Administrative Technology Is Coming to Kazakhstan
Most business people, despite having a specialised background, have never studied the art of management and administration. Therefore when developing their businesses they face many problems. How to embark on a business and never miss a trick? How to find appropriate personnel? How to evaluate the performance of a company as a whole and individual employees in particular? How to apply financial planning and not go bankrupt? These and other questions are vitally important for any businessman or executive. Meanwhile, the Hubbard College of Administration will be opening in Almaty in the near future to provide convenient and efficient administrative tools. This institute is being established under the auspices of the Moscow Hubbard College of Administration, the president of which, Mrs. Yevgeniya Teryukova, answers questions from our correspondent.
The Moscow Hubbard College of Administration is an educational institute that was founded in order to offer real help to business people and executives who want to master the tools of administration. We are a part of an international network headed by the Hubbard College of Administration in Los Angeles (USA), which provides methodical supervision, control and support to campuses throughout the world. That is why a graduation certificate issued by any of the colleges is accepted by the entire network.
The Moscow College was registered in 2002. In 2003, the Moscow government issued us with a licence for educational services, which certified that our programmes are in full compliance with the standards set for further education. Today we offer a wide range of specialised educational programmes based on Administrative Technology, which was developed by the American scientist and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard. Although the course is quite short, it is very useful as it gives our students fundamentals that they can start to apply in their companies while still doing their studies.
The Administrative Technology of Hubbard has been taught in various forms since the mid-80s. The Hubbard College of Administration, as it exists today, was founded in 1990 in Los Angeles. In the same year the college started developing a network of campuses throughout the world. In Europe, HCAs are open in Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Hungary, the UK, Czech Republic, etc.
L. Ron Hubbard is better known as the founder of dianetics and scientology. Why administrative technology?
The idea emerged in the mid-60s. After Hubbard's books were published, thousands of scientology organisations were established throughout the world. Mr. Hubbard received hundreds of letters daily; people asked him to help in organising their businesses. Having found out that existing management techniques did not cope with the tasks faced, Mr. Hubbard started his own research in this area, which led to him discovering the uniform laws and rules that govern the functioning of any organisation – from a small company to the government of a country. Taking these laws as a basis, Mr. Hubbard then developed and tried (first within the network) his Administrative Technology, which is, in fact, a set of standard instructions for a manager as to how he should behave in one situation or another in order to achieve a desired result.
As there were many business people among Hubbard's followers, they started to apply Administrative Technology in their businesses. This had a dramatic effect. It is very important that Administrative Technology can be applied in any sphere of business: be it mechanical engineering, construction or legal services, the laws of administration are uniform. It is also significant that Mr. Hubbard did not just describe the steps to success that are necessary to develop a certain element of a company's business (sales, for example) but put forward a complex technology, which allows a business to be established from beginning to end and a mechanism to be developed that will run like clockwork.
Is it a mechanism like a set of nuts and bolts? Do you mean that the human factor is not taken into account?
On the contrary, Administrative Technology pays great attention to staff training, for the human being is the central element of the system. First of all, Mr. Hubbard described how to train personnel (from a director to a cleaner) so that they can discharge their duties effectively and are satisfied with their job.
Certainly, there are other business systems which also appear very interesting and effective. However, they often lack a means of implementation that can make the idea understandable to every employee. This is what Mr. Hubbard created; his technology is easily 'accepted' within the business. This is also proved by the fact that the technology has been used successfully by hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs throughout the world. They are united by WISE, an international association, which includes about a thousand members from the CIS. Some Kazakhstani companies that use Administrative Technology are Rakhat (a Karaganda furniture factory), the Pavlodar Tramway Department, Murager (Semipalatinsk), and the Almaty chain store Camilla.
Why is this technology so popular with business people?
Administrative Technology is a system which provides an effective solution. It is simple, consistent and straightforward and will prove its efficiency over and over again. If the system is applied correctly, it leads to predictable results. There is no need for trial and error, luck or charisma. I have never before come across such a high level of effectiveness. Everything is on target.
