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Title: Office Kaizen: Transforming Office Operations into a Strategic Competitive Advantage by William Lareau ISBN: 0-87389-556-8 Publisher: American Society for Quality Pub. Date: July, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fills a serious Gap
Comment: After nearly 4 years experience as a 6 Sigma Black-belt leading projects centered on the commercial side of a Fortune-500 enterprise---sales, marketing, marketing services, customer service, HR, etc.-I was pleased to see the emphasis on implementation tactics at the level where most of the detailed work of an organization gets done. It fills the gap left by bigger programs.
It is not so much a "How to" book as it is a "WHY to" book of logic meant to motivate and provoke thought. It fills a gap where other, bigger name programs can fail to deal with the sustaining power of changing human behavior. But with Office Kaizen there appears to be a proven path forward.
Much of the 6 Sigma work I have seen in transactional projects often fails to meet expectations and truly improve outputs in ways that last longer than the 'official' measurement period. Such projects often encompass arenas of business activity in which no formal process map has ever existed, even less the mere idea that a process exists. Lacking a consensus understanding of work flow, it follows that NO standards for output exist; NO metrics are captured to qualify those standards; little consideration for the customer's expectations of quality is built into the process; and clearly NO discipline is needed where there is NO process structure. Not surprisingly, little sense of ownership is evident. It's a steep slope that only leads to status quo and mild, but constant chaos!
Modifying the human aspects of process change is often challenging for 6 Sigma methodologies that better fit finite manufacturing, logistical and similarly tangible processes. In my experience of completing 'soft' projects, 6 Sigma methods simply don't have as many tools for dealing with the level of granularity and immediate application at the individual behavior level as are found in Office Kaizen. The proposed methods directly treat the realities of getting work done at the molecular level. Regardless of all else done to improve business process, there is still a key implementation step remaining- changing the human behaviors embedded in work processes.
Visual displays (PVD's), Lean Daily Management Systems (LDMS), 20 Keys and the whole treatment of 'surface waste' are very instructive for the business leader seriously pursuing process improvement. That leader will greatly benefit by reading the logic, described by Mr. Lareau in "Office Kaizen", that clarifies the reality that the enabling key to all change in business process is leadership.
Sustainability only derives from leadership---leaders who understand that improvement really comes from the bottom up; and that procedure by procedure, paper by paper, person by person, load by load, part by part, and day by day improvements converge to yield sustainable gains. The LDMS assures that change endures. And leadership assures that LDMS and other LEAN office procedures endure. Their focus on reducing waste via correct structure, discipline and power of ownership, all fixed first at the granular level of an enterprise, will produce sustainable gains. And that is the detail most difficult to implement in other programs -- the human behavior at the core of business activity. Changes to machines, flow patterns, wire diagrams, office layouts, floor arrangements, schematics, etc. all can help; but changing the human processes is most difficult. From page 7: "Office Kaizen is an implementation path, management philosophy, leadership structure, and set of tools, all wrapped into one consistent package." That is a great recipe for sustainability.
I recommend the book highly, especially for application in business functions not traditionally viewed through 'process eyes'. While it seems to have plenty of strength to stand alone, PVD's, LDMS and the other adminstrative LEAN ideas could also be great companion pieces to the more general tools like 6 Sigma. At least that's the opinion of one who has practiced some of the popular methods and only now has read about Office Kaizen. I look forward to seeing it first-hand. It fills a serious gap.
Rating: 2
Summary: Filled With Munda
Comment: In this book, as well as "Lean Leadership: From Chaos to Carrots to Commitment," William Lareau provides some of the rudimentary tools and theories of Lean practices. However, both books fall seriously short of providing the comprehensive, straight-forward lean techniques and philosophies that both management and their employees require to introduce, improve and sustain lean processes over the long-term. In short, I found that his books actually violate Lean principles in that they contain hundreds of pages of "Munda" (waste)!
Lareau correctly argues that for any business to successfully integrate a Lean program into its structure, it needs to develop and sustain overwhelming employee acceptance and involvement in the program. Unfortunately, Lareau's psychological foundations for his theories on human motivations are outdated. Much has been revealed in the field of psychology in the past 15-20 years with which Lareau clearly needs to acquaint himself.
Lareau makes repetitive attempts to motivate the reader to his way of thinking through tiresome war characterization analogies and often unfounded attacks to minimize or discredit past business improvement programs and their proponents in favor of his own.
He attempts to develop and reinforce the belief that Lean requires such levels of training and business restructuring, that the reader must conclude that to successfully implement and sustain Lean, they must invest heavily and for a lengthy duration, in an outside Lean consultant. His books are essentially marketing tools for his own consultant firm.
Rating: 5
Summary: It's so obvious that everyone misses it!
Comment: Finally, a book written to address the "hidden wastes" inherent in all companies lead by people. Anyone who leads people and wonders how to keep them focused on "the goal" should read this book. You can start to put the concepts to work that day.
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Title: Value Stream Management for the Lean Office by Don Tapping, Tom Shuker, Don Shuker ISBN: 1563272466 Publisher: Productivity Press Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization by Orest J. Fiume, Jean E. Cunningham ISBN: 0972809902 Publisher: Managing Times Press Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Who's Counting? A Lean Accounting Business Novel by Jerrold M. Solomon ISBN: 0966290623 Publisher: WCM Associates Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.99 |
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Title: Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise by Bruce A. Henderson, Jorge L. Larco, Stephen H. Martin ISBN: 0964660121 Publisher: The Oaklea Press Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Lean Leadership : From Chaos to Carrots to Commitment by William Lareau ISBN: 1571674721 Publisher: Tower II Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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