It is important to be careful when trying to implement improvement in your organisation. Many management ideas end up as "innovation of the month", "flavour of the month" or "passing fad". Be wary of initiative fatigue. Take situational factors into account when considering problems and opportunities.
Problem solving can be approached "top down" or "bottom up".
Carnegie said that quality is more important than cost. The American Society of Engineers (management consultants of their day) developed "scientific management".
- science not rule of thumb
- harmony, not discord
- cooperation, not individualism
- maximum output, in place of restricted output (Taylor 1911)
Taylor posited that management should not only decide what needed to be done but also how it should be done.
This "top down" management continues to this day. From it has come time and motion studies, 6 sigma, and other approaches.
Henry Ford believed in continuous improvement. His view was that everyone should reserve "an open mind as to they way in which every job is being done." - all of management should be open to suggestion. (Ford and Crowther 1922)
The A.S.E viewed that there is a best way to do a job, identified through science, and undertaken by experts under management direction.
Ford viewed there is always a way to improve a job, and that everyone in the organisation can make suggestions for improvement.
Ford's way was forgotten though and Taylor's ways came to dominate, at least until Japanese methods became better known.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated before posting.