AltanaESP Pty Ltd

Point of Departure underlying AltanaESP Network & System Development

Jan Viljoen — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:39:32 +0000

The AltanaESP Network and AltanaESP System were mainly developed as a reference platform, a knowledge base and Future Shock idea repository for those people that are interested in enhancing their present circumstances, understand that personal development is essential for growth and wish to actively contribute by sharing experiences, knowledge and information to make the world just a little bit more bearable and human friendly than it is at the present moment.

Therefore, the AltanaESP Network & System are structured based on the key principle (basic assumption), that all visitors to the AltanaESP Pty Ltd website (portal to the AltanaESP Network & System) already realize and understand that… any society, family, community, team, group, institution, organization or company’s competitive edge is its people.

It is no longer quality products, technological systems, automated processes, expertise, consultants and marketing (presently regarded as a given), BUT how the organization can live up to service expectations (i.e. individual needs) and able to meet modern day challenges (i.e. rapid changing arena and future shock confrontations) through the enthusiastic and loyal participation and/or contribution of “mature” individuals working together (i.e cooperating and co-creating) for a common goal or collectively functioning productively within a institution, company or organization.

The primary reason why the above assumption act as the baseline for developing the AltanaESP Pty Ltd website – serving as a launching platform for the AltanaESP Network and AltanaESP System – is the result of statistics collected from a number of risk analysis projects (freely available on the Internet via a Google search).

The purpose of providing the following statistical indicators, is to highlight the factor(s) – in the order of the most contributing factor to the least contributing factor – which are liable for either the success or failure of any institutions, company, organization, community, society or team.

Human Beings

Human beings are responsible for success ±85% of the time and responsible for failure ±90% of the time, due to…

Carelessness and a “wait to be told” attitude
Inability to troubleshoot a problem and to anticipate obstacles
Poor levels of awareness and an appalling proactive inclination
Improper use and maintaining of equipment and tools
Inaccuracy and making mistakes
Theft, looting, corruption, sabotage and vandalism
Lack of skills in general and spescialised knowledge in particular
Incompetence and an inability to accommodate the appropriate context of a situation

Technical & Technological Environment

Technological aspects are responsible for success ±5% of the time and responsible for failure ±7% of the time, as a result of…

Over strain
Under strain
Power surges
Electricity interruptions
Material-defects
Explosions
Implosions
Failure of processes

Natural Elements

Natural elements are responsible for success ±6% of the time and responsible for failure ±8% of the time, because of…

Water (drought & floods)
Fire
Fire and smoke
Lightning
Hurricane
Tsunami
Earthquake

Based on the above, we have to accept – whether we disagree or like it or not – that the human component is the single most important contributing factor to both the success (85%) and/or failure (90%) of any endeavour.

All activities, procedures and processes within the AltanaESP Network – and supported by the AltanaESP System – are fundamentally focused on accommodating and nourishing the human element (i.e attitudes, inclinations and the climate) which will allow for productive activities, SMART actions and SMARTER habits.

Thus, the key principle and basic assumption underlying the AltanaESP Network and System synchronicity, is to establish and sustain a knowledge base and idea repository for those individuals already aware of and authentically understands the importance of the human element for successes in the future.

AltanaESP Pty Ltd
105 Coral Road Lynnwood Glen Pretoria, GP, 0081 South Africa
admin@altanaesp.net • +27 12 348-3595

The Emerging Culture & Climate of the Modern Workplace

Jan Viljoen — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 19:49:53 +0000

Today many people frequently use the phrase “times are changing“, especially when things didn’t happen as planned or expected. Unfortunately, when asked what is really changing, most people are at a lost for words and find it quite difficult – if not impossible – to describe what the change is they are referring to. This kind of “ignorance” often is an indication of a “pending crisis“. Because, when one is unable to determine the challenges and dynamics of change, how would it be possible for anyone to effectively deal with such a change?

The ancient Chinese warrior Sun Tzu taught his men to “know your enemy” before going into battle. For if “you know your enemy and know yourself“, he wrote, “you need not fear the result of a hundred battles“. But, Sun Tzu also warned… “If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer defeat“. Although change is not really our enemy (anyhow, not in the strictest sense of the word) the same principle is at stake here… if we don’t know ourselves and don’t know what has changed, we are surely setting ourselves up for either bitter disappointment and/or failure in the future.

