THE BUSINESS TEAM STANDARD - A MEANS OF IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INDIVIDUAL BUSINESSES IN A MULTIBUSINESS CORPORATION

The paper describes a project carried out within a major chemicals cor poration to improve the performance of the individual businesses. This was to be done by clarifying some of the organisational uncertainties in its structure and improving the way that specialists form coalitio ns to address market challenges together. The approach used was based on ''systems thinking'', which is an intellectual framework of knowled ge that attempts to view organisations as wholes and which studies the processes of change in any part in the context of the whole organisat ion. Some of the important concepts of systems thinking are explored a s they might be applied within a business organisation. Specifically t he tool used was the Viable System Model of Stafford Beer, which the a uthors interpreted and developed into a set of statements (''a Standar d'') which describe best practice in such organisations. Managers have used this to explore possible gaps in their organisations and, with t his understanding, find ways to improve performance.