Total Company Resource Management
One of the challenges that property management petaluma ca face is providing a consistent level of service to its customers. This is even more challenging for businesses with more than one location. In the quest to assure consistent service, many companies impose standardized policies on its employees. Unfortunately, standardization can lead to service that is consistent but appears insensitive and uncaring to the customer
Many in the business world will recognize the acronym CRM as Customer Relationship Management. Like many acronyms, it has different meanings in different industries. In the aviation world, for example, CRM stands for Crew Resource Management. As a pilot, I was required to learn and use CRM principles every day. With my varied experiences in aviation and in business, I believe there is a need for Crew Resource Management in the business world.
History
Today in aviation, CRM is the application of personal and team management concepts to enhance the safe operation of aircraft, both on the ground and in the air. In the early days of aviation, the Captain was the sole source of presumed expertise on the flight deck, even if there was an experienced and competent co-pilot in the right seat. In fact, jokes were made that co-pilots were “self-loading baggage.”
After some high profile accidents, such as United Airlines Flight 173 in 1978, it was recognized that all members of the cockpit crew should be more assertive in ensuring the safety of flight. Thus was born Cockpit Resource Management.
Shortly thereafter, it became clear that flight attendants had an important part in ensuring the safety of flight, and the same acronym now stood for Crew Resource Management to acknowledge their significant role. It was soon recognized that every company employee played a role in flight safety, and, for a short period, the acronym became Company Resource Management. It has reverted to Crew Resource Management, probably because it sounds more compelling.
CRM includes not only the pilots, but the entire aircrew, ground crew, and all others inside and outside the company who work together to ensure the aircraft arrives safely.
I propose a new acronym for the business world, TCRM, Total Company Resource Management, to suggest that employees at every level need to understand their role in fulfilling the company mission. To accomplish this, senior management must ensure that all levels of management understand the human factors involved in staffing a successful business. Since not all will naturally have this understanding, managers, and especially new managers, must participate in human factors training. This is the only way that TCRM principles can become company philosophy.
Basic Concepts of TCRM
Management must understand that lasting changes in behavior take time. Company employees are not just a collection of competent individuals with a single task; they are people who interact with one another on a daily basis, a team, if you will, all working to accomplish the company mission.
Everyone’s behavior should foster company effectiveness, with everyone contributing to success. To be successful, there must be opportunities for practice. For example, off site meetings could be utilized to train employees on how to make a contribution, other than their day-to-day job assignment, to company success. Who’s to say, for example, that the mail clerk who visits every department can’t observe a process and ask why it’s done that way, and offer a suggestion for improvement.