We need to be very careful when choosing what management techniques and tools to use

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”, goes an old saying. But within our organizations we need to be very careful when choosing what management techniques and tools to use. Even though we are well accustomed to some of them, it seems we often forget that techniques and tools need to be aligned with the goals we’re trying to reach. 

For example, even though activity-based costing technique is widely known, its applicability is limited to only some industries and organizations. Activity-based costing presumes knowing all the activities and their accompanying resources within the processes. This is fine when it comes to the exploitation and refining of existing products and services. But in an innovative organization focused on exploration and innovation, how is one to know the exact specification of the future product or service, let alone the process of making or delivering it? In that case, activity-based costing will not provide satisfactory results. 

Therefore, the management arsenal of techniques and tools needs to be constantly expanded with the new challenges encountered, while managers need to have the requisite awareness on the arsenal and knowledge to select the appropriate technique or tool.