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 necessary, and get the problem solved as quickly as possible.
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