ASDA Magic E-Book

David Smith

• Herausgeber: Grosvenor House Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Seitenzahl: 278

Beschreibung

This book charts the turnaround of the Asda business, from the perspective of culture and people. The author discusses 7 principles which businesses can use as practical tools to generate high performance through engagement. This is a business book which uses the technique of story telling to stimulate the reader, and uses case study material to back up the learning. The reader will take away a practical agenda, to improve the performance of any business. It is thought provoking, simple and effective. If you want to engage your people and drive higher levels of performance, this book is for you.

Leseprobe

Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1:Preamble the musings of a people practitioner

Chapter 2:The importance of a low cost operation but with real personality

Chapter 3:High performance must be tangible - measurement and motivation

Chapter 4:Can you create a high performance culture?

Chapter 5:Principle 1 Hiring for attitude – training for skill

Chapter 6:Principle 2 Communicate / communicate / communicate

Chapter 7:Principle 3 Listening

Chapter 8:Principle 4 Choose your style of management and leadership

Chapter 9:Principle 5 Remove your underperformers/ push your talent

Chapter 10:Principle 6 Recognition

Chapter 11:Principle 7 Creating “the buzz” / fun and a sense of community

Chapter 12:What’s the evidence of Asda’s success – a high performance culture?

Chapter 13:Asda shopfloor colleagues have the ‘final say’

Chapter 14:Final thoughts

Appendix 1:The origins of Asda in milk / meat / innovation and enterprise

Appendix 2:The turbulent times for Asda in the 1980’s

Appendix 3:The Asda turnaround/ renewal & breakout: the 1990’s

Appendix 4:Asda enters the 21st century - acquisition into the Wal-Mart family 1999

Appendix 5:The Asda alumni.

Foreword

“David and I joined Asda in 1994, within 30 days of each other, at a defining time. Fresh from our respective MBAs we pitched up in our respective departments (David in people, me in marketing), bristling with new ideas.

And what a stage to bring those ideas to life.

Asda at that time was a turnaround business, with no guarantee of future success. They were exciting and raw times, and we both had the privilege of playing key roles as the business introduced massive organisational change.

There’s no doubt that the sense of urgency we both feel today has its genesis during those early Asda years.

David’s book chronicles the history of Asda, with particular emphasis on the key elements to cultural change; engaging people; and, as a consequence, improving business performance.

And those principles are not just valid in turnaround businesses.

My period as chief executive of Asda focused on creating a business to deliver world class performance, in a hugely competitive sector, at a time of serious economic upheaval. The cultural progress we made in the 1990’s still underpins Asda’s performance today, in different circumstances. I firmly believe high performance results from strong leadership; where people understand very clearly what’s required of them, and they are engaged in the mission of their business.

Energising and engaging 170,000 people in a food retail business is an enormous task, but there is a vibrancy in Asda’s people, which comes from the culture David helped to create.

I enjoyed reading this book, and I’m sure you will too. But ‘enjoy’ underplays the power of the Asda story David tells, and the rich seam of learning which he brings out, for those seeking to engage their people and obtain a higher business performance.”

Andy Bond, chief executive of Asda 2005-2010

This book is dedicated to all my colleagues in Asda, from the shop floor in stores; from distribution centres & from Asda house & George house. I have known many of them personally over many years. Most of my best ideas and solutions to the problems of day to day management came from listening to those colleagues. I have been humbled by the dedication of so many people, to a business they so evidently cared about. I often said of many of those people that if you cut them open, they would ‘bleed green’. This book attempts to do justice to those people… I salute them!

CHAPTER 1

Preamble The musings of a people practitioner

“Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.”

Baron John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946

British Economist

This is a practitioners’ book, not an academic research project. Many people put forward theories, but have no practical outworking of those theories. My preference is to talk about the ideas which I know have worked in practice.

Nevertheless, I am an avid reader of academics, gurus, and over the many years of my business career have read most of the research on the subject of ‘human resources’. Don’t you just hate those words! To me, people are people. Yes they are obviously a resource. Anyone who has studied economics knows that there are 3 basic resources, (capital, machinery or technology and people). But for me, and I would say this wouldn’t I, it is people who matter most in any enterprise of whatever size or scale. Without people, nothing gets done and nothing is achieved. Businesses can have loads of capital, and indeed many are exceedingly cash rich, but without the right people, they will not perform to their highest potential. Some businesses are very capital constrained, yet have achieved amazing results. Moreover, in this age of fast copying, everything is replicable, with the only exception being your people.

