Managing and Leading People in a Supply Chain

This is a series on Supply Chain Basics looking at the discipline from the Society of Operations Management perspective. Supply chain is also essential to project management as PMs are typically trained in world class contracting. For example, my Masters program had several courses involving contracting and the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, DAWIA, certification highlights the combination of project management and supply chain. In this post, we will explore supply chain leadership and management adding some additional support as well.

Managing and Leading People in a Supply Chain

In many of my posts I discuss organizational design, usually looking at capacity and capabilities then coupling this to complex adaptive systems, CAS. A major challenge in organizations is the ability to effectively and efficiently handle demands on capacity and capability under emergent conditions that stress the organizational design. Most often people are unyielding to rapid change bringing a host of human conditions into the mix. CAS can stabilize the situation as staff operate in stable nodes to queued work loads. The dynamics and flux are absorbed into the self-organizing communication pathways and logistical networks.

APICs recognizes the challenges which were discussed in the Evolution of Supply Chain post. Thus, executive management must be committed to the process orientation and cross-functional team-work across the supply chain. APICS breaks the solution of managing people into roles and leadership.

Roles

A challenge as organizations transition to world class excellence is the emergence of new process related roles. There is no agreement on how to structure a supply chain or which business functions to include or exclude. Once the business selects the end-to-end process the linked elements begins to look like necessities. Since everything is linked collaboration among the roles must be emphasized. The supply chain roles can be directly assigned to the supply chain or collateral duties within various departments and organizations affecting the supply chain. Position directly related to the supply chain management should possess these attributes:

• The ability to see the entire supply chain as a series of linked processes and not isolated functions. 
• The skill and experience necessary to manage critical relationships 
• An understanding of the business model 
• The ability to make decisions from statistical analysis and facts 
• Advanced cost management ability 
• An understanding of electronic business systems

There are a host of disciplines affected by the supply chain or affect the chain itself but are not part of the supply chain. For example; Engineering, Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Human resources, Information Technology, and Legal. Overall, everyone that touches the supply chain in some way should have some level of visibility and ability to communicate up and down the chain. With the right level of participation and well defined roles, surprise can be eliminated and the bull whip effect can be marginalized.

Leadership and Management

There is debate about leadership versus management with many theories circling around. Few dispute that supply chains require great managers and inspiring leaders. Managers perform roles in the organizational chart. Management in supply chains must understand the cross-functional boundaries and develop teamwork as well as perform the routine tasks associated with keeping the supply chain on track and performing well. Whereas, leadership is outside the organizational chart and not always present in a manager, even the best. Leaders arises to an occasion then returns to its humble origins and are often terrible managers. Managers are pragmatic and task oriented. Leaders are visionary and charismatic inspiring innovation and effective management. Managers follow the leaderships vision.

Comment: As an operations manager and retired Naval Officer, I want to take a few moments to discuss leadership, management, and supervisory differences. The real world is not perfect and often lacks clear delineation between each of these as there is managerial-leadership and supervisory-leadership models. In leadership circles, there are leaders with followers, leaders of leaders, and leaders of leadership. Inexperienced professionals in leadership roles often have convoluted ideas of leadership confusing management and supervisory roles with leadership roles. The basic leadership process model is presented in the Leadership Series posts; of specific interest is the post The Leadership Process.  

Leading people involves vision and setting the goals as well as the character and conduct of the effort. Leaders are ideologues who have visions and goals in which people see the virtue of pursuing.  Strong leadership aligns goals and objectives with the constituency needs, objectives, and goals. Whereas, the poor leadership example of dictators impose a vision on the constituencies. Managing people involves filling roles and ensuring that the right tasks are being pursued. Managers implement a leader's vision by creating and complying with policies and road maps that put strategy-to-task. Not discussed by APICs are supervisory roles. Supervisors are task masters who ensure that policies are complied with and tasks are properly executed. A supervisor reports what has been completed and the status of work in progress. Supervisors tend to have a work focus on a narrow specialized discipline or set of tasks.

Supervisor-leaders are self-directed and find ways to improve quality and throughput. Supervisor-leaders find efficiencies and ways to become more effective within their domain of expertise. Manager-leaders do the same but across multiple supervisory domains.  Whereas leaders are the most broad based. Managers typically are organizationally introspective. Meanwhile, leaders are organizationally visionary or looking outward to the future and direction of the organization.  Leaders of leaders are those who go beyond the organizational domain and lead the broader domain of industry or a consortium for example.  Leaders of leadership establish longevity and durability within a domain such that future leaders look to the giant for inspiration.  

Conclusion

Managing people is different than leading people. Supply chain management requires good manager-leaders as well as those who are expressly leaders in executive positions. Once the supply chain is established then roles define the tasks and activities within the supply chain that are managed.  However, the supply chain is in constant flux and leaders, managers, and supervisors must quickly adapt to the emergent conditions.  Hence, supply chain visibility is essential ingredient to managing and leading all supply chain participants.

Reference:

(2011). APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional Learning System. (2011 ed.). Version 2.2.