumption of time to alter the opponent may be part of the local strategy. In such cases, this using up of time in futile actions or discussions is meant to provoke your ire and make you lose your patience. Therefore, knowing local cultures and traits will prove useful for those enterpreneurs doing business in other countries.TeamworkWhat is a team ? The concept of working together towards a single goal is brought into the open with the development of sports activities that required a group of players playing together with a common strategy. Teamwork is a term coined as a consequence of the effort done together by the members of a group that do an action or series of actions AS IF ONE.Workers in a company with given duties that are complimentary among each other in order to reach a given target are in fact trotting along the path of group cooperation and coordination, in other words, teamwork. What occurs, is that the level of compenetration makes a work group more or less a team, depending on the willingness of all involved to make compatible their individual assets and work under a single strategy led by a single coordinator and towards a common goal.Business management entails the day-to-day administration of the company’s activities, which go from routine internal operations to market client attention. In all stances, both internally and externally, the work team is obliged to negotiate in order to obtain the best conditions for their firm. It’s not only in the capturing of new clients or selling of the products or services, that the team members utilise negotiating strategy out of their Business Plan. Acquiring supplies for ant enterprise, likewise requires negotiating and is an important part of business strategy.To get the best results out of a negotiations team, it is essential to understand what negotiations is all about. The accumulated experience in past negotiations leads to the compilation of the DOs & DON’Ts in any given situation.The effectiveness of any negotiator or negotiating team is largely based on agility to adapt assets and employ tools on hand to gain ground in his or the team’s favour.The repetitive cooperation of persons with complimentary skills and profiles tend to convert a group of professionals into a work team. The internal group information flow adopts a star-shaped pattern that permits each and every member of the team to receive information when needed, transmit information when required by another team member, know when to deliver information externally and observe all forms of communications available, more especially the higher forms of body language and mental telepathy.Time is a priority for any team that aspires to be effective as a whole when developing their team roles in any given professional task. And remember, time always has an equivalent economic value.It is important to point out that each member of the team is obliged to share any and all incoming information with the rest and it is recommendable to discuss even minute details to reach a common opinion of the situation at handIt shall be the team spokesman, generally the coordinator but not necessarily so, that establishes the initial contact. Said contact can be either on the offensive (in the case of a negotiator that requires a product or service from the other part) or on the defensive (that negotiator that receives the communication of someone that needs to acquire a product or service from a potential client).These contacts may be in the form of either verbal or written communication. Each form may be indicative of the future trend in negotiations, for which reason, same must be taken into account to plan out our own strategy.The members of a negotiating team distribute the workload so as to attain the objectives set out in the task of negotiations. Each team member assumes his parcel of responsibility before the others and responds to the team coordinator’s authority to enforce team negotiating strategy. No one team member’s negotiating abilities must be imposed against the global strategy of the team, rather said member must put his capabilities at the disposal of his coordinator and fellow team members.Lastly, we insist on the effects of coordinated time-oriented actions overlapping to permit a smooth flow of events towards intermediate objectives that lead to the final common team goal.A team on time is worth its weight in gold. Unscheduled individual shortcuts usually end up throwing the team out of the race. Stick to your duties within the team scheme and only save time whenever said savings are within strategical boundaries, with the consent of your coordinator and knowledge of other team members.A team always works on the basis of team priorities & objectives. All actions must be planned in accordance with intermediate objectives in line towards a single goal. In turn, the team strategy shall establish the needed priorities that will permit reaching said goal in the ideal time span.What makes a manager tick ? An effective manager sets out to the conquest of an objective with the following elements in his possession :-1. A goal to reach within a time limit2. A work team under his coordination3. Economic resources at his disposal4. A strategic plan to put into practice5. His capability to manage a team and resourcesHis effectiveness will depend entirely on his individual capacity to direct the group efforts towards reaching the objective in the less time possible, with the less economic repercussions and to the satisfaction of both the external clients as well as the internal clients, his team members.Strategic management is exercised by generating the two-way flow of business. The influx brings into the enterprise the elements – incoming information, personnel, supplies and logistic services – that permit the firm to be in conditions to offer the products or services it wishes to sell or render. The outflow requires the following elements before the enterprise – outgoing information, product/service demand or clients and logistic services – that permit the company to produce income and establish client fidelity.The General Manager is responsible for the global business flow whereas a Department Head is responsible for his concrete area of business or activity. In an organigram, the General Manager assumes command responsibility over the whole enterprise structure, although actual day-to-day management in each area of activity is exercised by the Department Heads under him.The differences in management styles are reflected in the design of a company’s organigram and communications system. Whereas most firms still apply the pyramidal organigram that generally isolates the General Manager from the daily flow of the so-called irrelevant information, SMEs