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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/09684879610112846. When citing the article, please cite: D. Keith Denton, (1996), “Re-engineering: using the customer as a unifying factor”, Training for Quality, Vol. 4 Iss: 1, pp. 32 - 36.

The shooting at Columbine high school in Colorado and the Oklahoma City bombing have at least one thing in common: Perceived enemies were a powerful motivator for these horrible acts. Enemies can be and are powerful motivators. They give us a sense of community. Top executives at Unisys Corporation, General Electric, Coca‐Cola and Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation know about these powerful motivators—that if people do not have a natural enemy, they will create their own. These executives know how to create external ones so that their employees do not create internal ones. They focus their people on looking outward, on finding positive goals.

Contends that the environment is the vehicle to greater profits in the 1990s. States that organizations should comply with customer demands, and recent surveys show consumers are willing to pay more for environmentally‐friendly products. Covers areas such as managing vs. controlling pollution, cost minimization and life‐style costing. Concludes that waste and pollution reduction can cut costs and thus increase revenue.

Looks at how companies can go about creating a competitive culture using American Express as an example. Provides details of their programme, including their focus of attitudinal training and the role of leadership. American Express has chosen quality service to their customers as their unifying factor and this has worked well, as employees can easily put themselves into the customer’s shoes and, if the process is done correctly, take pride in a job well done. Looks at the firm’s intrastructure, in‐house training sessions, service tracking, reports, transaction‐based surveys, establishing of links, performance reviews, attitudinal training, employee involvement, and communications. Concludes by noting American Express confirm that people want to give their best and it is management’s job to encourage employees and then empower them so they can do so.

Examines how the environment can be used as a competitive weapon in business in relation to customer loyalty. Indicates how managers deal with this issue by means of the results of a questionnaire on pollution management. Concludes that there is enormous potential for profit in this field, not only for the company but also for the environment.

Innovation has always been at the centerpiece of competitiveness. Experimentation, exploration and a drive to maximize resources is as essential for companies as it is for nations and our whole species. Many of the lessons for how to best innovate can be drawn from nature herself. The Cambrian explosion provides a good blueprint for how innovations occur. It shows us that true innovation often occurs in sudden dynamic shifts. It is not one of continual or gradual improvements but rather “lumpy” improvements. It is these sudden competitive changing innovations that open up and close out vast areas of commerce. Unfortunately, we never know where these competitive changing innovations will occur, so it is best to be ever vigilant and explore not only main lines of inquiry but also by‐products. Often, it is these by‐products that turn out to be the competitive shifting innovations.

The efforts of Ford to get their employees actively involved in improving quality is one of America′s recent success stories. Employee involvement was one of the key reasons why Ford, which recalled more cars than it built in 1978, has progressed to recently outearning the much larger General Motors. It took not only upper management support but a total rethinking of relationships between line management and their employees. Out of this process came Ford′s eight basic steps for launching EI. It is a systematic approach that has produced results.

To improve the readers' ability to sell ideas, concepts and recommendations by learning to enhance their professional reputation.

The paper is designed to help the reader through the process of enhancing their effectiveness in a work environment.

The article highlights the benefits of developing a strong professional reputation and how to promote your particular expertise.

Professional managers cannot expect people to value their expertise simply on merit. You have to learn to promote that knowledge and influence.

Clearly organizations function best when all voices have had a chance to influence outcomes. Applying these techniques help ensure the reader's perspective is seen.

This paper describes clear steps you can take to better influence decisions and impact the organization by enhancing your professional reputation.

Asserts that history shows humanity’s quest for power over its environment and of individuals over each other. Suggests that ignoring the desire for power and influence or leaving a vacuum where people are left to feel powerless is to invite trouble; instead, these primal needs should be faced in a positive and worthwhile manner. Proposes that the need for power should be addressed and a sense of being powerful, rather than powerless, should be encouraged throughout organizations. Concludes that, in the 1990s, having power will increasingly mean sharing information, knowledge and trust.

Looks at what it takes to create effective organizations. States that they use some system for unifying the efforts, thoughts and actions of diverse groups within the organization. These organizations have a “unifying factor” that is clearly defined and has a well‐understood meaning throughout the organization. Reviews some of these unifying factors and the organizations that make them work. There may be no one best unifying factor but certain common components exist in all unifying factors. Posits that customer service, quality or even money can be a unifying factor if the right infrastructure is created, so all are drawn together for a common purpose.