Framework
Consulting White Papers and Research Reports
These are written by our employees and associates (reports
require the free
Adobe Reader available here)
The
Service Inventory: A Tool for TouchPoint Analysis How
does a company define and plan the critical touch-points that make up
the overall customer experience? The Service Inventory, pioneered by
Framework Consulting, is a critical tool for crafting these moments
into standards that can be used to create a unique customer-branded
experience. (This paper was presented to the Jamaica Customer
Service Association Conference of 2005.)
The
Accountability Challenge The
legacy of plantation slavery has left Caribbean executives frustrated
at the lack of responsibility that employees are willing to
assume. The result is managers who are overworked, employees
who are disempowered and organisations that are overly hierarchical.
This paper discusses strategies of overcoming these ingrained ways of
thinking which are obstacles to the growth of all corporations in the
region.
Why
Aren't They Working on My Strategy? Executives
are perplexed when the strategies they develop aren’t used.
Days are spent working to create a new vision for the company, but
day-to-day work intrudes in a way that prevents any meaningful progress
from year to year. The frustration that results can be overcome by
using the newest available tools that allow new ways for the strategy
to be shared with employees at all levels.
Look
Beyond the Deal When
acquisitions and mergers are undertaken, it's difficult for executives
to focus on more than just the financial side of the deal. The required
negotiations take on a life of their own--and when they're finally
concluded there's often a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, long
term success requires a focus on what happens after the deal is
concluded, and on how integration of the companies and their cultures
takes place. (This article, written by Amie Devero, was published in
the spring 2004 issue of the Association of American Management's
MWORLD Journal.)
Catalyzing
Brilliance--Strategy from the Inside Out Strategy
development cannot be undertaken in isolation from the executives who
must implement it. While this point may seem obvious, many CEOs
don’t know how to harness their employees’
knowledge and experience in a way that’s productive,
creative, and rigorous. This article addresses one way in which this
can happen.
Corporate
Values -- Stimulus for the Bottom Line Values-based
organisations are the rarity, even though there is broad agreement that
values are a must for any company to succeed. This article discusses
issues related to creating such organisations and the obstacles to
implementing them. (This article was published in Financial Executives,
the journal of Financial Executives International.)
Executable
Strategy for Every Employee What
does it take to engage each and every employee in a company's overall
strategy? This paper provides one approach to engaging staff at all
levels, based on a shared understanding of the culture, process, and
customer strategies that will produce the financial results desired on
behalf of all stakeholders. (This paper was published in the Trinidad
Guardian.)
It's
Never a Merger of Equals In this article,
published in a Florida newspaper, we argue that there is no such thing
as a merger of equals. Instead, one company will either dominate or be
seen as dominated by the other. The nature of this struggle has nothing
to do with malice and everything to do with human nature.
I'm
Too Busy to Get Promoted This article for
Jamaica’s Financial Gleaner addresses the issue of time
overwhelm and its effects on workplace productivity and professional
ambition.
Hard
Times Are a Strategists' Wake-Up Call What is the role
of a strategic planner during a business downturn? In this article,
published in the Miami Herald, an argument is made that a slowdown in
business can be just what’s needed to launch a breakthrough
strategic planning effort.
Adjusting
the Corporate Culture to a Change in Business Size, Scope or Strategy This
research reprint is based on a speech given to the Caribbean Executive
Conference in 2001. It describes how a change in strategy can lead to a
decision to craft a new corporate culture that’s geared
towards the new strategy. The key to producing the change is launching
a series of successful interventions.
Delivering
Real Value Consultants
can create arrangements with their clients in which guaranteed results
are negotiated in return for variable fees. You can therefore create a
win-win situation that benefits everyone concerned, while focusing the
consultant on the same goals that the CEO values.
The
(Real) Secret of Successful Coaching It
turns out that the real secret to successful coaching does not lie in
the coach, but in what’s called "the coachability" of the
client.
Why
Workers Won't Work This paper
summarises the book Why Workers Won't Work: The worker in a developing
economy. A case study of Jamaica by Kenneth L. Carter. It's a seminal
work and acts as a powerful guide to both new and experienced managers.
Harvard
Business Review Letter to the Editor In this
letter to the editor, printed in a 1994 edition of the Harvard Business
Review, Francis Wade makes the case that the authors of a recent paper
only reinforced the problem of lack of purpose by attempting to force
employees to have what management wants them to have.
Great
Employees--Nature or Nurture
While we can't say for sure that top employees owe their success to
nature or nurture, recent research suggests that many key skills
related to Emotional Intelligence (EI) can indeed be learned in the
right kind of training environments.
The
Trinidadian Executive in Jamaica
What do Trinidadian executives confront as they come to lead Jamaican
companies? What are the biggest obstacles they face? Where do they get
in trouble? What surprises them the most? In a report from our
breakthrough 2006 study, we attempt to answer these and other related
questions based on interviews with over 30 executives. While we looked
specifically at Trinidadian executives, the lessons learned here apply
to any executive moving to lead a company in Jamaica.
IMCJ
/ HRMAJ / PMI / JEF 2006-2007 Presentations A series of presentations were given during
2006–2007 on the topic of networking throughout the Caribbean
region. The PowerPoint slides from the May 2007 presentation to the
Jamaica Employers Federation Convention 2007 can be viewed here. The
audio portion of this speech can be heard in conjunction with these
slides at http://fwconsulting.podomatic.com
Filling
the Gap: Caribbean Acquisition Project Phase 1 Technical
Report 2.0 This is
the first report emanating from the Caribbean Acquisition Project of
2001–2002, conducted by Framework Consulting. It describes
the results derived from an empirical study of select Jamaican
companies acquired by Trinidadian and Barbadian companies in
2001–2002. The findings outline the cultural differences and
how the human resources function was underused, although the most
significant barriers found were cultural and organisational in nature.
This is a link to
the actual survey used in the project.
JobSmart
Articles
In early 2007 Francis Wade began a weekly contribution to the Jamaica
Gleaner Online, under the JobSmart/Careers section. This series of
articles is primarily addressed to young professionals.
Blog:
Interventions
This is a link to a series of articles from the Framework
blog--"Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle"--describing the way the
firm conducts interventions.
CaribHRForum
2007 Survey Results
The members of CaribHRForum responded to a simple survey in 2007 on
their top-priority areas of interest, and how the forum could be
expanded. The results have been compiled here, and include a
copy of the actual survey instrument used.
Blog:
Customer Service
This is a link to a series of articles from the Framework
blog—“Chronicles from a Caribbean
Cubicle”—on the topic of customer service,
experience, and standards in the Caribbean region.
Blog Entries
on Time Management
We have been doing a tremendous amount of research on the topic of time
management, starting with the the realization that many time management
techniques developed in the world are built around professionals in
Developed Countries. The 2Time approach is intended to be
flexible enough for anyone to use, and to keep using for the duration
of their professonal career.
If you just simply
won't have the time to visit the Framework blog on a regular basis,
then you can simply fill in the form below below to receive the latest
posts when they are created.
