Doing business at the best of times is never easy and what makes the difference is good people. However, recently in Hong Kong it is the lack of the right people that is causing difficulties.

Talking with business executives, it becomes clear that one of the greatest concerns organisations have today is the quality of their employees. We see it everywhere, in hotels, restaurants, shops and in industry, the standard of service is declining.

The fact is that people are occupying positions for which they have not been properly trained and this is true at almost all levels within an organisation. This is the decade of transition and refinement of practices in organisations. But how do we get the best in our organisational positions?

Developing the skills and capabilities of the lower level employees becomes an absolute necessity, not only because in many cases they are the ones that are in contact with the public or customers, but also because their efficiency will prevent re-work and other undue problems. The lack of well-qualified lower level employees causes supervisors to spend more time with this group and even finds supervisors doing the work for them, which in turn, will cause middle managers to fill in on the work that is left behind by supervisors.

We frequently observe that, in part at least, each level of organisation is pulled down one step and sometimes even more. When senior management cannot properly fulfil its responsibilities because too much time needs to be devoted to day-to-day operations, a price has to be paid. The organisation experiences stagnation, negative public and client relations, and possibly even government interference or intervention.

Focus within organisations has to be more effectiveness oriented. This is to say that staff need to do independently what they are hired to do without the continuous assistance and help of supervisors.

It is not as difficult as many people may think, it simply means a systematic process of developing employees over a period of four to six months. The change requires making the time for lower level staff -- a time for coaching and counselling, and not for doing the job for them. The success of this depends on a correct understanding of the responsibilities to be performed at each level of the organisation.

And what about the specific duties of a supervisor? In what ways are they different from those performed by the middle manager, and how do they differ from those of senior executives?

Middle managers should not focus so much on managing the behaviour of people, but put more attention on managing the organisational environment. It is the environment that creates behaviour and it is people who create the environment, but who are these people? They are, or at least should be, the middle managers who are responsible for running the organisation on a day-to-day basis. It should not be top management since they have higher levels of accountability.

It is much easier for organisations to correct and refine their practices today than it will be 12 months down the road. The longer we wait, the more difficult the correction and transition is going to be. Operational and labour costs are going to continue to rise and with it inflation, and what is critical is that Hong Kong will have difficulty staying competitive in the world market. Already, we are losing manufacturing organisations to other Asian countries with more abundant labour at lower costs.