STUDYING management buzzwords, principles, and theories in the last 45 years allowed me to possess an “uncanny” ability to challenge their logic. Which one is effective or ineffective? If the buzzword has offered an iota of reasonableness, what can we do to improve its potency to solve problems? How can we adjust the old theories to make them relevant in today’s workplace?
To help me analyze what I learned from hundreds of those buzzwords, I used Bloom’s Taxonomy and its six levels of cognitive learning. The six levels are remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating, with the last one as an important element that I’m now using to coin new buzzwords.
To stir your imagination, I’m adding “interpreting” as the seventh level. Read on:
Three Big Gems represent three Japanese words that are interconnected with one another. Meaning, you cannot use one without the other two. They are gemba or the place where real value to a product or service is made, gembutsu represents the actual completion of a product as defined by the customer, and gemjitsu or the facts surrounding its production.
In Japan, they are spelled as genba, genbutsu and genjitsu to emphasize the letter “n” instead of “m.” The 3 Gems are better appreciated in the West as taught by kaizen guru Masaaki Imai who used the “gem” approach in his best-selling 1997 book “Gemba Kaizen.”
Fatal Attraction to Complexity is an unusual desire to complex buzzwords that appeal to fad-loving people who mindlessly use it to solve their operational problems while ignoring the availability of many easy, inexpensive, practical and simple tools.
For example, this happens when an organization prefers a Six Sigma approach of using statistical tools and software when simple math would solve the same problem with ease and without antagonizing people who hate statistics.
Origami Milestone is the tipping point for organizations that have achieved at least 1,000 kaizen projects to prove their competence. This numerical goal is copied from the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who died of leukemia caused by the Hiroshima bombing. She vowed to complete at least 1,000 origami cranes in the hope that if she reached her target, she would recover from her illness.
The target of achieving 1,000 kaizen projects is the equivalent of Malcolm Gladwell’s tipping point of 10,000 hours for people to succeed in almost everything. For kaizen problem-solving, a team of workers could spend an average of 10 hours to complete a project, from problem identification, deliberation and management approval.
Overall, the lesson of the Origami Milestone is about patience and perseverance.
The Façade Effect is a visitor’s first impression of an organization and the condition of its office lobby, starting from the appearance of its reception personnel and the way you are being treated by them. It is an organization’s face to the outer world that wordlessly informs a visitor if it is being managed well or not. It offers a glimpse of what to expect inside the organization.
For example, if a corporate lobby has a broken wall clock or smelly toilet, it tells you that the organization is being mismanaged. A visiting customer would ask: Why can’t they solve a broken wall clock or smelly toilet, which are easy to manage? How would this adversely affect a product that I am buying from them?
Thinking People Strategy is a derivative of Toyota Production System when applied to human resources (HR), marketing, purchasing, accounting, and other corporate support functions. TPS promotes the idea of creating an army of workers trained to proactively define and solve problems with common-sense and inexpensive solutions.
The idea is based on industrial democracy, where the workers are truly engaged and empowered by management with minimal supervision because they are being trusted to do their best.
Walking Chalk Circle is the modern-day improvement of the old Taiichi Ohno Circle that required junior workers to stand inside a chalk circle for several hours; to identify and list down all issues for reporting to management. Today, we cannot implement a stationary chalk circle as it would violate labor and human rights.
Many workers, even those not affiliated with militant unions, would object to being forced to stand in a chalk circle under the pain of getting varicose veins, among other medical issues caused by prolonged standing. With a Walking Chalk Circle, management can still require their workers to list down all operational problems by allowing them to walk inside a factory in an imaginary circle starting from the reception of raw materials to the shipping area to customers.
This list is not exhaustive. I vow to do more research today and in the future. I promise to look at those best practices and look at them with a critical set of eyes and ears. If you’re interested in doing the same thing, ask many questions starting with the following: Do you know why you want to solve problems except that you’re not moving a finger to do it?
Rey Elbo is a consultant on human resources and total quality management. Contact him on Facebook, LinkedIn, X or email [email protected] or via https://reyelbo.com
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