Dion Management has developed leading expertise to help its clients realize their optimal performance by conducting diagnostic analysis of the hard side of management. Dion Management's approach involves studying an organization's structure, how it allocates responsibilities, how decision-making processes operate and how problem solving approaches are assessed. It has been demonstrated that all the soft aspects of management, i.e. managing motivation and satisfaction, communications, information and training activities, etc., will only produce expected results insofar as the hard aspects of management are designed and developed in accordance with the nature of the organization, its mission, its strategy and even the personalities and values of its directors.

The many studies conducted by Dion Management have led to the conclusion that today, companies do not fail because of a lack of resources, opportunities, abilities, willingness or effort, but rather because of deficiencies in their decision-making processes. Sometimes planning, organizing, problem solving processes and monitoring processes are insufficient to meet a company's needs; sometimes decision-making processes are underdeveloped. In addition, if there is no defined common language, managers do not adequately understand their accountability.

An Effective Tool

Dion Management has developed a unique tool for clarifying decision-making processes that can be used by non-profit organizations and companies alike. D⁵ ™ helps an organization standardize and formalize its concepts and the vocabulary inherent to its activities. D⁵ ™ is simple, flexible and easy to update. It avoids stalemates and fosters a better understanding of planning, organizational, management and problem solving processes within a company. D⁵ ™ clarifies who is accountable for establishing policies, management systems and programs. It also simplifies and clarifies levels of responsibility between the board of directors and management while facilitating activity coordination. D⁵ ™ improves processes for solving internal problems and contributes to executives' satisfaction with the organization as well as employees' confidence in managers. D⁵ ™ facilitates and improves changes and makes a direct contribution to the organizational dynamics.

Some exemples

It helps clarify the mandate of subsidiaries in relation to the head office. It is also useful to specify the mandates of various boards of directors, particularly with regard to investment and disinvestment directives;
It facilitates the decision-making process regarding the accountability between divisions and head office, chiefly in the areas of debt, financing, negotiation mandates, etc.;
It specifies the roles and responsibilities of the chief executive officer in relation to those of the chief operating officer to distinguish between strategic and operational activities;
It clarifies the accountability of vice-presidents in relation to their superiors, particularly with regard to carrying out decisions made by the board of directors;
It distinguishes between the roles of functional and operational departments, in relation, for example, to the interpretation, implementation and monitoring of management policies;
It clarifies quality management processes and the mandates of various operational and functional departments, such as accountability in instances of non-conformity.

Are your decision-making processes adapted and sufficiently developed to the nature, mission, objectives, strategies and culture of your company?