Management of Infrastructure – Who Dares
There are several management subfields.
A discipline that is typically not very well-liked is infrastructure.
It is not immediately apparent, at least not in the sense that you can count the number of goods or services produced as a result of the investments made.
However, if the management agenda for the topic of infrastructure is not appropriately set, it will appear when you least expect it.
We have seen what events like Katrina can do all across the world.
It is not claimed that Louisiana’s infrastructure was lacking, but security and safety concerns are infrastructure-related Advisory.
Both within private businesses as well as the public services run by politicians and governmental organizations are challenging to administer.
Always at the bottom of the management agenda is infrastructure.
The difficulty of managing infrastructure can be attributed to a number of factors.
Let’s define the term “infrastructure” before we discuss it further.
We apply a quite expansive definition.
Everything has to do with providing the support the firm needs to get off the ground.
It is about providing assistance, making things easier, serving, or, put another way, being the glue that holds everything together.
The basic necessities are things like power, gas, and water.
These fundamental requirements underpin all other demands.
Another component that supports communication across the board of an organisation is information and communication technology.
The functionality fits under this support category as long as it is not expressly dedicated to a key business function.
The same applies to all maintenance types.
Periodic trainings and general educational services provided by human resource departments are examples of supported services that fall under this category.
The fact that each of the aforementioned infrastructural components serves a shared objective unites them all.
They cover a wide range of needs rather than delivering one solution in particular.
In fact, support for (infrastructure) helps others (both humans and systems) complete their tasks.
Everything stops working if you take the infrastructure plug out of the wall.
You are dealing with ethereal concerns when it comes to requirements.
The requirements are not functional and deal with abstract issues like: security and safety (website and buildings), integrity (information), dependability (communication, electricity), etc.
These abstracts have the drawback of being difficult to measure.
You mention safety levels and the occurrences that bring them down.
In essence, it concerns historical statistical data that is required to address managerial energy in the future.
The next query is, at what point is it acceptable?
Only historical events can be used to ascertain this.
similar to that in Louisiana.
Most managers have a limited span of attention.
Daily difficulties are dealt with, and infrastructure problems only sporadically arise.
When the “storm” has physically passed, the focus is switched to something else, and general support is disregarded; “Everything” is once again functioning.
Therefore, managing infrastructure makes you unhappy since, once the issue has been resolved, individuals return to what actually matters, which is meeting immediate requirements.
The fact that infrastructure is not glamorous is related to the first two aspects.
Everyone wants to perform, and overall, individual accomplishment is what matters most.
Similar to tennis, the singles final is given more weight than the doubles.
It is a universal truth.
And every organization is aware of this reality.
Personal accomplishments are given more weight.
Performance and production are important.
When a sales target is met, we would rather spend our one dollar on individual bonuses than on a bonus for the supporting team who had to deal with 2000 angry customers because the product was subpar, broken, malfunctioning, or whatever.
The management process is complicated further by the fact that support-related problems are not often recognized as such.
Simply look at the issues that arise and are never resolved in your firm.
They return repeatedly.
The signs are as follows.
You then realise that your infrastructure has flaws.
Since none of these issues have an owner, they are stumbling around your organization like orphans.
You can be certain that a catastrophe is coming if their number is increasing.
You should put infrastructure on the management agenda to stop this.
The balanced score card could be used in this situation.
Additionally, you should set up a budget that is fueled by a set percentage of new initiatives and businesses.
Increase this proportion if the symptoms don’t get better.
safer to be safe than sorry.
