Changing Systems

Abstract

As with most human associations, perfection in business systems is beyond normal expectation; it is easier to find systems which work badly. If perfection is too much to expect, however, a reasonable standard certainly is not and where a system is inadequate it may well reflect a deficiency in management because achieving more effective use of resources (which must come from better systems) is a management function. Many business systems have grown, evolving and adapting without conscious thought about system needs and characteristics. The ‘pressures to improve’, which are identified in the first chapter as a fundamental feature of modern business, can be accommodated only if improvement of systems (and the resources allocated to that improvement) has a high priority in management thinking. It is no coincidence that business undertakings which perform well devote substantial resources to system development (as they do also to development of their products and services, and the renewal of their capital assets) but, however good the quality of management and however high the priority given to system development, designing systems for efficiency is not an easy matter.