CHSCM 3.0 - Unit 1 - SCM in the Humanitarian World

possible to bring all these activities together under one supply chain function, or to have a supply
chain function that oversees and coordinates all supply chain activities.
In most humanitarian organizations, the functions that make up the organization will have objectives
which they are expected to achieve. These objectives are sometimes described as key performance
indicators (KPIs). How well a function performs and achieves its objectives will often affect the status
of that function, and may even affect the rewards the people working in the function receive. This
means that people working in functions, particularly senior managers who are supervising the
function, will be focused on delivering the function’s objectives.
Having these objectives is not a problem. The problem is caused when these objectives are set
independently and when they actually conflict with other functions’ objectives, particularly the
objectives of the supply chain. It also can mean that if people need to work together to manage the
supply chain, but they don’t see that this is helping them to meet their own functional objectives,
they will not want to put time and effort into working together.
To overcome this barrier, there are two different approaches that can be adopted. These are
guided by two different management principles:
• What is rewarded gets done
• What is rewarding gets done
To encourage functions to work together, objectives should be set that will require them to work
together. Further, they will be rewarded for achieving these objectives. Objectives and KPIs for
different departments should not be set independently, but set by recognizing that the performance
of the supply chain relies on different functions working together.
All organizations, as we discussed earlier, will have a culture which determines ‘the way we do things
in the organization.’ The culture of an organization can both encourage and discourage functions,
and people working in those functions, to work together and develop close working relationships.
For example a survival of the fittest culture encourages people to compete and to concentrate on
their own performance. In this culture, if a person must rely on other people and must ask for help
from others, it is seen as a weakness. This does not encourage functions to work together.
Within some organizations there will be divisions or functions with their own sub-cultures. These
sub-cultures may not encourage people working in that function to work with people in other
functions. This culture will probably have developed over time, based on the views and perceptions
of people of other functions within the organization, or based on their experiences of contact with
other functions.