Restructuring moves ahead
administration
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UFO project quite
'down to earth'
Earlier this summer the Dutch Works Council gave its dearance on a far-reaching
restructuring plan for administration. This opens the way for a more focused,
effective, and disciplined worldwide setup under which we will meet competitive
realities by arranging our activities along regional and functional lines.
Managing change
Improving efficiency
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Functional organization
What'sNewS Issue 7 July 1999 I
On receiving this news, global adminis
tration was quick to throttle up.
Global function managers and regional
chief administrative officers (CAOs) met
in The Hague at the start of June, together
with administration managers from the of
fices, to agree on a timetable and practical
details of implementation, ranging from
phe drafting of new organizational charts
to the appointment of professionals for
new positions. Final implementation plans
for regionalization will be tabled this
month, it was agreed. Also decided, a new
'balanced scorecard' system - in effect a
reliable and unified benchmarking
methodology for measuring performance
throughout the network - will be airborne
by the end of this year.
'All of this is a significant departure. We're
still a long way from where we want to be
in terms of real operating efficiency. We
need to implement this plan quickly yet
very carefully manage the process of
change so that we can meet our goals
while at the same time we address the im-
mediate dentands of ongoing business,'
Bays Victor Cuyckens, global manager for
business management and control. 'This is
a substantial challenge. Luckily, we have a
great team and we're doing our best to
build transparency, clarity, and mutual
trust. They understand that there's no
margin for failure.'
The essence of the restructuring operation
is to ensure that we operate more effi-
ciently on a global scale - and that man
agement has more rapid access to infor-
mation and therefore control over the
network - so that we're able to instanta-
neously and profitably respond to broad
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Operations
Barbara Carroll
IT Systems Oev.
TBA
IT Infrastructure
Bernie Adamson
Strat.&Prog.Mgt.
1 Erny Kahle
BM& Control R
Victor Cuyckens 1
Human Recources
M. Groenwegen
Regional CAO
functional reporting
day-to-day reporting
Regional
Regional
Regional
Regional
Regional
Operations
IT System Dev.
IT Infrastructure
Strat.&Prog.Mgt.
BM Control
Manager
Manager
Manager
Manager
Manager
Country CAO Country CAO
Country CAO
trends as well as short-lived business op-
portunities while minimizing risk. People
are being grouped together according to
their skills, tasks, and functions within a
framework of global management ac-
countability: i.e. all technology people
form one team, as do all operations staff
(the goal, of course, is to keep our own
structure in harntony with our business
priorities and the increasingly global char-
acter of our present and potential cus-
torner base).
Administration is organized along func
tional lines, with the functions being oper
ations, IT infrastructure, IT systems and
development, strategy and program man
agement, business management and con
trol, and human resources. These heads
are responsible for strategy, standards,
and the overall implementation of the
plans. Local CAO's, headed by their re
gional CAO (from the regions Europe,
Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, the Amer-
icas, and the Pacific), are responsible for
the local and day-to-day implementation
of the plans
and strategy.
Administra
tion is
steered by
the adminis
tration man
agement
committee
and is com-
posed of
functional
and regional
heads. 'Some
people have
raised questions regarding the potential
impact of the ongoing long-term strategy
review,' Cuyckens remarks. 'Our view is
that this entire exercise - if it's conducted
right - will be a win-win situation. A good
organization is always an asset. If you
qualitatively improve the way you oper
ate, then that improvement will pay divi-
dends under any circumstances. But ulti-
mately, the key to the success of any
structure or strategy lies with the people
who actually execute it.'
Notes:
Thepoiition of premises is to be definedandis not represented in this diagram
Boxes do nol equal Hts. Severol fundions can be performed by one person
The exis lence of country functional managers will depend on the site of the location
The country functional managers (ifapplicable) report through the country CAO
Acentral requisite for any intelligent
administrative reorganization must
be the way in which financial flows are
measured and managed. At present, this
process in Utrecht is fragmented and
suffers from a proliferation of insuffi-
ciently compatible IT 'solutions'. Fur-
thermore, management has a pressing
need for much more timely, accurate,
and detailed flows of financial informa-
tion, particularly in light of our glohal,
functionalized organization. It is against
this background that the Utrecht finance
and operations (UFO) program was es-
tablished under the oversight of CAO
Alain Younes, Alison Straszewski, Bar-
bara Carroll, Willem van Duyn, Bert
Bruggink and Len Steffen. Theo Koeken
transferred from his previous role as
head of central market risk to assume
day-to-day management. Says Koeken,
'UFO's main objectives are to set up a
unified finance and control unit with
clear lines of responsibility (including
demarcation with operation depart-
ments such as mid office), to reconcile
management information with the gen-
eral ledger and to ensure greater ac-
countability for the general ledger. Once
these tasks have been addressed, we can
move on to the next phase, the imple
mentation of better IT solutions and the
establishment of a unified European
processing centre, a project to be over-
seen by the same steering committee.'