The modern businesses world is changing consistently, rapidly and on a daily bases. When we are oblivious of the changes confronting us, regardless of being a director, manger, employee or “job seeker“, we are steadily heading for much turbulence in the future… NOT because change equals trouble, BUT because we ain’t “mentally fit enough” to deal with change in a proactive manner (i.e. we are suffering from future shock).

Keeping Sun Tzu’s advice in mind and considering the many business changes we are confronted with nowadays, this article attempts to highlight (actually kind of predict) the key workplace climate changes we are presently confronted with.

BUSINESS CULTURE

Business is gradually developing into a synchronized ecosystem, and – presently – viewer and fewer people are viewing or perceiving business as an “act of war” to be fought on the battlefields of gaining and keeping market share.

Present Culture

The present workplace culture regard business as a conflict and intense competition between companies, departments and groups of people. It constructs massive administration HQ’s, builds huge armies of “troops” to be order about at will, categorize competitors as “enemies” to be annihilated and treat customers as a “colony” to be “overpowered” and conquered.

Emerging Culture

The emerging workplace culture regards business as a cooperative symbiosis between people, where the most diverse company is most likely to survive and thrive. It naturally creates diverse teams (i.e. departments) that could easily adapt to new events or circumstances and can quickly form partnerships with other teams, companies, customers …and even – when necessary – with the competition.

COMPANY RELATIONSHIPS

Companies are “slowly, but surely” evolving into communities where people – by consent – co-creatively attempt to obtain diverse objectives in order to achieve a collective goal. The idea that a company is well oiled running machine, is dying out and fading… faster than we care to admit.

Present Relations

The present workplace relations considers the company to be a machine with employees functioning and operating as cogs within that machine. It creates rigid bureaucratic structures with inflexible rules and then maintain control by “pushing buttons” and “steering the ship” by means of a “carrot & stick” methodology. This methodology is frequently accompanied by constant threats of replacing “dysfunctional cogs” and maintain a level of fear amongst the “cogs” by means of manipulated disciplinary hearings.

Emerging Relations

The emerging workplace relations sees a company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose (i.e. company vision and mission). It inspires employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers (i.e. feedback & recognition) and therefore to become “community–and-company–aware” (i.e individual responsibility within group, company or society accountability).

MANAGEMENT STRUCTURES

The major shift taking place in a managerial context, is that management functions are gradually regarded a service, and are no longer deemed as a necessary form of absolute control.

Present Management

The present workplace management structure wants individuals to do exactly as they are told. There is a presence of hyper-awareness towards anything that might possibly smacks of insubordination. This “insubordination sensitivity” ultimately encourage and firmly establish a “company attitude” where personal initiative is effectively squelched by a “lets rather wait and see what the boss wants” mentality.

Emerging Management

The emerging workplace management structure is setting a general operational direction, tone and tempo (i.e. translated vision and mission statements) with the commitment to obtain the needed resources that individuals might require to productively get the job done. It ultimately pushes decision making downwards, allowing teams and groups of people to compile their own rules “of the game“, and management only intervenes in case of looming derailments, a crisis or emergency.

TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES

There is a growing tendency amongst the management echelon to start treating employees as their peers, and not as children that needs to be continually reprimanded and watched. Presently this managerial attitude is far and few in between, but their numbers is steadily growing.

Present Employee Treatment

The present workplace management echelon regards and treat employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can’t be trusted and needs to be constantly bullied into doing the “right” thing. There is a general prevailing opinion that employees, when not overseen or controlled by a patriarchal and forceful management structure, will not “produce” as expected. Employees take their cues from this attitude (i.e. company culture/climate), expend energy on looking busy, maintain a low profile and spend countless hours just to covering their behinds.

Emerging Employee Treatment

The emerging workplace management echelon treats every employee as if s/he is the key person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock, the laboratory to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels are compelled to take charge of their own destinies, accept responsibility for their actions and contribute to the overall success of the company or team.

MOTIVATING PEOPLE

Motivation stems from a collective inspired vision, not from instilling fear.

