In Search of Excellence: Review
In Search of Excellence is a book dealing with many different principles
of economics and what makes big business' excellent. The first idea that Peters
discusses is his chart of the McKinsey 7-S Framework. The graph is very simple
but the ideas are fairly complex. In their research, they found that their
philosophies were too hard to explain and easily forgettable. They made this
Framework to deal with strategy, structure, style, systems, staff (people),
skills, and shared values (culture). This has 7 S's (easy to remember) and a
graphical representation to visualize. This shows the businessman that the
intractable, irrational, intuitive, and informal organization can be managed.
For example, anyone assuming that a new manager of a Taco Bell will perform
exactly as the old manager did is ridiculous. The organization of workers must
adjust and adapt to the new manager's way of business.
Another more main topic of the novel is the Eight Basic Principles.
Their research had shown that the excellent companies had been based on the
basics. The companies had to try to keep things simple. Sometimes, to a big
business, it might seem logical that business should be run more complex the
larger it is. From their research, this is usually not true. The first
pricnciple is a bias for action. This is basically saying "Stop talking and do
something about it." When Taco Bell has a rush of customers and their supplies
for making food are low, they (usually) don't say "You know what, I have no more
cheese" or "Could someone get me some more cheese?" They take action and get the
cheese, make it if n ...