Becoming Successful 21st Century Corporations

The Globalisation and Internet are the two major forces that are responsible for the radical changes that are going on among the business firms in Asia. Successful 21st century corporations responded

well to the threats and opportunities of the business environment. What makes these corporations different? Its the effective management systems in place that is responsible for their success.

Successful organizations, adopt effective management system and policies that are able to generate profit through their employees. Cascio (2006, p.27-29), in his book titled 'Managing Human resource: productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits'(published by McGraw-Hill) lists seven practices/dimensions that form part of the 'management systems that produce profits through people' . They are:


Job Security: Though the life-long employment is no longer possible, successful business organizations continue to offer high degree of employment security for their employees. It is not uncommon to come across situations, where employees are reluctant to go all the way out to improve performance through improved productivity, for fear of making themselves redundant. Unless the organizational and HR policies reflect the organization's commitment to their employees' job security, it will be impossible to get the employees full support and commitment. There are organizations that take extra-ordinary steps to keep their labour force at the optimum number from day one, to avoid any subsequent lay-offs. To these successful organizations, hiring employees is a last option. This is radically different from those firms which hire and fire without any strategic HR planning. Job security to become a reality, HR managers and senior management need to adopt strategic human resource planning.


Selective Hiring: Not every Tom, Dick and harry get a job. A well planned and carefully administered recruitment and selection is the basis for the selective hiring to be managed. According to Cascio, it is only possible to hire selectively when the following requirements are met.

• There is a large number of potential candidates
• Organisation is clear about its human skill requirements: Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Attitudes, personality attributes and Talents.
• Selection focuses on attributes of candidates that are difficult to change. If you can select the right candidate with the (Talent, Abilities, Skills and Knowledge) in the first place, you need not spend your time and resources to
  train them.

Decentralisation with Autonomous Teams: The traditional centralized structure depended on command and control approach to get things done. Employees working in teams are able to respond to the unique and demanding business situations much more effectively. Enabling employees to take responsibility and depending on other team members.


Comparatively high Compensation: Successful 21st century corporations pay well,compared to their competitors. These organizations adopt unique and innovative compensation practices for all their employees


Comprehensive Training: Management systems that recognize the power of training invariably do well. Despite the fact that they practice selective hiring, successful organization know the importance of keeping their employees knowledge, Skills and Abilities current to suit to the changing needs of the enterprise. They focus both on technical and people related soft skills training. Training is seen by these firms as a competitive tool in terms of recruitment, retention and employee performance. Training is also a powerful tool that enable the employees meet their self actualization need, a top order need identified by Abraham Maslow as part of Hierarchy of Needs theory.


Active Involvement of Everyone regardless of status: The management systems of successful organization incorporate policies and HR practices that take full advantage of employees' ideas, talents, skills and knowledge. It taps the expertise of everyone in the organization. Recognizing the talents and skills of all employees and enabling and encouraging them to offer solutions and ideas for the well being of the organization, breaks the status barrier that is common among majority of the organizations. Every employee in the firm is made to feel important and their contributions are valued and recognized.


Practice Open Book: In successful organizations, the access to information is not restricted to a small group of elite managers. Information is shared among the employees, so that they are able to use the information to make better decision. In the modern world, it is difficult to argue that knowledge is power, unless that knowledge is put to practice. To apply the existing knowledge to changing business situations, employees need information. Management systems of organization 'that produces profit through people' recognize the power of information sharing.



The qualities of management systems of successful 21st century corporations highlighted by Cascio can be the basis if you are serious to transform your business practices. Be practical. Identify one area from the above seven dimension, and work towards improvement. Start reviewing the current HR practices. To move forward you need to ask questions. The best way to unfold new ideas is to use the 5W + 1H model (What, When, Why, Where, Who and How) extensively.

Once you get started, just remember you are on your way to join the elite club of successful 21st Century Corporations. Welcome to the club of Successful 21st Century Corporations.



John Arul, co-owner of Centre for Creative Thinking, a training agency based in Singapore (www.creativityasia.com), facilitates training workshops on creativity and related soft skills for clients in Asia and Middle East. As a Trainer, John facilitates management seminars and workshops in the areas of Creative Thinking, Supervisory Skills for new managers, EQ Skills for Team Leaders, Customer Service Excellence, Managing Difficult Customers, Communication Skills, Change Management, Personal Development Workshops, and Public Speaking Skills.
He holds an MBA and majored in strategic human resource management. He is a member of the American Creativity Association.

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