I have spent all my corporate career… some 35 plus years in the area of people management, so yes I do have a view of what works well and what does not in terms of leading and managing. 19 of those years were spent in the UK coal industry, male dominated (by law only men could work underground), mostly full time workers, heavily capitalised, state owned in those days, heavily unionised (a closed shop originally) and the scene of the battle between the Thatcher government and trade union power in the 1980’s. I learned a lot about people and behaviour, the balance of power and the media, through that experience.

I then began 15 years in the Asda supermarket business. A very different environment, but very much a people centric business. Asda employed over 170,000 people. Mostly female workers, mostly part-time, not particularly heavily mechanised and no longer heavily unionised. Asda was a fascinating case study of cultural change, from the turnaround of the 1990’s, to the challenges of present day. Few businesses are ‘blessed’ with the opportunity of near bankruptcy, and the momentum that brings, in terms of a force for change. A business in trouble has the gift of everyone realising change needs to happen. It becomes a ‘burning platform’ for change.

This book is about the cultural journey at Asda over approximately 15 years through to 2008. This is a story I have been intimately involved with, and one which I hope will be useful to those wanting to drive a positive and thriving profitable culture in their own business. Culture drives engagement, which produces high performance when you get it right.

I joined Asda, after my Henley MBA, and was fascinated by the actions of Archie Norman and the team he was building at the time. Asda had gone from a business with £1 billion surplus to a £1 billion debt, due to the ill conceived acquisition of 60 Gateway stores and the furniture business MFI. This all took place in the late 1980’s when interest rates on loans went through the ceiling. The Asda business was 10 days away from defaulting on its covenants, and would have been unable to pay its people, had it not been for two city financed rights issues of shares and a new turnaround plan.

I claim no input to that early strategic thinking. Much of that was in place when I arrived. What I do lay claim to, was being a part of the new operational team who made the strategy of the ‘Asda way of working’ come alive. It was hard work and a lengthy struggle, but absolutely fascinating at every juncture. One of the keys to making cultural change successful, is to stick at it. I’m not sure ‘stickability’ is a leadership term used by academics, but stickability is one principle I have based my management life upon. Stickability counts. A top performing leadership team has to be able to keep at it, even when everything looks pretty bleak.

CULTURAL CHANGE IS NO QUICK FIX

The road of cultural change is long. Victories are hard fought and take time. I can promise the reader no quick fixes. In my experience, life is not like that. You have to decide what is important, find out the things that work, and then grind out the change. You can build momentum, but cultural change will commence slowly. Jim Collins, in his book ‘good to great’, likens this to a flywheel effect, where rotation begins slowly but momentum builds over time.

People tend to get bored easily. All chief executives want quick results. In retail people get bored with initiatives in ‘nanoseconds’. Retail seems to attract those leaders who enjoy things that move fast. In ‘Belbin speak’ they are fabulous shapers and originators, great starters but terrible completer-finishers. This phenomenon has necessitated constant refreshing/reinventing and reformatting of cultural change materials… without losing the principles of the culture. In my experience, you need to retain core principles and building blocks, but constantly refresh materials and approaches. Change needs to retain the core essence, but feel ‘fresh’ in order to maintain the interest and focus of those in the business in each successive business cycle.

For me, the principles I am about to discuss, are pretty timeless. As long as business continues to employ people, and I don’t see that changing any time soon, then these strategic principles will continue to be the cornerstone of a strong and powerful culture… one which enables your business to be as profitable and successful as it can be (that of course assumes you have a workable, viable business model you want to drive… that’s a pretty fundamental prerequisite).

A lot of what I am about to say cross correlates with much academic research and the work of some of the management gurus. As I said, I am an avid reader of the literature, but this is fundamentally a people practitioner’s view of those things which work; things which are important; and things which hold true in the long term. High performance is about accessing discretionary effort, by engaging your people in the ‘cause’ of your business. It’s about winning the heart and soul of your people.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A SOUND BUSINESS STRATEGY

Mission – purpose – and underpinning values

What I am not trying to say, is that if you do the things embedded in this book, then your business will automatically succeed.

