The Critical Success Factor Methods
There are many important aspects that you should look into in business. Getting everyone in the team to focus on the true essentials can be difficult. That’s where Critical Success Factor (CSF) come in. CSF are referred to as the elements necessary for a company or organization to attain its mission, goals or objectives. Identifying the CSFs can generate a common point of reference that can help guide and gauge the success of the project or business. It, as a common point of reference, directs everyone in the team and helps them know how to prioritize tasks. This helps them perform the tasks in the correct context towards the overall goals of the business. The concept of Critical Success Factor was first introduced by D. Ronald Daniel in the 1961. John F. Rockart of MIT’s Sloan School of Management popularized and refined the concept a decade later. Since then, the concept has been extensively used in implementing business strategies and projects. Many organizations and businesses adapted the concept, which has also evolved and has been implemented in many ways. Critical Success Factor was defined by Rockart as: "The limited number of areas in which results, if they are satisfactory, will ensure successful competitive performance for the organization. They are the few key areas where things must go right for the business to flourish. If results in these areas are not adequate, the organization's efforts for the period will be less than desired." Rockart concluded that it is the areas or aspects in a business or organization that the management should give careful and constant attention. It has a great role to achieving the goals of the business. While the goals and mission of a business refers to what is to be attained, it helps workers focus on the critical aspects of the business; aiming at achieving the goals or missions and focusing at the ways to achieve them. To be able to identify the CSFs, examining the mission and objectives of the business should first be done to see which aspects or areas need the most attention. Rockart identified four basic types of Success Factor: Strategy CSFs as results of the business’s competitive strategy; Industry CSFs emerging from specific industry characteristics; Temporal CSFs from internal organizational changes and needs; and environmental CSFs that result from technological or economic changes. Each factor identified should be measured directed to your target goals. Identifying the business’s CSFs is does not only direct it to its goals. The advantages of implementing this concept are that: they are easy to understand; they are easy to measure and monitor; and they are easy to explain to coworkers. But using CSFs only works well in connection to a planning process, not as an isolated event. Critical Success Factor can be: financial factors, customer satisfaction, acquiring new distributors or customers; product or service development; sustainability; intellectual capital; quality of products; or strategic relationships with other businesses. Identifying the CSFs can help managers in directing operational activities that are important in achieving the business’s goals. Identifying the right CSFs ensures consistent high performance in key areas that need more attention. Otherwise, the organization may fail in achieving its goals and accomplishing its mission
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