By Jules NARTEY-TOKOLI
Alienation from Production: Alienation from production is also kind of related to alienation from product, because in this regard it has to do with the process itself.
Once again, I would like to touch on the fact that every human being is endowed with some level of intelligence, some skills, some innovation, some creativity.
So, if you reduce your employees to just cogs in the wheel of production, they just come in to do their discrete, specific, repetitive job and go home to mind their business.
What that means is that they just do work perfunctorily and do not get the chance to contribute, or are not able to express views in the production process–could it be improved? Could it be done better in order to serve the market? So, if you did something like that you would be limiting the mind of your employee.
Thus far, we’ve looked at the critical aspect of human resources and why they must be efficiently and effectively deployed. By eschewing alienation in the workplace, Employees would give their best and your organization will get the best output.
The Bane of Bureaucracy
As an SME, the next management practice that you want to avoid at all costs is bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is very rife in government organizations. But unfortunately, it’s also prevalent in business establishments.
Usually, in startups, because they’re small, it looks like things progress without the entanglements of bureaucracy. But as the business begins to grow, then bureaucracy gradually rears its ugly head, stifling the decision-making process and making the organization kind of lose its steam. By all means, then, you want to watch out for that as your business grows.
The way forward is to practice a flat organization. This may seem simplistic to some, or it may sound like it’s far-fetched. But really, it is what works against bureaucracy. For example, in the fields of religion and politics there are so many splinter organizations that spring up as the organizations grow.
Why does that happen? It is mainly because people believe that they also have something to contribute. So, if there is anyone who is endowed with an excellent skillset but feels like they are not getting the attention or opportunities that they deserve, they organize their supporters and start a new church or a political party.
If you run an organization that is flat, no one is considered above another, everybody’s views are respected, and everyone is commensurably rewarded for what they do.
That helps a lot to foster innovation and creativity within the team. But in the absence of that, anyone in the organization that believes that they can do more but are not being used to their full potential, or in other words their mind is being wasted, what would they do?
They’ll have to look for another form of employment or start their own business, regardless if it means a lower income. Then you lose that critical mind that could have contributed significantly to the growth and development of your business
So, what about those organizations that are already big and have their bureaucracy and hierarchies in place, should they flatten? That may may sound far-fetched as I said before. But that can be done if the organization is broken down into smaller units.
For example, in an organization with departments such as Marketing and Finance/Accounts: these departments usually tend to be silos, each one competing with the other.
But what do you think would happen if each one of these departments were to become a separate business entity, where they have the responsibility of generating their own finances to sustain the business, along with their salaries? They’d be better motivated to provide efficient services to the other sister entities.
Further, each one of those entities would have to look for their own customers while they become customers to each other as well.
As your SME grows, try to look at things from this perspective, and that would help your business to develop better and to advance into a more functional organization with employees better motivated to do what they are best suited for.
Enterprise information
Another management practice you want to avoid as your business grows is making a fetish of enterprise information. As your business prospers, you want to put in place management information systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning, Business Intelligence and Content Management. Enterprise information helps to make information available to all persons in the organization.
But sometimes, management may become so fetish in organizing or managing this information such that silos are created, and information does not flow freely. Thus when somebody is either sick or whatever contingency arises, the whole organization is held-up in suspense, causing business operations to suffer while stifling customers.
So, even though it is important to put in place certain restrictions (of course, to protect information that is proprietary in nature, and that which should not get into wrong hands), use these systems to ensure continuous business operation so that if somebody is not there, another person can quickly jump in to aid in making things run uninterrupted.
So, by all means, don’t make too much fetish of enterprise information, and that would also help in promoting an information laissez-faire environment in your organization. That makes everyone in the organization feel a part of it and important.
A corollary is harnessing management with modern technology in order to make sure that such information is accessible worldwide. If the pandemic hasn’t taught us anything at all, it is that it’s possible for people to work anywhere at any time.
And that can only happen if you manage, or you harness modern web technology with your management practice. Times have moved on. We no longer have to expect that employees be at a specific location to be supervised or for someone to be breathing down their neck in order to do their job effectively, no.
So, there are so many tools on the web that as an SME you can deploy in order to make sure that your employees, wherever they may be, can be networked; can be connected; and can work effectively.
Consult any credible web development company to see how you can harness modern technology with your management practice in order to be more effective, more innovative, and more creative. And that is very critical if management must get better in Africa, and if we want to emancipate ourselves from economic slavery.
Avoid Stagnation
Just as with society as times change some traditions become obsolete, that is the same way it goes with management too. So, don’t hold on nostalgically to tradition. Some of the management practices we have known over the years have become obsolete. So, while change is hard, when it is time to change please move on!
For businesses in Africa to do better, we must eschew the first industrial age style of management practices. So, abolish all forms of alienation, and encourage an atmosphere of family and citizenship in the organization; despise unnecessary bureaucracy and hierarchies; do not be making fetish of enterprise information, and such must be effectively harnessed with modern technology.
As SME’s grow, we will create more employment, reduce poverty, and be able to provide taxes for government to finance development projects.
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The author is a dynamic entrepreneur and the Founder and Group CEO of Groupe Soleil Vision, made up of Soleil Consults (US), LLC, NubianBiz.com and Soleil Publications. He has an extensive background In Strategy, Management, Entrepreneurship, Premium Audit Advisory, And Web Consulting. With professional experiences spanning both Ghana and the United States, Jules has developed a reputation as a thought leader in fields such as corporate governance, leadership, e-commerce, and customer service. His publications explore a variety of topics, including economics, information technology, marketing and branding, making him a prominent voice in discussions on development and business innovation across Africa. Through NubianBiz.com, he actively champions intra-African trade and technology-driven growth to empower SMEs across the continent