You must first have a sound business model, clear strategy, be in touch with your customer and deliver the goods or services which meet their needs now, and into the future. If you do have a successful business idea, or a business model which you know can succeed in the marketplace, then these principles will act as enablers to make your business the best it can be. I do hate books which recommend action, but never acknowledge the wider business context!

Asda had a sound business model. Asda’s mission was ‘to be Britain’s best Value retailer, meeting the needs of customers… always’. Best value meant price leader. Everyday low prices… which could be relied upon, and it is no surprise that Asda won the Grocer magazine basket survey of 33 commonly purchased items (which change slightly by the season for salads in summer / soups and staples in winter) including bread/milk etc for 13 years running. Yes, that was every single year consistently.

Asda had laser focus on price and value, because it had a purpose. That purpose, which galvanised people behind something worth fighting for, was ‘to make goods and services more affordable for everyone’. Asda was about bringing down the cost of living for people, and that felt like a worthwhile cause to the people working in the business.

To be the lowest price operator, Asda had to operate at the lowest cost. Efficiency was really important in making a low margin business work… and this is where the cultural enablers assume such a high degree of importance.

Asda believed that by being a truly great place to work, it could become a great place for customers to shop. Miserable people cannot give legendary service. It is an oxymoron. You can put them through as many customer service programmes as you like, at great expense, but you are wasting both time and money.

However, if you can get your people into that sweet spot of motivated performance, they will give great service and create a unique selling proposition. In this situation, the business model will begin to fly, and commercial success/profitability will be enhanced.

Asda moved from an ailing fourth ranking retailer in the early 1990’s when I joined, to the strong UK number two, a position achieved in 2004. It is no amazement to me that Sainsbury was for many years Number one, and was overtaken for that top spot by both Tesco and Asda. You can never rest on past laurels in a competitive retail market, or the competition will ‘eat your lunch’.

Asda utilised the phrase from the book ‘Only the paranoid survive’ by Andrew Grove – becoming itself constantly paranoid. Asda became a very self critical business. Never satisfied with performance. Even when performance was pretty good or at market level. Asda wanted continuous outperformance of the market. Even then, Asda would look at what was left ‘on the table’. This is a very healthy mindset for a strong business. Never to be complacent. Being paranoid about your competition getting ahead of you keeps you sharp. Self flagellation is better than someone else giving you a beating!

There are thousands of examples of good businesses, with strong business models, who went to sleep and expected it all to continue. Marks and Spencer, prior to the Stuart Rose turnaround, would be the most classic example, and I’m sure we could all quote our own favourites of that ‘gone to sleep’ phenomenon.

STRATEGY HAS TO BE UNDERPINNED BY A HIGH PERFORMANCE CULTURE

Asda aimed to achieve a second unique selling point, after being lowest price in the market (or best value), and that was… having the friendliest service. Asda wanted customers to feel the warmth and friendliness of Asda people, and retail sector perception data indicated that Asda succeeded in creating a long term sustainable point of difference. Having the ‘warmest’ and most friendly service in the competitor set. The belief was that being the best place to work would enable Asda to be the best place to shop from a service perspective. Customer commentary also revealed the view that Asda people really were different, and that ‘service edge’ was tangible. More of that later.

THE 7 PRINCIPLES OF BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMANCE CULTURE

The major content of this book describes what I consider to be the 7 principles which enable a business to build a culture of high performance. To me, the question on the lips of every quality chief executive should be: “how can I get the best from my people, in order to outperform the competition?”

Before describing those principles, I want to introduce the importance to the Asda case study of having a low cost business model. I also want to explain the link between measurement and motivation. Finally, I want to pose the question for the reader: “can you create a high performance culture?”

CHAPTER 2

The importance of a low cost operation but with real personality

“If we would have anything of benefit, we must earn it, and earning it becomes shrewd, inventive, ingenious, active and enterprising.”

Henry Ward Beecher

“We would rather have one man or woman working with us, than three merely working for us.”

J Dabney Day

Cost cutting alone is not the answer. Friendly service has to be in the mix to achieve real differentiation from competitors.

Asda isn’t the largest grocery retailer, that label falls to Tesco, and consequently they gain the advantages of economies of scale in buying, from their size. In order for Asda to offer the best prices to customers in the UK consistently, there had to be other efficiencies within the operation of the business to compete with Tesco’s size (twice the market share of Asda).

