Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) The Main Points of SEAM

Process of a SEAM Intervention

Finding Organizational dysfunctions and hidden costs

Human Potential

Intervention

Teaching

Coaching

Human Resources role in the SEAM Process

HR Intervention in SEAM Approach Leading to Financial Gains

Comparison of Typical OD Interventions vs. SEAM Interventions & HRs Role in Each

SEAM and Curiosity

SEAM and Work Life Balance

The human, the social and the economic aspects of business and in the process of management are essentially addressed to through a process of intervention and this is termed as the Socio-Economic Approach to Management or SEAM. This concept of management was first proposed in France in 1973 and is a very well researched organizational change for business.

Essentially this management process starts with the leaders in the organization who have the role of assessing and identifying what is not working or functioning well and then correcting the dysfunctions. The SEAM proposes the use of six management tools, the identification and the assessment of hidden costs and the political and the strategic aspects associated with a process of change to find out the diagnosis and implement it. Reduction of hidden costs and the development of the human potential inherent in all the employees of the organization are the two aspects that SEAM emphasis on (Conbere & Heorhiadi, 2011).

SEAM varies in the value and belief systems related to management that forms its base when compared to traditional management processes. Human resources and the people are essentially kept away from traditional management features that are often very fragmented and are often based on incomplete financial data. Both people and the economics and financial aspects of business are factored in, in SEAM. This new management approach insists that the main cause of the poor productivity of employee is a direct result of the manner in which they are managed. SEAM entails that profits can be increased ad new opportunities developed quickly by the identification and reduction of hidden costs and fast development of human potential.

The Main Points of SEAM

SEAM is a management tool that is essentially an intervention in the processes of business management and man management that are prevalent in an organization. Formulated, proposed and propagated by Henri Savall and his students' team, this intervention program leads to large system change by linking economics, accounting, and a special Socio-Technical Systems approach to large system change links (Markides, 2010).

The SEAM is not an intermittent tool for management that can be used in the short-term but is a long-term process that attempts to bring in qualitative changes in an organization, about how people and employee in the organization are managed and how that can lead to greater productivity leading to enhanced economic gains for the organization. Typically a SEAM intervention is a five-year commitment and the results of the intervention are only effectively visible after that period provided that the intervention is continued. All firms that enter into a SEAM commitment should have allocated at least three to five years to be able to find out some results from the intervention.

A firm's strategy is analyzed using a bridging qualitative interview to collect data along with observation method and an accounting analysis to find out hidden costs and economic analysis (Hutton & Liefooghe, 2011).

Validation for SEAM has been done through a very long process of experimentation and intervention in 1000 companies based in 30 countries and scattered over 4 continents for over a period of 26 years. This grants tremendous credibility to the theories propounded in SEAM and is the most researched management subject in the world. The multiplication and diversification of the cases of an experiment conducted in new companies and organizations situated in new countries add to the growing database every year.

SEAM works both in at micro and macro levels. It is both an external as well as internal connection and strategic planning process. It utilizes the enactment of the local working conditions and the changes in policy. It includes the changes in rules and the way relationship between the workers, the unions, management, the suppliers, and communities develops and pans out (Owen, 2004).

SEAM seeks to manage the economic performance of a firm both in the short terms and the long-term and creating sustainable competitiveness on one hand and balancing the smooth running of firms and it social attributes.

Given below is a pictorial representation of the elements of the Socio-Economic Approach to Management

(Source:web.nmsu.edu)

Process of...

But these dysfunctions make organizations less effective and the more dysfunctions, the more ineffective the organization becomes. Dysfunctions also soak up and result in wastage of valuable resources. The problem with most dysfunctions is that they are not easily measurable with traditional accounting as well as they are often hard to identify and see as managers tend to get used to them. But these dysfunctions have hidden costs that can be broken down into the cost per employee (Bunduchi, 2008).
Hidden costs due to organizational dysfunctions also have a time aspect. They can pertain to the present or even to the future. Hidden costs incurred due to wasted resources, lost opportunities, time wasted or income lost are issues that pertain to the present.

Not being able to prepare employees as well as the organization for functioning in the future and tendency to avoid potential future problems or even ignoring potential future risks are hidden costs that would have their effect in the future. While the amount of the hidden costs is relative to the size and nature of a company, it is a thumb rule that the larger and more advanced technologically an organization is, the greater are the hidden costs (Savall, 2003).

Human Potential

It is common to blame individuals or those who do not perform to expectations for the loss or the hidden costs while the actual culprit is the organization itself. SEAM entails that unhealthy systems in organizations are the problem for hidden costs or losses both at present and those that are to be incurred in the future.

Thus, the solution is not to fix the individuals as correcting individuals would not fix the organizational system. It is assumed that most employees want to do well and intend to contribute towards the success of the company. Ownership of their work is taken by employees when they are respected and included to participate in the process of improving the workplace. This leads to a thriving workplace. SEAM is based on the premise that the development of human potential is the source of the addition of value in an organization. This is in contrary to the neo-classical theory that value addition in firms happen due to the addition of capital and the Marxist economics theory that labor adds value to an organization (Gonzalez & Gonzalez, 2015).

Development of people in the organization is at the core of enriching an organization according to SEAM theory. People are more engaged and have a greater will to contribute when they develop. Thus, SEAM concludes the major dysfunction in dysfunctional organizations is poor management. SEAM theory states that poor management is not the singular problem with managers but a result of a dominant mental model that the western world has about management (Heorhiadi, A., Conbere, J. P., & Hazelbaker, C., 2014).

Intervention

SEAM is associated with bringing in a change to an entire system. It is a top-down process and starts with the top leaders in an organization and then cascades down through the organization until it reaches all the employees. This means that the ability to identify and correct a dysfunction is demonstrated by the leaders first before the employees are asked to do the same.

However in the entire process, there would not be any blame or retaliation. Typically in the first year, the intervention process would involve the leaders and a couple of departments or divisions. Departments and divisions are added in every subsequent year. The entire organization is thus included in the intervention within the time period ascribed to the SEAM intervention. In practice, the process of intervention is carried out by a team of expert intervener-researchers.

This is a systematic nature of the intervention. Hence a large team -- essentially all of whom are adequately trained in SEAM intervention along experts of using the tool, implement the process. The process of intervention involves the classical Lewin's action research where data is gathered from participants, analyzed and ten is fed back to the participants. This analyzed data is used to solve organizational problems. However what makes a SEAM intervention different from another management and HR management tools is that the process also calculates hidden costs and uses accounting to ascribe a financial figure to every dysfunction. This attaching of a financial figure to dysfunctions acts as a motivation for the company leaders to invest more time and money into the process. There is a brainstorming session with the employees after data collections where the employees address the major dysfunctions and attaches a cost to each dysfunction first which is followed by…