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Managing vs. Thinking at ICBC

Tony Wanless

| August 12, 2008

Image by: Jupiter

An investigation has revealed some dirty goings on at ICBC. Specifically, it targets the corporation's research facility which was fixing up smashed cars and reselling them to unknowing buyers.

Apparently, to please a government bent on cost cutting, the ICBC board formed a policy to boost revenues from the research facility and other ICBC divisions that had previously been seen as cost centres, not revenue generators.

But a policy is one thing; strategy is another. And there doesn't appear to have been one here. Instead there was a lot of “management” and, apparently, not much of a plan.

And so, isn't this a colossal failure by an organization to direct its management properly? Further isn't it an inevitable result of the quarter-to-quarter, short term, bottom-line-all-the-time mind set that seems to grip too many managers these days?

ICBC isn't unique in this, of course. Managers in many organizations today, private and public, think only in the short term and in only one way – make the numbers work. They're constantly trying to please their bosses, who are in turn trying to please investors, or in this case, governments who are getting a little tired of bureaucratic waste.

A “good” manager reads the organizational wind well: And if the organizational culture emphasizes execution and implementation, and not strategy, well that's what they do.

Truth is, any fool can cut spending – and right now as we enter a downturn, a lot of fools, big and small, are thinking of doing just that – but strategies are what really drive organizations toward the future. Add innovative thinking to that strategizing, and you have a solid plan in place for how to do that.

But because they're geared to producing long-term value, strategies don't have immediate impact. So most short-sighted managers don't want to go near them.

Their job is to manage, not to think.

Tags

I was t boned as a

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2009-10-10 10:23.

I was t boned as a passenger, by a driver who ran a red, he refused to provide any samples, assuming he was intoxicated he was sentenced, 2 or 3 months. I was told no need for a lawyer, we are here to help you! the adjuster said. So a year later i was forced to get legal help. now they took my school records and wcb records and work history and paint me to look like a unsuccessful piece of shit who had 6 jobs in 4 years since graduating high school, Then blamed my sporadic jobs blamed them on my adhd(diagnosed as a 10 year old) told me they don't want to give me wage loss due i wasn't going to keep it ( a job working with helicopters from the ground making 40-60k a year) Then because i had a wcb claim 3 years in a row all in November, this behavior is suspicious, now i have a claim with icbc. they don't like me now. They picked me apart and painted me with a shit brush during discovery. i had some injury to my body but blew my head into the window and airbag loss of consciousness and severe headaches since, and inner ear damage. but i'm the piece of shit, a scammer who knows the system, and wants a huge payout so i don't need to work. As if i chose to be a passenger in my moms car, and i arranged a drunk driver to t bone me and eff up my life wich was fine until........

What a scam!Now the have to

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2008-08-26 19:19.

What a scam!Now the have to buy back all those vehicles and probably those thief's are going to get bonuses happy ending.When a vehicle is a total loss the customer is paid out and then the vehicle is sold at auction but in this case the fixed the vehicles and sold-ed to the highest bidder, but less of what the originals owners got paid out and ICBC buying back the vehicles for more money that the original price so that says that the originals owners are in title to more money.I think someone should look in to this!

What i don't understand is

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2008-08-09 06:41.

What i don't understand is why did the used a private auction when the have there own.What about those guys that knew about the unethical practices why do the still work.Have employees been punished of what the knew i think the have and there is more to come its not over.