Large organisations are relatively new in human society. Our ideas of how to manage them, which was heavily influenced by the armed forces, started to develop with advent of the Textile and Railway industries of the nineteenth century. From this basis we evolved a highly successful style that addressed many of the problems of organisations up to the later part of the twentieth century. Its primary purpose was to maximise the return from capital and control Labour.

But the basic requirements are changing. We have moved into a knowledge world where our people are far better educated and live in an information rich society. The fundamental assumptions beneath the old management style are out of date. As long as we we hold onto them and just try harder we will be making things worse.

We need a new approach focused on people rather than capital. How do we capture the full commitment, intelligence and creativity of our people? Fortunately there has been extensive research in this area. This site aims to represent the findings of that work.

The major challenge as we enter this new millennium is the management of the above step change.

To address this step change Harehall offer a range of services to organisations. They include:

• The training of managers and leaders in modern management concepts - see training course Leadership and Management in the New Millennium
• An overview of the present systems, culture etc in the organisation - with recommendations
• Assistance with the design of systems that capture the full potential of people
• Assistance with the design of performance measures plus guidance in the interpretation of data
• The design of a dynamic continuous improvement system so that knowledge flows through the organisation plus coaching of improvement team facilitators.
• Assistance with the development of the aims and values of the organisation and subsequent challenging of activities that are contrary to these aims and values.
• Assistance with the writing, implementation, auditing and accreditation of ISO 9000 2000.
• Long term facilitation of the change process

Harehall work in conjunction with The Deming Learning Network. The Network is a not-for-profit community of organisations and individuals who have created a mutually supportive learning environment based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They facilitate a whole range of activities from CEO group meetings, to meetings for Accountants, Knowledge Management and Safety personnel. For more details please do visit their web site www.dln.org.uk.

The above mutually beneficial relationship works through Harehall addressing specific projects and The Deming Learning Network providing support over the long term.

In the context of Knowledge Management this site discusses the culture issues that allow knowledge to flow and be converted into dynamic improvement. It does not address the many software packages that are available in the market.

We include a bibliography of sources, A pen picture of the author Gordon Hall and our client list.

For any further information please do contact Gordon on g.hall@harehall.co.uk

The balance of this site aims to explore some considerations of modern management thinking.

There is a fundamental recognition that management and leadership is difficult, complex and sometimes chaotic - it is faced with so many variables. On the other hand there are drivers that make the task not only possible but also simpler. As individuals we have pride and a need to be valued by our peers. We express ourselves through our work, we need to socialize so we like working within groups and as thinking beings we have inherent creativity - we rarely lack suggestions for improvement.

If we can capture the willingness of people to work, and to work together as a team, then we can design a simpler way. But first we do have to understand the complexity. Our goal is to seek simplicity on the other side of complexity. Solutions this side of complexity invariably fail due to major gaps in our understanding.

The fundamental premise of this site, therefore, is that if we understand the basic underlying principles of how we live and work together then the difficult task of management can be made simpler. On the other hand if we harbour misconceptions then the already difficult task becomes inordinately complex - even chaotic.

So the papers of this site open with some very basic challenges to our traditional management thinking. The Crux of the Challenge argues that there are underlying principles or theoretical assumptions that underpins our management thinking and action. If we wish to make progress - and make management simpler - then it is these assumptions that should be identified, and if necessary modified and improved. This is followed by a lengthy paper that compares traditional and modern management theories or concepts.

We then use the analogy of the brain to consider learning organisations. This leads us on to looking at the evolution of management thinking through the years and where are we with the application of modern concepts.

The paper on Systems Thinking. acknowledges that systems design is a major component of modern organisations. With the article on Variation. we recognise that variation exists in all our systems. A very basic appreciation of statistics allows us to understand that variation and how it might be reduced. The assumption being that large variation within the many facets of an organisation lead to instability and chaos. For simpler systems we want to understand and contain that variation.

In the paper A Practical Change Programme we represent the elements of a possible programme to achieve continual and dynamic improvement.

Harehall have designed and written many ISO 9000 2000 systems. Again our underlying theme is to design a simple system that secures the understanding and commitment of those working in the system. While we believe that the new standard has been well written we are conscious that many applications of externally generated standards can increase bureaucracy without benefiting the organisation - see our article The Problem with Standards

For any further information please do contact Gordon Hall on g.hall@harehall.co.uk

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