My phrase for this is simple: Asda had to ‘run faster’ than the competition in order to make the business model work.

Asda had to continually find new ways of shipping goods; filling shelves and serving customers to increase efficiency. The business also integrated sustainability initiatives into the operation. For instance, Asda reduced fuel usage (per case of goods) by 23%, and had initiatives to reduce that still further.

With respect to serving customers; self service checkouts were adopted by 20% of the UK customer base, and the UK has become the leading country in the world with the number of customers wanting to ‘self serve’. I am still amazed by how popular this is. All estimates of how big this was predicted to become were exceeded. For those customers who love to self serve those few quick items, they have assisted business productivity.

Being a great place to work also carried through into efficiency. When Asda colleagues became truly engaged in the business, with morale scores running in the 90%+ area, then this had a positive impact on the bottom line. Colleagues became shareholders, and were bonused on profit delivery. There was an overall halo effect of the high performance culture which the business was seeking to foster.

Giving real focus to efficiency led to the Asda business becoming the lowest cost operator in the marketplace.

Being the lowest cost operator of the big four supermarkets, enabled Asda to continue to offer the best prices in the market to customers. Asda’s formula was that everyday low costs enabled everyday low prices. If Asda was not the most efficient operator, then the business model would falter.

Diagram 1 – Winning as the Lowest Cost Operator

During the 1980s, Asda ran with margins which were too high and customers felt let down that they were not getting sufficient discount at Asda. The business lost its way as a consequence, and profits quickly declined as customers went elsewhere.

Asda has always been a value retailer at its core, with a service personality making a point of differentiation to customers. Asda talked for many years about “ordinary people doing extraordinary things”, and I personally believe that this made a massive difference within the Asda formula and business model. Asda people became fiercely proud of the business they worked for, and their service became ‘legendary’ as a consequence.

Let me pick out a few examples for you of the type of thing I’m talking about. Here is a holidaymaker in Cornwall:-

“I work in retail management, and I know that good reports are often not mentioned, yet the bad ones are very quick to come, and often for minor things. This note is to say that I wanted to thank your people at the St Austell Asda store, and in particular a very helpful and pleasant lady there. My family and I were on holiday in the area for the first time, and would normally shop at Tesco, yet we happened to pop into Asda to pick up a tea towel (essential when camping). This lady was busy stocking shelves when we asked her for help. At this point, rather than the service I have come to expect from most retailers, she stopped what she was doing and took us on a ‘trek’ across the shopfloor to the product, then to the next. Although it did not take very long, she was extremely polite and helpful. We then became regular visitors to this store, buying all our food for the 2 weeks we were on holiday. Everyone at the checkouts bid us a good day in one form or another. So, well done to them all! Our local Asda is 10 miles away in Corby. I will try them in future, and if we get the same attitude to service, you will have a new family of customers.”

I think you can see how ‘legendary’ service becomes ‘habit changing’ for customers, and massively adds to business. This is a high performance culture at work, changing customer habits. Customers have choices, and in an increasingly homogeneous world, service can be a spectacular point of difference.

Here’s another example, this time in one of Asda’s newer formats, an Asda Living store on the Crown Point retail park in Leeds. Again a customer letter tells the story:- “I wanted to let you know about a brilliant shopping experience I had in your store at Crown Point yesterday evening around 5.30pm. I had come in to purchase a stair gate to keep my young daughter at bay! Whilst I was there, I couldn’t see a price on a display for pram umbrellas. I found a young girl replenishing nappies close by. She obviously saw me approaching out of the corner of her eye, and turned around before I had even reached her, with a big smile and asked if I was alright and whether she could help me with anything? She went to the till to find the price of the umbrella, and whilst I was waiting, I picked up the stair gate and a few other bits. As she came back, she was really smiley, and offered to take the gate and my other bigger items to leave at the till for me, whilst I carried on shopping. It was such a pleasure to be greeted by such a fab person and to be offered help. It really does make a refreshing change to speak to someone who cares about what you need, and doesn’t just say ‘I don’t know’, or ‘go and ask at the till’. She really was fantastic, and I wanted to let you know that it is the first time in a long time that I have left anywhere so impressed with the service, and have spoken to someone who couldn’t have done more for you.”

