Kepner-Tregoe Introduces New Approach to Build Competitive Business Advantage: The Thinking Organization

- 54-year old firm refreshes organizational vision; launches new global website

PRINCETON, New Jersey, Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Can your organization think for itself? That's what Kepner-Tregoe helps companies figure out and improve.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121114/MM13944LOGO)

The global capability development and consulting company, based in Princeton, New Jersey, specializes in clear thinking solutions that enable organizations to run more efficiently, drive productivity and improve bottom-line results. Today, Kepner-Tregoe announced a new approach and vision to create a more sustainable competitive advantage— Building a Thinking Organization powered by KT Clear Thinking—and a relaunch of the company's global website located at www.kepner-tregoe.com.

The proprietary KT Clear Thinking approach allows companies to resolve issues more effectively and efficiently by teaching employees at all levels of a company to follow the same thinking and problem resolution processes.

Simply put, KT Clear Thinking gives companies the ability to identify and resolve the critical issues that materially affect their business performance. KT Clear Thinking enables organizations to take complex situations and break them down into manageable tasks that can be assessed and improved. Thinking Organizations are smarter and more adept under pressure when consistent critical thinking approaches have been implemented across the organization to deal with constant change.

However, in a recent survey of approximately 100 companies worldwide, a majority of respondents indicated that their organizations had significant work to do when it came to formalizing and defining ownership of issue resolution strategies. More than 57 percent of respondents said that they "infrequently" or "never" utilize a formal process to address significant business issues, while 52 percent surveyed said that ownership for resolving these issues inside their organization was "not clearly defined or accepted."

"Today's leaders are expected to address the most complex business issues in the most efficient way possible. Implementing KT's solutions in an organization helps a company and its people work together toward resolving the most critical issues that create the most value for the company," said Ray Baxter, chief executive officer at Kepner-Tregoe. "The repositioning of our approach to KT Clear Thinking and the redesign of our website creates a more customer-centric conversation that clearly demonstrates Kepner-Tregoe's value to organizations that have a desire to improve results."

Baxter added: "Fundamentally changing the way an organization thinks requires a strategic view and strong commitment from senior leadership. Only then will a company be able to realize a meaningful difference in how their organization performs."

Andy Fuge, operations manager at Griffin Foods, added, "KT empowered us with the skill and practical experience to sustain improvements and effectively implement step change projects ourselves. We now have a highly performing continuous improvement team."

To accompany the KT Clear Thinking approach, Kepner-Tregoe's new website complements and highlights the new positioning and allows existing and potential KT clients to identify their business needs in specific organizational functions including operations, customer support, IT, the project office, human resources and more. The site also provides the ability to quickly and easily find and understand each KT solution and the value it delivers.

Kepner-Tregoe processes are based on the work of Dr. Charles Kepner and Dr. Benjamin Tregoe, two researchers who conducted a study on breakdowns in decision making at the Strategic Air Command. They found that successful decision making by Air Force officers had less to do with seniority or career path and more with the process of gathering, organizing and analyzing information before taking action. They founded Kepner-Tregoe with the basic thesis that organizations can be taught to think critically.

"Our new vision and website demonstrates Kepner-Tregoe's commitment to maintain leadership in the organizational improvement and critical thinking disciplines," said Baxter. "We will continue to dedicate ourselves to bringing our customers only the best solutions that address their most pressing issues, and we look forward to many more decades of partnering with the best and brightest in businesses worldwide."

About Kepner-Tregoe, Inc.
Kepner-Tregoe (KT) provides capability development and consulting solutions across the world to help build Thinking Organizations that resolve the most pressing issues with clarity and confidence. Founded in 1958 and based on ground-breaking research on how people think, solve problems and make decisions, Princeton-based Kepner-Tregoe is dedicated to helping organizations achieve Operational Excellence by improving quality, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. KT Clear Thinking is used at every level of client organizations: to implement strategy; achieve step-change improvements in operations; increase customer satisfaction in support organizations; and drive superior issue resolution throughout the organization. KT provides Clear Thinking for a complex world.

For additional information, visit the company's website at www.kepner-tregoe.com or their social media platforms on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Contact:
Brad Russell or Sara Aschenbrenner
Pierpont Communications for Kepner-Tregoe
+1-713-627-2223
brussell@piercom.com, saschenbrenner@piercom.com