– Everything has always revolved around change. That word has appeared in front of me at least a thousand times, and then it occurred to me that we have a schizophrenic relationship with changes. When someone mentions that word, the first thing that comes to mind is the frequent wish of people for the situation in the company they work for, the country they live in, or the world we all find ourselves in to change… And then after half an hour, we think about when this pace of change will calm down. There is only one answer: it will calm down the moment we are no longer here – said Boris Vukić, regional director at the consulting firm Adizes, whose offices are in Zagreb, Belgrade, and Sarajevo, at the 17th Lider Conference on Procurement.
Vukić deals with organizational transformation at Adizes, helping companies transition from entrepreneurial or family to professional management. How the founders led the company, no one else can – not even the children, he said.
Explaining his work more specifically, he stated that every change leads to at least one problem. When an opportunity arises in front of us, in a managerial sense, we have a problem or an opportunity, depending on how one perceives it.
– As a consultant, I never promise that there won’t be problems, but I always help my clients solve at least one type, so they can subsequently encounter higher quality problems – Vukić stated, adding that everything always revolves in a vicious circle made up of changes, problems, solutions, and decision-making and implementation.
The real power in managing changes, he believes, is not held by the people at the top of the pyramid but by those ‘at the bottom’.
– If you want to discover real power, look downwards. What do you think, who needs whom more in business to be successful? Does a waiter need the head of the hall to be a good boss, or does the boss need a good waiter to even have the opportunity to be a boss? – Vukić asked the audience.
Bullying or Gnibom
The higher we climb in the hierarchical pyramid, the more our success depends on those who are ‘below us’, he added. Precisely because of the often-mentioned power structure, other types of challenges arise, such as bullying, which, according to Vukić, can be interpreted in several ways.
– Bullying represents hostile and unethical communication aimed at systematically harassing one or more individuals, mainly directed towards one individual, who is placed in a helpless position and unable to defend themselves from constant harassing activities. One evening, I came to the opposite definition called gnibom… One in which individuals harass their superiors – Vukić explained.
In modern society, he says, gnibom appears in companies that nurture participatory management (which paradoxically is perceived as a weakness of managers) and in entrepreneur-led and family-owned, even public companies where nepotism and cronyism are often present.
– The cost of nepotism and cronyism in public companies is paid by us, while in family businesses, it is paid by the founder. We will avoid gnibom with better organizational transformation and better selection of candidates being hired – Vukić concluded.
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Inflation Will Ease
Everything has been said about inflation except when it will reach its peak, as, of course, no one can know that for sure. However, Tom Bundgaard, chief analyst at Mintec, revealed at the Lider Conference on Procurement how prices might move in 2023.
To the delight of all present, Bundgaard emphasized that inflation will ease next year. In fact, he said it peaked last spring and will experience another mild rise, after which a final decline will follow. Since Mintec specializes in market data on commodity prices, Bundgaard bases his data on an article published with collaborators in British media last year. Their forecasts, as is now evident, have proven accurate.