It is a fact that customers tell more people about bad service than good. It does change their behaviour, and in some cases they may no longer shop with you. However, good experiences also ‘carry’ to other customers, and change shopping habits positively.

Lest you think these are isolated examples, let me give you some more. Here’s a story about an Asda store in Devon in Newton Abbott:- “I went to your store in Newton Abbott, and asked someone filling shelves where the marshmallows were which I couldn’t find. He immediately stopped what he was doing and offered to take me. I said that he just needed to tell me where they were, and I would find them. He insisted on taking me, and said it would be his pleasure to do so. I asked him who his boss was, and he said that I was the boss… the customer. I subsequently found the store manager to complement him on the service in store. The store manager told me he had joined Asda from another retailer, and he absolutely loved Asda. He had waited for four years to see whether the Asda ‘bubble’ would burst, but he eventually realised it wasn’t going to, and that Asda truly was a great place to work. This is deeply impressive.”

Some of the legendary service stories extend beyond the actual service itself into human relationships. The next story I am about to tell, illustrates that situation very well:- “I would like to make you aware of a wonderful person you have working at your Asda Tipton store. Just recently, I was unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with 'advanced breast cancer, and my prognosis was that I required a double mastectomy, with subsequent treatments after the operation. I was obviously extremely distressed at the news, and finding it very difficult to accept. My operation was scheduled for July, and as I expected some sunshine, I went to my local Asda with a view to purchasing a sun lounger so I could help my recovery from surgery in the garden. As I was looking at the sun loungers, an Asda assistant came and asked if I needed any help. I explained that I would like to see the sun lounger, and she very willingly obliged. During this time, we engaged in conversation, and due to my very low state, I told her the reason for the purchase of the sun lounger. To my amazement, she told me that she herself had also had a double mastectomy several years earlier, and proceeded to speak to me in a very positive and inspirational manner. She excused herself and returned with a piece of paper, on which she had written her telephone number. She then very kindly told me I was free to contact her at any time for advice, or just to discuss my fears and concerns. Several days later, I telephoned her, and we talked for two hours on the telephone. I found her witty and charming, very supportive, and truly inspirational. Just last week, I had my mastectomy, and was delighted to have a huge bouquet of flowers delivered to the hospital ward from this lady, with a very positive message in a beautiful card. I am hoping that Asda has some sort of reward for outstanding customer service. This lady has far exceeded the duties of an Asda store assistant. She offered me, a complete stranger, hope and support, and I feel that you as a company should be made aware of here wonderful qualities.”

We sent that colleague and her family for a break at Eurodisney to recognise what she had done for that distressed shopper, but that is not the point of my story. The point is that friendly service with personality reaches out to the customer, and touches them in unexpected ways. This is why Asda sought to become a high performance / low cost operation. There is a very compelling graph in Kotter and Hesketh’s ‘Corporate culture and performance’ which shows the data of 207 companies in 22 different industries over a period of 11 years. The difference in growth results from companies with a performance enhancing culture is remarkable:-

Diagram 2 – World class organisations

Asda had a low cost/strong culture formula which was built over many years. This was neither easy nor simple to execute, but it produced a winning formula.

To further illustrate the effect upon customers, I pulled out a few blogs from the internet:-

The first are from the online discussion forum of Heat magazine:

“Asda for me. I always think their staff are nicer and more approachable than most supermarkets.”

“I work at Sainsbury’s and I like some of their stuff and they have good offers, buuuuttt my loyalty lies with Asda coz I think they are GREAT! When I was pregnant with my second one, I went to Asda and bought everything I needed for my baby in one shop!! How cool is that?”

Here are some more blog comments on Asda service from a variety of internet sites:

“I went swimming last night with my daughter, and as we were walking home I suggested a trip to Asda for fruit (we’re on a health kick). I had £14.10 in my pocket (didn’t take purse) and my shopping came to £14.70. I just said no problem, put the milk back, but the nice cashier said no need – have it with a ‘smiley face’. What they do is if you’re a bit short at the till (under £1) they will let you have the shopping anyway and put a smiley face ticket in the till so it all tallys.”

“I like Asda’s approach to customer service – at Christmas I was overcharged for a couple of bottles of port – I was refunded instantly and given a £2.00 gift card.”

“A while ago we went shopping at Asda, and when we got home we’d got two less bags than we’d bought. We went back in case we’d left them at the checkout by accident but hadn’t (don’t know what happened to them). The customer service lady told us to take off the shelf what we’d left for free! I couldn’t believe it.”

