Survey highlights disparity in leadership perceptions

More than one third of supply chain executives believe they are leading change in their organisations – but only 13 per cent of their employees agree.

A survey by Gartner has highlighted the differing perceptions held by supply chain executives and employees of their organisation’s capability in adapting to change.

The survey showed that 36 per cent of supply chain executives believe they are ready for the challenge, while only 13 per cent of employees think they are.

Ken Chadwick, research director at Gartner, said supply chain leaders needed to mobilise their workforce to change business models, technologies, processes and capabilities.

“To adapt and respond on the fly to the challenges their organisation faces, supply chain leaders must develop the organisation’s change capabilities. Being ‘change agile’, having the ability to design and adopt new ideas and changes quickly and completely, should be the goal of supply chain leaders in the digital era.”

When a change is implemented, it doesn’t mean it is adopted. “Supply chain leaders need to engage a team in a post-day-one follow up on system issues and training to keep employees moving to new business practices,” said Chadwick.

Gartner’s report “Supply Chain Brief: CSCOs Are Leading Change, but Is Anyone Following?” is based on a survey of 437 respondents in North America, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific to understand how supply chain professionals feel about their careers and the workplace: to gauge the effect of digital business on employees today, and how governance or other structural mechanisms support or hamper their ability to be successful.