Present Motivators

The present workplace view regard fear – of getting fired, or ridiculed, or loss of privilege – as a crucial way to motivate and keep people motivated and performing at their best. As a result, employees and managers alike, become paralysed and unwilling to either propose improvements or take risky decisions, while actively adopt an attitude of “rather safe than sorry“.

Emerging Motivators

The emerging workplace view is to inspire people to see a better future and how they all can be a part of it. As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the company’s goals (i.e. the vision and missions of the company), truly enjoy what they’re doing and (of course) know they’ll share in the rewards of collective success… equally and proportionally.

DEALING WITH CHANGE

Plenty of people and most companies/organizations, tends to associate change with pain and suffering. Fortunately, there is a steady growing number of individuals that does regard change as equal to growth and development.

Present Approach to Change

The present workplace change approach regards change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape or going through a rough patch. They – generally speaking – normally deal with change in a “cyclone syndrome” fashion… until it’s either too late or the unfortunate residue of Future Shock firmly and permanently sets in.

Emerging Approach to Change

The emerging workplace change approach regards change as an inevitable part of life. While they don’t value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible when each employee and the organization as o whole embraces new ideas and new ways of conducting business.

TECHNOLOGY & DEVELOPMENTS

Technology and developments – especially the open source software initiative – strife to offer empowerment to people, not to further the suffocating grip of control as religiously endorsed by big business and large corporations.

Present Technological Attitude

The present workplace technological attitude firmly believes in and adheres dedicately to the old IT-centric view that technology primarily is the most effective way to strengthen management’s control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize, antagonize and “boxed” or limits employee’s actions, initiative and decision making capabilities..

Emerging Technological Attitude

The emerging workplace technological attitude regards technology as a way to free the human spirit to be more productive, creative, cooperative, take more initiative and to build better relationships. Back-office systems are adapted to make use of available “tools” and mechanisms such as online interactivity, iPad’s, web phones and tablets, that people actually can and want to use.

ATTITUDE & VIEW TOWARDS WORK

There is no rational explanation or reason why one’s job or work should be constant toil and drudgery. It should be fun, a challenge and a way to grow personally each and every day .

Present View

The present workplace attitude and view actively support the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. The workplace fully “expect employees” to resent having to work, and therefore, tends to subconsciously define organizations as oppressors and their employees as unwilling participants. Everyone, from top to bottom, then behaves accordingly.

Emerging View

The emerging workplace view and attitude regards work as something that should be inherently challenging, enjoyable or fulfilling and believe therefore that the most important function of a manager is – as far as possible – to place individuals in jobs that can and will make them truly happy and allows them to grow and develop as a person.

Thus…

You must be on top of change or change will be on top of you (Mark Victor Hansen);
Not everything that is faced can be changed BUT nothing can be changed until it is faced (James Baldwin) and
It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark (Howard Ruff).

Join the forum discussion on this post

The Emerging Modern Day Economy

Jan Viljoen — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:33:37 +0000

Many people often ask themselves the question… “If it is really worth all the trouble?” to accommodate all the strategies and management principles, styles and methodologies for dealing with change in modern times. The answer to this question is that it depends… it depends on the circumstances (i.e. environmental context) and whether a person tends to be dominantly reactive in his/her actions (i.e. attitude) or proactive. Thus, does individuals merely fend for survival in the present or are they actually focused on the future, attempting to accommodate change as best they could. Those individuals that only focus on survival… for NOW, will eventually become extinct and merely a vague memory of yesteryear. WHY? Because change is the only certainty that we have today, and those that “ignore” this fact, will loose their claim to existence. Therefore, seriously consider the following…

The industrial economy focus was based on “make and sell“. Consider, for instance, the massive production of Henry Ford’s cars and his dictum… “You can have any colour you like as long as you like black“. Back in Henry Ford’s time there was little regard for the customer. The main focus was the production process and everybody from employees to customers were “slaves” to this process.

Then – during the 1950′s – came the information economy focus which was based on a “listen and serve” dictum. Nearly 80% of the world’s employees are now in some form of service industry. Microsoft developed into the equivalent of the Ford motor company, with the focus on quality and customer satisfaction… “the customer is always right“. Market research, segmentation models and distribution channels all contribute to making the customer king. In spite of this, customers are generally faceless; because they’re lumped together in demographic segments and hidden underneath a pile of statistics. Resulting in a “customer friendly service system” to meet all the needs of the customer, which are – on the whole – inflexible and only focused on the “statistical” needs of different demographic market segments.

