Many good
ideas have been advanced since 1980 but the earlier theories are the foundation
that a manager needs to understand before taking on newer concepts and
strategies. In fact some of these newer ideas are incorporated in this course,
e.g. ideas on learning organizations from the 1990's and on knowledge workers
that emerged after 2000.
Attempting to study post 1980
concepts without a foundation in the principles would be the equivalent of
taking graduate level courses without an undergraduate degree. It would be rote
learning without having the in depth understanding necessary to judge good
ideas from bad ideas. Often, new management ideas are narrow in scope and need
to be understood in the context of the basics covered here to be useful. The
reason for new work often being narrow is that much of it comes from academics
that have to specialize to be recognized in academic culture. Managers do not
have the luxury of being able to focus on specialties. They have to work within
the broader context of their work environment and business culture.
Understanding the basics discussed in this course enables a manger to
critically study newer materials and have the understanding to separate useful
new concepts from fads and ineffective ideas.
The process improvement
principles developed primarily in manufacturing organizations and were intended
to make products cheaper and better quality. After WW II there was a large
demand for new products in the USA and other nations due to the limited
production of consumer items during the war.
USA manufactures could sell nearly anything since the manufacturing
infrastructure of the rest of the industrialized world was essentially
destroyed. Therefore USA manufactures focused on producing as many goods as
fast as possible with limited regard to quality or the cost of poor quality.
Process improvement was pushed aside and forgotten in this environment.
Manufacturing in post WW II
Japan started with such poor quality that “made in Japan” was interpreted as
junk in the rest of the world. W. Edwards Deming and others introduced process
improvement principles to Japan so that Japanese manufactures could improve
their product quality. Japanese manufactures were good students and by the
1970’s “made in Japan” came to signify high quality.
US industry responded by
reintroducing quality improvement methods in the 1980s to stay competitive. The
US manufactures found catching up is very hard because Japan continues to
improve. The US efforts to improve quality led to growth in quality improvement
gurus and consultants. These knowledgeable people soon realized that the
principles behind process improvements apply to any organization. Quality
improvement then spread to health care, education, service organizations, and
government organizations. In spite of the many demonstrated successes of implementing
modern quality improvement methods many organizations still do not practice
effective continuous process improvement.
If
these principles are so effective why aren’t they more widely adopted?
•
Managers are typically promoted from effective worker positions
without training for their new positions
•
Untrained or poorly trained managers typically follow
their boss’s and their organization’s cultural practices
•
Organizational cultures are firmly entrenched –it’s
hard for new managers to change the culture or behave contrary to the culture
•
Organizational change is extremely hard to achieve
•
Many organizations look for instant results (“fad of
the year”)
In your
organization, does every manager get thorough management training before being
given management responsibility? Not likely. It’s more likely that many get
promoted on the basis of good job performance in a non-management position. Our
society doesn’t allow plumbers, electricians, doctors or lawyers to work
without proper training but we often promote workers to management positions
with no preparation. Is it any wonder that many organizations have ineffective
leadership and our government agencies are burdened with ineffective
bureaucrats?
Untrained new managers do what
they have seen bosses do because that is the only “experience” they have. As a
result organizations tend to develop management cultural practices independent
of the effectiveness of these practices. Many times the practices are a
continuation of the practices of some earlier revered leader who may or may not
have been truly effective. It’s easy to see why new managers who have little
understanding of management theory just do what their supervisor does. It would
be nearly impossible for them to introduce something new without the knowledge
or experience to justify it.
In cases where new managers
have the knowledge and experience to introduce more effective practices the
organizational culture often works against any change. Studies have shown that
it takes three to five years and an expenditure of about ten percent of payroll
to change an organization’s culture. (See Corporate
Culture, by Terry Deal and Allan Kennedy) You can choose to conclude this
means it’s too hard to change your organization’s culture or you can conclude
that, although it will be hard, it only takes about two percent of payroll per
year for five years so it can be done and it will be well worth it. If you take
the optimist’s view you may want to study methods of change. Good sources
include:
Changing Ways-A Practical Tool for Implementing Change within
Organizations by Murray M. Dalziel and Stephen C. Schoonover
And Our Iceberg Is Melting-Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
by John P. Kotter, Holger Rathgeber, Peter Mueller, and Spencer Johnson
A warning is needed here to
encourage you to resist the fad of the year, which will be available and you
may even be pressured to consider it. Dalziel and Schoonover, in their book
cited above, warn that there are many people offering quick fixes for
organizational problems and these people make generalizations and claims for
success that are unwarranted. It is always tempting to believe there are simple
solutions but if there were there would not be so many organizational problems.
What Dalziel and Schoonover,
and this course, encourage is to follow proven “best practices” even though
it’s hard work. Finally, some managers argue that their organization is unique
and therefore a more effective management style or continuous process
improvement doesn’t apply. This is a lame excuse and is simply not correct so
don’t let yourself fall into this trap.
Exercise:
•
Identify candidate objectives to improve the
effectiveness of your organization
–
e.g. reduce (), improve (),
–
try to be specific, identify the process that
needs to change
•
List the objectives
•
Choose one objective that you believe is the highest
payoff
•
Determine if achieving your objective is worth your
investment in this course
•
Estimate cost of course: study materials + your time at
$(your wage)/hour (include study time for the lectures and 50 hours of
self-study for one year)
•
Add any capital investment and training costs if you
think it is likely to be necessary to achieving your objective
•
Estimate the savings each year for five years if you
achieve your objective.
•
Calculate the internal rate of return (IRR)
•
Is the IRR greater or less than what you might expect
from other opportunities for your time and money?
Evaluate
Your Answer
•
Was the IRR satisfactory?
•
If yes, proceed
•
If not, did your goal assume at least a 20% improvement
in the effectiveness of your organization?
•
If you assumed less, recalculate with an assumed bigger
improvement.
•
If the IRR is still
unsatisfactory you need to consider a more ambitious objective
If you find that the pace of blog posts
isn’t compatible with the pace you would
like to maintain in studying this material you can buy the book “The Manager’s Guide for Effective
Leadership” at:
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