are commencing to accept the interactive communication structures applied in star-synergy management.This management style is based on the practically free-flow of information within a company structure, without hierarchy considerations, reserving only confidential top management strategical decisions from flowing to lower levels for security reasons. The star-synergy permits the General Manager to have access to the so-called irrelevant information from the base, which often times turns out to be rather important in fine-tuning company strategy. Likewise, the base workers are informed of certain management decisions and actions that may them feel they are participating in said decisions, even though taken by top management. The interactive flow creates a better working climate and induces a will to cooperate as one unit, a team.Let’s now try to establish a difference between a company’s activities when buying or selling. On which side of the fence are you ? A buyer and a seller are on opposite sides.While the buyer knows that the opponent wishes to sell his products or services, the seller will try to establish how much need the buyers have for his product or service. In this tug-of-war situation, each part will try to determine who has the upper hand in the negotiations on hand.Starting out from a standard strategy applicable to any case, each part shall then develop specific tactical objectives that will permit his global strategy to bring the fish to his bait. It shall be only then, when the adversary has taken the bait that he shall reel in.Here are some suggestions for both sides of the fence in any negotiating situation, applicable to managers and their respective teams :-Buyers :Initiate the negotiations by establishing a time limit to reach an agreement. Stand by your limit and only extend slightly when you are certain that with said extension, an agreement in your favour is guaranteed.In the case of parties backed up by an excellent corporate image, make the most of your prestige before the potential supplier and demand only the best product or service.Preferably, reserve for a later period the exact economic package to be demanded, as it may well prove to be the last ace up your sleeve to improve further the terms & conditions of the agreement.Start off by imposing a sizeable penalty clause for contract non-fulfillment, matter which shall demonstrate your professional mode of doing business.In case of suppliers with scarce track record, demand guarantees and proof of quality and compliance.Ensure that your potential suppliers mean business and only accept agreements you know the negotiating counterpart has capacity to fulfill.Sellers :Establish a time limit for the validity of your initial proposal. Try to stick to said validity and only extend slightly when you are certain that with said extension, an agreement in your favour is guaranteed.In the case of parties backed up by an excellent corporate image, avail of your prestige before the potential buyer making him have to prove he deserves to buy your product or receive yours services.Attempt to establish volume of business on hand. This will permit you to calculate in advance how far you can go in your concessions to the potential buyer’s demands.Don’t avoid discussing guarantees or penalty clauses with the potential client. On the contrary, it’s best that you make said proposals before the adversary even mentions them. By so doing, you are strengthening your image before the potential buyer and weakening his strategical argumentation against your supply reliability.In case of buyers with scarce track record, demand guarantees for payment and compliance of agreement terms & conditions.Ensure that your potential buyers mean business and only accept agreements you know the negotiating counterpart has capacity to fulfill.Finally, establish the norm of only progressing in those negotiations that you consider will lead to acceptable agreements within your benefit and/or profit expectations and, above all, IN THE TIME LIMIT SET.What’s makes a manager succeed in decision-making ? In our opinion, adequate decision-taking is made up of a proper mix of managerial assets in any person. We have to consider the following components :-· Managements skills· Personality· Capacity to communicate· Assertiveness· Experience· Capability to decide· Reasoning capacity· Emotional intelligenceAlthough most professionals are wary to affirm categorically that human beings act more positively when these combine logical and emotional intelligences, we are of the few that defend said combination in the establishment of priorities and the execution of acts leading towards concrete objectives.It is precisely the emotional intelligence that rebels itself against such inhuman pattern and attempts to reestablish the interior individual equilibrium. There stands the value of a good base upon which one has been developing his professional qualities. The essence of humans rests more on his sentiments rather than on his material substance.The integral human being travels through time in search of his place in time and space, maintaining a perfect harmony with himself and his environment, acting with self-confidence and consequent with his goals in life.A seasoned professional relies amply on his emotional intelligence and combines the proper mix between the logical and the emotional, case by case.When such a number of men get together to make up a team, such a team are unbeatable. Self-confidence makes up for 80 % of assertiveness in decision-making. And good managers are natural decision makers and policy implementers.The effective team manager is that one who is capable to avail of all the assets on hand towards a common goal, and these included human, economic and time resources.The road to success involves the following :-· Participation· Communication· Adequate Information· Management Skills· Management Tools· Capacity to Negotiate· Two-way Motivation· Teamwork· Star SynergyWhichever your role in a work scheme, whatever your individual capabilities and no matter your personal profile or individual aspirations, each one is free to set his own limits and if he so desires, reach for the sky.However, when you are the manager, your team and your enterprise rely on your coordinating capabilities in order to get the tasks done and ensure that all achieved conduces towards the fulfillment of corporate objectives.Managers accept a challenge when they take command of a team. With their skills and tools on hand, a team to work with them and a goal to reach, each manager must decide how to hurdle the obstacles that are in his team’s way towards success.Are you ready to accept the challenge ? If so, let me wish you happy strategic managing !