Ukeles Associates, Inc.

Ukeles Associates, Inc. assists in creating a performance-driven culture which enables governments and organizations to improve service, reduce cost, and increase revenue.

We have developed particular expertise in performance management, and in helping a wide variety of organizations to improve operations.

The key to effective management in the independent sector (as well as in private industry and in government) is organizational culture, not any particular model or method of management or set of procedures.

We have learnt four things about transforming organizational culture:

One- the best model for staffing and organization structure, or the best possible protocols for communications and use of technology or the most rational management system will not matter unless, and until, an organization can define a clear and compelling vision and mission. Where managers and employees understand, and are committed to, that vision and mission, they will find the way to solve managerial and operational problems.

Two- an effective organization is one that is obsessive about performance, in which two questions are constantly and consistently on the table:

1) How well are we doing?
2) How can we do better?

Where performance is truly central, one finds:

a definition of "good performance" and a way to measure performance
people are held accountable for their performance
people have control over the resources needed to do their job
good performance is rewarded, and poor performance is shown how it can be improved, and if it is not improved, it is penalized.

Three- an effective organization is one in which customer service is central. Now the question, "who is the customer," is a much more complex question in most voluntary organizations or in government than in a factory manufacturing a widget for the automotive industry. Yet it is just as urgent to identify customers and to make customer service the linchpin of everything that goes on.

Four- an effective organization is adaptive - change is endemic and an effective organization moves quickly in response to changing conditions.

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