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What is your question
relating to management?

What is management?

[MSS 1000 definition] A responsible person’s or group’s thinking processes and administrative processes directed at achieving the purpose, needs, aspirations and objectives of an organisation, project or task through people. NOTE 1: Management thinking and action may be aided by the use of management tools and techniques and the input of experts and specialists. NOTE 2: A management process may be classified as strategic, tactical or operational, and also as a normal process, contingency process and change process.

What is Integrated Management?

Integrated Management manages each element of the organisation or project with respect to the whole to deliver its purpose while equitably satisfying its stakeholders and making the best use of resources. [MSS 1000 definition] Approach to management that seeks to understand and effectively direct every aspect of an organisation so that the needs and expectations of all stakeholders are equitably satisfied by the best use of all resources. NOTE 1: ‘direction’ implies the use of a management system addressing the totality of the organisation and its interaction with stakeholders. NOTE 2: ‘stakeholders’ and ‘equitably’ implies that an organisation should seek transparent win-win solutions where this is possible. NOTE 3: Integrated management makes no distinction in its general approach to managing potential gain and managing potential loss as perceived by stakeholders. NOTE 4: Integrated management recognises no time, geographic, demographic or other types of boundary. It globally addresses future as well as current stakeholder needs, which naturally promotes sustainability. This implies that complete life cycles are addressed such as industry, organisation, plant, asset, good or employee (e.g. induction, development and retirement) etc. NOTE 5: Best use of resources implies effective, efficient (waste minimization), agile and resilient processes as judged by a consensus of stakeholders. NOTE 6: Integrated management implies that all elements of an organisation should add optimal value both individually and collectively i.e. acting as a whole and delivering a synergistic benefit. NOTE 7: Integrated management allows uniformity and diversity to coexist harmoniously within an organisation. Generic approaches are used only if they add value.

What are the outcomes of Integrated Management?

Integrated Management results in better, quicker, cheaper and more coherent management of organisations and projects. It results in improved problem solving, more ordeliness, less personnel stress and the facilitation of more creativity and innovation.

What are the outcomes of Non-Integrated Management?

Non-Integrated Management results in under achieving, slower, more costly and less coherent management of organisations and projects. It results in poorer problem solving, disordeliness, avoidable personnel stress and the inhibiting of creativity and innovation. Outcome examples include multiple management systems instead of a single boundless management system, multiple fractured management systems standards and certification processes which are all less effective and waste valuable management resource.

What is the difference between Integrated Management and an Integrated Management System? 

Integrated Management relates to the overall holistic management of an organisation. Integrated Management Systems are a subset of overall management and emerge from the application of an integrated holistic approach to management. An Integrated Management System can be partial or a full Integrated Management System covering the totality of the organisation's operations and therefore unbounded. [MSS 1000 definitions] Integrated Management is an approach to management that seeks to understand and effectively direct every aspect of an organisation so that the needs, expectations and aspirations of all stakeholders are equitably satisfied by the best use of all resources. An Integrated Management System is a Management system that has a scope that includes two or more aspects of an organisation’s performance that is capable of being managed by separate distinct management systems.

How much of management should be integrated?

Everything within management should be integrated provided that it will add value. Examples of not adding value are often related to security and where the cost of the transition would be disproportionatly costly e.g. towards the end of a project.

What is a management taxonomy?

A management taxonomy is a classification system used to categorise different management elements or aspects It is ideally a hierarchical multi-layered framework creating orderliness. This creates logical place for everything including high level broad categories down to more specific nested subcategories. This not only creates the orderliness that you would find in a well laid out supermarket or library but clusters elements needing similar management controls and processes. An example of a good well-structured hierarchical management taxonomy is that used to structure MSS 1000 first described in the paper ‘Order from Chaos’ published in Quality World’ in 2011. It comprises twelve principal top level classifications with several nested sub-levels providing a natural logical place for every requirement defined within the MSS 1000 standard. This twelve-element taxonomy can also be applied to any organisation’s integrated management system. It can readily be used to all of its management arrangements within just twelve management procedures and their subsections. In contrast an example of a poor management taxonomy is ISO’s Annex SL used for structuring its multiple fragmented management system standards. It clearly isn’t very effective because there isn’t a logical place for everything resulting in the leftovers being forced into appendices within each standard. It is possible to create mapping from a poor ill-conceived management taxonomy to one which is fit for purpose e.g. the one structuring MSS 1000. This enables the requirement in any standard or regulation to managed within a fully integrated management system irrespective of how disorderly the source may be. An integrated management system can also be audited and certified against any source irrespective of its taxonomy. [MSS 1000 definition] Taxonomy is a hierarchical collection of categories used to organise information.

See also the paper: 'Order from Chaos'

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