Medical Malpractice

As the adage goes: Prevention is better than cure. In medical practice, prevention of the
disease before its onset is better than giving medication when it is already malignant or
full-blown. Getting it right early is much better than subsequent expensive treatments.
Furthermore, when you lose your health, the road to recovery gets longer and rougher.
Prevention is the name of the game for individuals and companies.

Just like people, most companies get into trouble simply through sheer neglect. Through
the lack of monitoring, the accumulation of toxins or disease causing pathogens are
allowed to perpetuate till the full manifestation of the ailment before any action is taken
to contain it. At the outset, a company should adopt prudent practices to prevent the
onset of corporate ills or financial problems. The preliminary issue such as prevention
requires the direction to be clear as well as good planning. Next, the hard issues need to
be implemented which include diligent financial and other controls. Also, soft issues such
as taking good care of your people and the wise management of the talent pool are also
crucial.

Diagnosis is the identification of the disease based on its symptoms. However, the
symptoms can sometimes mask the real disease. Also, many diseases share similar
symptoms. Thus further probing is required in order to ensure that the disease is not
misdiagnosed.

Just as a sick person may manifest early symptoms of the ailment, such as cough, running
nose, fever and body aches, likewise, there are usually ample warning signs for a
company. High staff attrition rate and the loss of brand equity are perhaps some of the
symptoms that all is not well with the company. However, they are merely the symptoms
rather than the real disease or root cause. Treating the symptoms is tantamount to
upgrading a cancer-stricken patient to another ward in the hospital, the condition of the
patient does not improve. Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice, and
implementing the corporate restructuring without knowing the root cause of the problems
can be disastrous.

The key is early diagnosis as it increases the chances of curing most diseases. Therefore, a
company should put in place a detection system to facilitate this early diagnosis. How
does a company get out of its trouble? A good way is to diagnose how it gets into trouble
in the first place.

Diagnosis starts with acknowledgement of the problem, good detection system and
identifying the root causes from the symptoms. Then one needs a comprehensive

diagnosis of the "hard issues" such as its pricing, process and communication. The
company also needs to review the "soft issues" such as communication and leadership
functions which may have got the company into trouble.

There are panaceas that can turn a critically ill organisation around into a healthy one and
proper treatment is necessary as the remedies can sometimes be worse than the disease.
For instance, some cancer patients are killed by the chemotherapy rather than the disease
itself. As they say, a stitch in time saves nine. Usually an ailing company needs critical attention
probably in the form of 'surgery' with the primary focus of restructuring the organisation
and improving its cash flow. Most troubled companies need to engage outside help and
change to come in and take drastic action to steer them out of the woods. Efforts are also
needed to restore the company's top line and profits.

Treatment starts with the execution in appointing the appropriate corporate doctor or
turnaround manager and a team. Next, the distressed company needs to focus and
understand some of the techniques to remedy its ailment. Hard issues take precedence
during this stage with restructuring, right sizing and cost cutting. In some cases, the
rescue endeavour may come in too late then the exit strategy may be necessary. After
dealing with the hard issues, the company needs to deal with the soft issues of
dysfunctional personnel and bureaucracy.