Gattorna Says:

Accept that the 'human factor' is the real driver of Supply Chain Performance What do you say? Send us your comments here

It is disappointing that after all the man-years of academic research, numerous articles in respected journals, a myriad of consulting assignments, and the work of practitioners inside enterprises, few if any commentators in the logistics/supply chain field "get it" when it comes to understanding what really powers modern supply chains, ie., human behavior, on the outside (customers); and on the inside (Boards, management, and employees).

It is simply not good enough to behave as if people don't exist in this context , just because we don't understand or feel comfortable dealing with the behavioral sciences, and instead continue to put all the emphasis on technology/systems, and infrastructure as the potential solutions.

Indeed my point-of-view is that the solution starts at the customer end. First, we have to find ways to understand and categorize their expectations surrounding the purchase for a particular product or service. Second, we should use this knowledge to offer the most appropriate 'value propositions', and underpin these with  different combinations of processes; organizational structures; performance measurement systems/incentive programs; internal communications; training and development; and recruitment.....all for the sole purpose of shaping the most appropriate array of sub-cultures inside the organization to drive the proposed strategies forward into the market place.

However, it seems that up to now we have been trying to achieve something like this 'by trial-and-error, hence the number of failed "transformations" documented in the pages of the world's business Press and Case Clearing houses.

We must do better than that. Accept that the 'human factor' is the real driver, and learn to galvanize the available energy within your organizations to deliver products and services that are 'aligned' to  customers' expectations, rather than satisfy our own selfish needs to make the organization more manageable.    

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