You’ve embraced the philosophy of TQM, you’ve reshaped the organisation using Business Process Re-engineering, you’ve trained your best people as Six Sigma black belts and you’ve made the organisation Lean. You’re even made use of every improvement technique from Japan. What next?
When reading this introduction you may be genuinely interested in what’s next but it is equally likely that you fit into one of the following groups:
- Group 1 – You may be dreading what’s next, mainly because what’s next seems remarkably like what went before, and you’re expected to believe passionately in the new philosophy
- Group 2 – You treat these new management fads with the cynicism they deserve, after all, if they really transformed organisations into highly profitable businesses then consultants would be running these companies rather than letting you into the secret. Or maybe the consultancy fees are greater than any profits they could generate! (This could give some credibility to a good definition of a consultant – Someone who sees something working in practice and wonders whether it will work in theory)
- Group 3 – You are wondering – what is Six Sigma?
So does it matter what the next new management philosophy is?
Yes it does, but don’t be surprised to find that at least 90% of each new thinking is based upon tried and tested approaches, but with new badges. However, the badging of the latest management philosophies shows signs that gurus are loosing their inventive touch; the latest combination of Six Sigma with Lean thinking to become Lean Six Sigma is a case in point.
So before you start looking for a new panacea for your business in the new year make sure you:
- Optimise the opportunities from the initiatives you have already introduced. If you have not then this is likely to be either because the approach was not a good fit with your organisation, or it was poorly implemented. Adopting another philosophy may not be the solution
- Integrate the philosophy within the everyday activities of the business. Too many initiatives are given separate status and typically fail within 18 –24 months.
- Involve everyone in your adoption of the latest management thinking; many of these management philosophies tend not to percolate down to junior managers, which not only nullifies the effect but can also build up resistance amongst the workforce