No less significant is the fact that Administrative Technology gives a manager personal freedom: the freedom of creativity. Business people often face a situation where the larger the business, the more time they spend working and the more problems they face. Many of them just resign themselves to their lot. Actually, managers spend up to 80% of their time on what they shouldn't be doing at all. Administrative Technology helps you to cut this knot and to move off the beaten track. The technology offers a specific sequence of steps, which allow you to delegate tasks to your employees if you face a problem and describe methods for solving it.
How do you teach Administrative Technology in your College? How does it differ from other educational institutions?
A distinctive feature of the College is its individual approach to every student. Our teachers give lectures to groups. Instead, each student can choose his or her optimal pace of study. The main objective of the lecturers is that the student understands the material in full and is able to apply it. Each student draws up his or her own timetable and can study several hours during a working week or on weekend.
I would like to point out again that our courses have a clear practical objective. We don't offer any abstract theoretical knowledge and our students don't need to spend a lot of time studying – they can learn without interrupting their work. Everything happens concurrently and the result becomes obvious before the end of the course.
I would also like to mention that our College gives a lifetime warranty. This means that if ever a graduate feels uncertain or has a problem applying the knowledge he has got, he can return to the College where he will be helped to review all the applicable material dealing with the area in which he encountered difficulty. Advantage can be taken of this free service at any time. Although I have to say that our educational practice is so effective that such cases are extremely rare throughout the whole network.
What programmes do you offer?
We offer specialised programmes consisting of separate courses, such as Basic Organisation, Management by Statistics, Marketing, etc. We provide 24 courses in Russian, which are in full compliance with the programme of the worldwide network and are recommended by the head College in Los Angeles. I would like to note that Russian is the only language into which all courses of the Hubbard College of Administration have been translated.
Depending on students' requests and needs, these courses can be combined into packages corresponding to a definite sphere of activities. For example, it can be Management Strategies, Financial Planning, How to Design an Optimum Organisational Structure, etc. Each student can study his or her individual programme, which will meet their requirements to the utmost. The programmes are prepared by our consultants during personal interviews and based on a test called 'Business Analysis of a Company'.
As far as we know, Kazakhstan will become the second country in the CIS after Russia in which the Hubbard College of Administration will be represented. Why did you choose Kazakhstan?
Actually, the most important factor was the growing interest in Administrative Technology among Kazakhstani businessmen. They want to study this technology themselves and teach their personnel. The level of business activity in Kazakhstan has already reached the point where people understand that good organisation is essential for the success of a company. Today, Kazakhstani businessmen are themselves arranging very useful workshops inviting world renowned trainers such as Michael Bang, Vladimir Sidorenko, Mark de Julio, etc.
So far as other CIS countries are concerned, I should note the popularity of Administrative Technology in Ukraine, though all we do there is just field workshops and lectures. Founding a permanent institute is a brand new phase. That is why we say that in terms of introducing the Administrative Technology of L. Ron Hubbard, Kazakhstan is a step ahead of the other CIS countries.
Table of contents
The National Bank of Kazakhstan Strikes the Balance Anvar Saidenov
LUKOIL Overseas: a Record-Breaking Year of Business in Kazakhstan Boris Silbermintz
IMSTALCON: in Word and Deed! Vladimir Khoroshilov
Matrix Agritech, Your Partner in Agribusiness Robert Asscheman
DHL: We Go Wherever the Business Is! Yuri Shevchenko
The Investment Climate Needs to be Warmer Dinmukhamet Idrisov
Draft Law on Offshore PSAs: Merits and Drawbacks Daniyar Tenelov
Secondment Arrangements in Kazakhstan – How Do They Work? An Overview of Key Secondment Issues in the Republic Abai Shaikenov, Anthony G. Cioni
Recruiting the Right Personnel Vladimir Sidorenko
A Tiger Trap Or How to Hire the Best of the Best Alexander Vysotsky
Administrative Technology Is Coming to Kazakhstan Yevgeniya Teryukova
