Methods of crisis prevention in companies

It goes without saying that we work in accordance with recognised standards as developed by the Institute of Public Auditors in Germany (IDW). In particular, our company valuations and our reorganisation concepts meet the current requirements.

Through our management consultants, some of whom work at the interface between science and business practice, the current state of scientific discussion also flows into our work, just as Dr Boysen feeds the findings from his project work into the scientific discussion through publications and makes them generally available. We aim to be both methodologically sound and to make the available theoretical approaches from the scientific debate suitable for practical application.

Preventive, stability-promoting measures include, above all, mindful process optimisation, planned backwards from the customer benefit to avoid blind spots and errors. For agile coordination and adaptation at the process interfaces on site, the processes must be provided with stabilising feedback loops. Coupling between the processes is also important for holistically coordinated action within the company.

It is very important that processes are not just written for an ISO 9001 audit, but that they are lived. If defined processes are bypassed, they are obviously not good enough and should be honed. Deviators are not necessarily outlaws, but often sources of improvement approaches.

In the case of highly standardised processes, it is even possible to have them executed directly via workflow applications. In such cases, the quality of the process definition is particularly important because automation will not allow any deviation.

Our (business) world is increasingly dynamic and complex. Mental models that reduce the existing complexity ignore the complexity that actually exists. They do not represent the world appropriately. Each of us creates such models in order to manage our (working) lives. But we need to be aware of the limitations of such mental models. We therefore recommend that our clients adopt a mindful approach without blocking alternative paths. In dynamic and complex environments, the essential asset is to have alternative options for action (variety) at all times in order to be able to react to changing conditions in an agile manner.

Although the overall level of complexity can be taken as given, the composition of the complexity can be customised. In this way, an unnecessarily high number of variants can be reduced. This reduces the company’s internal value-destroying complexity, but also reduces the number of options that can be offered.

The relationship between external and internal complexity must be balanced. An unwelcome competitor creates external complexity that you can hardly influence on the surface. If you acquire this competitor, you will have tamed the complexity emanating from this competitor. But it does not disappear; rather, it turns into internal complexity, because you now have to manage and integrate this acquired company.

The system dynamics method developed by Jay Wright Forrester can be used to clearly model complex relationships. This method requires specialised software, such as Vensim, which can mathematically capture and process the multiple mutual interrelationships. Such software can do what our brains cannot. Even during the modelling process, which should preferably be carried out by a management team, the participants become aware of important findings about effective interrelationships that they can incorporate into their future decisions. It becomes interesting when scenarios are simulated with modelled realities, i.e. the effects of alternative decisions are carried out.