Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Important to the Success of Any Organization

Warehousing managers, third party logistics companies, and supply chain managers all have the same problem, which is to hire individuals that are competent to do the job. Hiring the wrong person for any position is detrimental to the success of an organization; more so if he or she is in a management position.

Creating a job description is the first step to hiring the right person. Without one, you really have no idea what skills are required by the individual to do an effective job at running the operations. The error that many managers make is not to get the input of workers that have actually worked in the position. Although, it is necessary to delineate the requirements of the positions, it is also important to speak with the employees that actually spend time in the trenches. Sorry to say, that unless you have worked your way up within the organization, you may not have a good idea of the day-to-day activities that a worker does. The other drawback is that working secluded in an office interacting with upper management, can lead to a disassociation between employees and upper-level management.

Lean manufacturing and ISO certification requires that each position and job is broken down in the most basic steps in order to streamline work and help improve work performance. Start with the end in mind. What ultimately is the result that you need the employee to accomplish? Then consider the skills necessary to accomplish those goals. Input from not only your management team but staff in general can be an enormous help in determining those requirements.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think a primary concern with respect to hiring is the degree-experience-certification conundrum. Do you hire the college grade, the 20-year manager or the Six Sigma certified pro? The solution might be to place them all in similar situations to see how each solves potential challenges within the organization.

AAlbright said...

You have a good have a good point, but unfortunately, most organizations don't have the resources to conduct such as experiment. Unfortunately, all we can do is make an informed decision and hope that the individual is up to the challenge.

 
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