Paradigms are understood as the set of concepts that make up the mental structure through which human beings perceive both the outside world and its sensations, as well as their personal experiences.
This set of concepts is the product of the experience, training, teachings and cultural patterns existing in a society. These are generated both individually, as well as socially.
In the latter case we are talking about paradigms in force in a society at any given time. Paradigms are usually represented as mental glasses through which we contemplate and / or perceive reality. Without these glasses we cannot contemplate the environment, but our conception of the environment does not necessarily respond to that reality but rather to a plane to which perceptions conform.
However, these perceptions may not be adequate or compatible with a certain context or situation.
As a society has the capacity for change, paradigms evolve to adapt to new requirements in such a way as to make the survival of both individuals and society as a whole feasible.
Many times the lack of adaptation of the paradigms to the new realities take away the survival capacity of the individuals, making them more fragile and lacking in competitiveness.
Thus, since the mid-1970s, Detroit industrialists could not see the Japanese threat because they had such paradigms as ideas of being the best in the world in the automotive field, being those who best interpreted the needs of American consumers, providing of irrefutable competitive advantages and the belief of seeing cheap products of poor quality in Japanese products.
Well, the reality was a totally different one, and the managers of the automakers were slow to take note of this mistake. This is a good example of how a misconception of reality can lead companies to a difficult situation, but even more to ruin.
Something similar is currently being experienced in the 21st century with regard to human resource management. These essential and fundamental resources for the march and life of any organization continue to be administered under the paradigms of a past, very past era. A time when the cultural levels, knowledge and training of personnel were well below current levels, a time when the amount of information currently existing did not exist, a time when consumers adapted to the offer and did not as it is currently in which the company must constantly adapt to the new and greater demands of consumers.
This was a time marked worldwide by trade barriers, contrary to the current existence of global markets.
Within these new realities, managers and also their employees must change their paradigms, not only to aspire to success but at least to be able to participate in said competition. It is only enough to take into account that from the year 2000 it is considered that every twenty months the existing information will be duplicated. The question is: Are managers and staff ready to unlearn and relearn continuously?
Going totally against the most common concepts of personnel management, in most western companies the need to reformulate certain fundamental principles arises from various perspectives and authors.
Among the new concepts and methodologies to put into practice to make companies more competitive we have:
- All staff must actively participate in quality, services and sales, contributing from various perspectives and activities to the fundamental objectives of the organization, as well as the full satisfaction of internal and external customers. As previously stated, quality It is the work of everyone and not of a sector specially dedicated to quality control. The personnel must, through self-control, prevention, group activities and suggestion systems, contribute to constantly improve the quality and productivity levels of the company. The personnel stop specializing only in one task and go on to develop fully in the various activities. that make up all the processes, and the versatility of all the staff, including at the managerial level, becomes of primary importance.Making continuous improvement in productivity levels feasible, with the support and full and active participation of all staff, requires managers to secure jobs. Manage motivation together with technical knowledge and the ability to creativity in order to increase creativity and applied innovation in the company. Involve staff in the profits generated, and as a reward for teamwork. Make prevail the teamwork of the organization as a whole, against attitudes individualistic and heroic. Involve staff in the planning, coordination and organization of their work. Stop seeing training as an expense and move to consider it as an investment.Inform the staff's progress in time and form of the company, without hiding anything and trusting fully in it.
Put special emphasis on staff training in aspects such as:
- The techniques of problem solving and decision making. Teamwork. Management tools. Mental Maps, Lateral Thinking, Emotional Intelligence and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, among others. Digital Economy.
Today, the majority of companies continue in attitudes totally opposed to those described, for this reason the urgent need for a change of mentality, for a redefinition and updating of paradigms in order to achieve a competitive advantage on the part of the company.
Those companies that act in a way contrary to the way in which the majority do will obtain significant absolute and relative advantages, precisely for carrying out those actions that allowing their performance to be improved are not imitated by the competitors.
Putting these changes into practice requires not only significant awareness raising at the leadership level, but also generating both strategies and tactics for their implementation.
We live in an age in which the paradigm shift is fundamental in all areas, and it is necessary to place a very special emphasis on changes in mentality regarding personnel management, since this is the basis for the other strategic changes, be they in related to technological, commercial or financial issues.
Important researchers in the field of psychology and creativity reliably report that the average of individuals does not use more than 1% of their abilities. Yes, this is how you have read it. Imagine the potential for productivity growth at both the company and society level that would be improved by education and training systems, the removal of barriers to creativity and innovation, the promotion of imagination, and the improvement of communication.
The mental capacities are immense and it is only now that their capacities and potentials are beginning to be discovered. The manager who understands and understands this will have an important weapon in his hands in order to achieve consistent competitive advantages.
The secret is that most of them focus only on the potential and capabilities of their structures and equipment (machinery - facilities), ignoring the enormous untapped potential in terms of their human resources, which implies making use of their experiences, knowledge and skills., creative and innovative capabilities, which will not only benefit the company, but also improve the quality of life of its staff.