At present a new economy focus is emerging. The emotions economy focus (also known as the super information, intimate, relationship, wisdom, transparent or connection economy) and recognize that organizations will have to take service a step further; when they want to attract clients – and staff – away from their competitors. Take banks for instance, and assess the significant points of difference between them…

Not much of a difference, is there?

Whether you are buying cars, cosmetics or hair care products – except for the very sophisticated and ridiculously expensive, or the really cheap products – there isn’t much of a distinction in today’s “price-wise” and “product-wise” markets. Supermarkets are no different. We’ll probably find that some are a little more upmarket than others, but on the whole we could shop at just about any of them, with much the same quality and service. Furthermore, people are increasingly shopping on the Internet. They will call up a “trolley of products” from one supermarket and compare it with another supermarket’s “trolley“; and based on the savings, make their decision as where to buy. The same principle applies for most service based organizations. People will “shop” around for information on the Internet and then select a service provider or bypass them all completely and make their own purchase.

Now for the “unexpected” crunch. Which bank, supermarket, car or service provider will the customer choose? Increasingly, customer decisions will be based on relationships, connections, trust, emotion and being treated as an individual with unique needs (i.e. as a living breathing human) and not a statistical demographic market share segment. Price, quality or speed of service will gradually become less and less directive in the final decision making process of a customer or clients.

People will tend to buy a car from – and get it serviced at – the garage that makes them feel special and looks after their particular needs. The book store with the coffee shop, where friendly and smiling staff find that special book for you… will probably tend to attract more attention than the “super saving” mega book store with bulk buying power and shelves stacked to the roof with thousands of “hard to find” almost cheap books.

The travel agent who delivers your airline tickets, knows your accommodation preferences and rings you when there is a special that s/he knows you will enjoy, will be - not surprisingly I might add – your first choice when you require travelling services. The restaurant maître d’hôtel who welcomes you by name and treats his staff well – so that they are pleasant and happy around you – will probably attract more customers. The estate agent who paints your house for you – at his/her expense – because s/he knows it will fetch a higher price for the both of you; will undoubtedly grab your attention and business. Why?… because, we were and still are emotionally based beings. What we feel is much more important than what we think.

It is a fact that emotions…

drive and steer all the decision that we make, each and every moment of everyday… yep, and that also includes the so called “good” business and scientific based decisions.
take place outside our rational and wilful level of awareness, and then – in the name of objectivity – we justify it by logic, reasoning and data as perceived.

Thus, emotional engagements increases the speed of learning, increases memory retention and evokes emotions in others, that substantially increase the likelihood of productive cooperation and co-creation. Therefore, organization that will attract attention and secure customers in future, are those that authentically and genuinely…

are trustworthy and honest.
listen to and make their clients feel special.
provide service tailored to individual preference and needs.
understand the principle of “mass customization” and “markets of one“.
networking with clients and essentially focus on word of mouth advertising and marketing principles (i.e. meeting expectations and perform accordingly).
take issues of micro, macro and natural environments, corporate social responsibilities and sustainability very seriously.
treat their employees as human beings and not just as biological computerized slave machines.

For an organization to remain in business is actually very simple: “Does the organization have customers?”… YES, then there is business. NO, then there is no business. And at the end of the day, no organization, company or institution can retain its right for existence when there is no business. Yip!… its really that simple!

You are best advised to start developing a personal attitude and contextual management strategy as soon as possible, or create a real looming possibility of first losing your job, potential customers and secondly your staff or partners to the competition. Or even worse, you get stuck with either employees/customers or working opportunities that nobody else wants to deal with or even care about.

When you want to at least sustain your present customers/clients/job visibility, it is vital to go into all the trouble to accommodate personal managerial principles, styles and methodologies to effectively managing change. It is a fact that we are confronted with change everyday, not only Nationally, but Internationally as well.

Presently there are but three options to choose from…

Accept the challenge of change and apply the visibility principles of the emotions economy to your advantage.
Reject change, and blame unemployment, crime, the ANC, lawlessness, …etc. for your present predicament.
Regard change as something bad and oppressive and do your damnedest to restore what was before.

Additional reading materials