The objective of this article is to understand the management insights that have emerged out of the research work done by two eminent management thinkers during the last two decades. One is Tom Peters/Robert Waterman and the other is Jim Collins/Jerry Porras.

In the early 1980s, McKinsey came up with the famous 7-S framework. Tom Peters and Richard Pascale were part of the McKinsey team that worked on the 7-S framework. The 7-S referred to the 7 variables involved in the creative approach to organizing. The 7 variables that cover the hardware and the software of an organization are: Strategy, structure, systems, staff, style, skills and shared values. The 7-S framework brought out the importance that "soft" is hard and reminded professional managers about it.

Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos in their book "The Art of Japanese Management" drew lessons from Japanese success stories such as Honda and Toyota in the US. Their successes came from a relentless commitment to learning and meticulous attention to factors that motivated people, reinforced core values and fine-tuned the interconnected elements of an organization.

Tom Peters and Robert Waterman noticed that managers got more done by paying attention to 7S's than just two. At the same time, it was felt that the management thinking was short on the subject and on the practical design ideas. A project on the subject of excellence funded by McKinsey led to findings that got reflected in the publication of the work "In Search of Excellence". The research showed that excellent companies were exceptionally good on eight attributes. These eight attributes are (i) A bias for action (ii) Close to the customer (iii) Autonomy and entrepreneurship (iv) Productivity through people (v) Hands-on, value-driven (vi) Stick to the knitting (vii) Simple form, lean staff (viii) Simultaneous loose-tight properties.

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