“Yes ASDA come tops in customer service.”

There is a virtuous circle in low cost; low prices and legendary service. Getting these things right or wrong is something customers certainly notice. Everything a retail business does is immediately noticeable and tangible for customers. No mistake……..friendly service is a big deal.

CHAPTER 3

High performance must be tangible - measurement and motivation

“The man who trusts men will make fewer mistakes, than he who distrusts them.”

Camillo di Cavour

“He that is of the opinion money will do everything, may well be suspected of doing everything for money.”

Benjamin Franklin

“The wonder is, not that the field of stars is so vast, but that man has measured it.”

Anatole France

Looking back over the past 100 years there has been a wealth of thinking and comment on reaching the utopia of high performance. You can reference Henry Gantt and his Gantt chart circa 1900. F. W. Taylor was looking into the principles of scientific management on the assembly line of the model T Ford in 1910, and by the 1930s, Elton Mayo was experimenting with worker behaviour at the Hawthorne works of the Western Electric company.

The 1940s were the War years and saw the invention of assessment centres by the War office, and Raymond Cattell’s measurement of personality via the 16 P F Scale. Peter Drucker began his thesis on the corporation, and management by objectives.

The 1950s saw the work of Fredrick Herzberg and Abraham Maslow around the whole topic of motivation, which was refined and amplified by Douglas McGregor’s theory X and theory Y, all of which urged management to become more participative. At this time, Edward Deming was also writing about total quality management techniques and Japanese production methods. Kurt Lewin was also writing about group dynamics. By the 1960s, Peter Drucker was emphasising the importance of innovation, and John Kotter was writing about organisational culture, change and strategic leadership.

In the 1970s Tom Peters began the whole quest for excellence, and Chris Argyris was writing about the learning organisation. James McGregor Burns was discussing the topic of transformational leadership linked to change. The 1980s heralded more work on strategic thinking by Michael Porter, so beloved by MBA programmes, particularly based on the 5 forces. Hamel and Prahalad were both propounding the need for organisations to define core competencies, whilst Richard Boyzatis was also discussing the competent manager and competency theory.

The 1990s heralded ground breaking work by Daniel Goleman around emotional intelligence and its application to business. Whilst Stephen Covey was writing about the seven habits of highly effective people. Jim Collins wrote about the importance of vision; mission; values and big hairy audacious goals. Robert Kaplan captured a lot of management practice around use of a balanced scorecard. The ‘noughties’ since 2000, have been a little bare of new ‘ground breaking’ ideas from the guru’s and theorists. Perhaps the only new idea of note is around lean thinking, and the lean enterprise, which is not really attributable to one individual alone.

You may have heard of some or all of these theorists and thinkers, (this was not intended as a comprehensive review) you may have heard of just a few. Why do I give you this tour of management thinking over the past century? Mainly because I want to illustrate the theoretical underpinning of my own thinking around what was done in the sphere of people, management and leadership in Asda.

In my own view, some of the guru’s are involved in merely ‘fad surfing’. I have never bought into the whole competency debate myself, and have seen it stultify appraisal processes, and set people on a quest to be good at things they will never be good at. I’m firmly in the camp that people are born with certain strengths and capabilities, and are formed as ‘square pegs’ or ‘round pegs’. They should be put into the right holes accordingly. There is very little return for trying to fit square pegs into round holes. I’m with Marcus Buckingham on his thinking around playing to people’s inherent strengths. That’s where you make most traction, by harnessing what’s there already, and making it stronger.

Let’s go back to what I personally believe is most important in the last 100 years of management thinking. F. W. Taylor was the first theorist to look at organised work when he defined his scientific theory of management. He was looking at the first production line, that of the model T Ford. His thoughts were based on the fact that he believed workers did not like work. Consequently, because of this belief, people needed to be measured, watched and carefully controlled. This authoritarian approach shaped so much of modern business as we know it today, that it cannot be ignored. We still tend to believe that ‘what gets measured gets managed’ and this belief comes straight from Taylorist thinking. Many of the thoughts around basic management skills (planning; organising and controlling work) emanate from that early frame of reference. We now know that much of Taylor’s beliefs about human nature were inadequate, but some of the basic disciplines of management were useful.