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Berners Consulting Releases Fist Results Of The Complexity Management Survey 2013
As overall complexity in business management increases, so too do the challenges in coordinating and monitoring actions directed toward organizations’ success.
The situation is exacerbated by an extremely dynamic business environment whose constant transformations represent huge challenges; the purchase of a competing operation, the entrance into a new market segment, or changes in the macroeconomic environment requires managerial flexibility, effectiveness, and efficiency.
As a consequence, tools and processes are frequently poorly implemented or even abandoned. The result may be a decrease in the willingness to adhere to the decisions made by organizational leaders, a lack of integration between departments and their actions, and a loss of synergy. In the end, business models can lose credibility resulting in frustrated teams failing to meet objectives.
The impacts on a company's business can be huge.
About the survey
Given this scenario, we wanted to know more about what complexity means for different organizations, and created a first survey on Complexity Management. Its structure and questions are guided by the knowledge and experience we have gained from extensive consulting and management assignments during our time as consultancy, as well as the personal experiences of our consultants and clients.
The driving force behind our efforts is to determine what makes large and medium sized organizations more effective and efficient from their day-to-day activities to the implementation of their overall strategies.
In the survey, we address the following questions:
> What causes complexity?
> What are the related challenges?
> What tasks are impacted?
> What are the consequences?
> What actions are effective?
Based on the results, further research will be conducted, and over time, a more and more complete picture will emerge. Also, a community of professionals faced with complexity related challenges in their organizations will be established – fostering discussion and the exchange of experiences and ideas.
In order to do so, this first survey is designed to be open-ended in its duration allowing more and more professionals to participate over time. As such, the results will become more and more robust, allowing for deeper analysis. This will foster additional, more specific surveys and research over time.
Results
According to the responses to the survey, most of the relevant causes of complexity are related to the sheer size of the participants' organizations, the kind of business they are in, and the overall macroeconomic environment. Thus, the companies themselves have little or no influence over the level of complexity they face. Causes that are related to business decisions – e.g. the entry into a new market – were seen as less relevant.
The challenges related to these complexities are as basic as they are fundamentally important: things simply need to function – and keep functioning when conditions change. The effectiveness and flexibility of organizational structures, processes and systems were rated as the most relevant challenges.
Regarding concrete tasks impacted by these challenges, respondents stated that the management of large and/or complex projects, large project portfolios, as well as strategy definition and/or implementation were most affected. On the other hand, the impacts on the management of business processes and monitoring of business indicators were rated as less relevant.
The consequences resulting from the impacts of complexity are undoubtedly very relevant. The great majority of respondents stated that rework and/or additional costs ‘fully apply’ to their organizations, and almost all of the other respondents stated that they apply at least partially. Furthermore, lack of integration between departments as well as loss of synergies and poor implementation of tools and/or processes were mentioned as significant consequences.
Potentially more impactful consequences such as a loss of the business model’s credibility, or a decreased willingness to follow the business leaders’ decisions apply at least ‘partially’ to the majority of the respondents.
Looking at the action that organizations take to cope with these challenges and impacts, respondents stated that both centralization and decentralization were less effective than other – supposedly less impactful – limited changes to the organizational structure, the replacement of key staff, as well as (re)design of processes.
The detailed answers and entire results of the survey are available to all its participants. If you would like to receive a free copy, we encourage you to take 15 minutes to answer online.