Smart simplicity
A book that has recently been published suggests a few rules to manage business complexities without creating unnecessary complications and fostering greater efficiency
Every business has within it an organisational structure that allows it to function. This structure must be functional, in other words also with the correct level of complexity that will allow it to function problem-free. Although this appears to be simple, it is in actual fact one of the most difficult conditions to achieve. When faced with the challenges of the market and of the competition, often companies make their life more difficult and become inefficient instead of perfecting their efficacy of activity.
Yet ways to simplify and make business activities more competitive doexist.This is what “Smart simplicity. Sei regole per gestire la complessità senza diventare complicati” (Smart simplicity. Six rules to manage complexity without becoming complicated) by Yves Morieux and Peter Tollman explains.The book begins with a statement. According to the Complexity index of The Boston Consulting Group, the complexity of the manufacturing system has grown six-fold over the last sixty years. Concurrently, the complicatedness of organisation (i.e. the number of facilities, processes, committees, systems) has gone up a generous thirty-five times: in an attempt to respond to increasingly complex objectives, organisational mazes have been created, making it more and more difficult to improve productivity and promote innovation, and they cause demotivation and poor involvement on the part of co-workers. And yet, this is what the two authors believe, facing complexity with simplicity is possible. Morieux and Tollman then identify six rules of simplicity to manage complexity without becoming complicated. Using multiple examples to demonstrate in a tangible way theirefficacy, they reveal why these rules work and how to apply them. And autonomy and cooperation are the key elements of what they suggest. These would be the two most important qualities to face what appears to be an endless complexity.
The book is a fascinating and an easy read with parts of the introduction that set the key-concepts better to understand. For instance, one needs to know how to distinguish between complexity and complicatedness: the former is understood as an indispensable part of life and business , and the latter is the human response to all the elements that derive from such a complexity. It is also necessary to reach a certain “smart simplicity” that is not a simplistic or even a utopian condition, but the basis on which to manage a business wisely.
What Morieux and Tollman have written is useful to read, and perhaps even re-read while one tries to work in an organisation, as specified in their book.
Smart simplicity.Sei regole per gestire la complessità senza diventare complicati (Smart simplicity. Six rules to manage complexity without becoming complicated)
Yves Morieux, Peter Tollman.
Egea, 2017
A book that has recently been published suggests a few rules to manage business complexities without creating unnecessary complications and fostering greater efficiency
Every business has within it an organisational structure that allows it to function. This structure must be functional, in other words also with the correct level of complexity that will allow it to function problem-free. Although this appears to be simple, it is in actual fact one of the most difficult conditions to achieve. When faced with the challenges of the market and of the competition, often companies make their life more difficult and become inefficient instead of perfecting their efficacy of activity.
Yet ways to simplify and make business activities more competitive doexist.This is what “Smart simplicity. Sei regole per gestire la complessità senza diventare complicati” (Smart simplicity. Six rules to manage complexity without becoming complicated) by Yves Morieux and Peter Tollman explains.The book begins with a statement. According to the Complexity index of The Boston Consulting Group, the complexity of the manufacturing system has grown six-fold over the last sixty years. Concurrently, the complicatedness of organisation (i.e. the number of facilities, processes, committees, systems) has gone up a generous thirty-five times: in an attempt to respond to increasingly complex objectives, organisational mazes have been created, making it more and more difficult to improve productivity and promote innovation, and they cause demotivation and poor involvement on the part of co-workers. And yet, this is what the two authors believe, facing complexity with simplicity is possible. Morieux and Tollman then identify six rules of simplicity to manage complexity without becoming complicated. Using multiple examples to demonstrate in a tangible way theirefficacy, they reveal why these rules work and how to apply them. And autonomy and cooperation are the key elements of what they suggest. These would be the two most important qualities to face what appears to be an endless complexity.
The book is a fascinating and an easy read with parts of the introduction that set the key-concepts better to understand. For instance, one needs to know how to distinguish between complexity and complicatedness: the former is understood as an indispensable part of life and business , and the latter is the human response to all the elements that derive from such a complexity. It is also necessary to reach a certain “smart simplicity” that is not a simplistic or even a utopian condition, but the basis on which to manage a business wisely.
What Morieux and Tollman have written is useful to read, and perhaps even re-read while one tries to work in an organisation, as specified in their book.
Smart simplicity.Sei regole per gestire la complessità senza diventare complicati (Smart simplicity. Six rules to manage complexity without becoming complicated)
Yves Morieux, Peter Tollman.
Egea, 2017