The following Questions and Answers help explain why Japanese manufacturing quality improvement techniques work in US government organizations and defines several of the techniques: Kaizen, Quality of Work Life (QWL), Total Quality Management (TQM), Lean and Six Sigma. It also shows which can best be adapted for use by government organizations and makes recommendations for implementation including what to tell employees about the method and how to smooth the transition to the new culture.
Q: What do these manufacturing methods have to do with Government?
A: The Japanese had discovered that their society after World War II still had a rigid unquestioning population with authoritarian bureaucratic structures in both government and manufacturing. No worker in a Japanese manufacturing company would think of questioning decisions made by persons of authority. The Kaizen method introduced problem solving by workers and caused a revolution in Japanese manufacturing with authoritarian bureaucratic structures being thrown out.
Q: Why use Japanese Quality improvement techniques in American government?
A: Although Federal and State Governments in the US are not structured as rigidly as was Japanese bureaucracies the negative elements of bureaucracy are still in place. Management’s concern for employees is sometimes masked in perks for loyal employees and by (largely ignored) suggestion systems. They also harbor an atmosphere where waste and fraud can go undetected. In the worst cases downward communication is dominant and upward communication is considered to be disloyal and is punished by negative employee reviews leading to small salary increases and reduced opportunity for promotion. While the elimination of the negative aspects of bureaucracy is the key benefit to the employee the organization benefits from the innovation of improved processes, reduced costs, and better service to the public.
Q: What is Kaizen (pronounced Ky’zen)?
A: Kaizen is translated as, “continuous improvement” it is a Japanese method developed in the 1950’s out of a need to overcome the reputation of the nation’s products as being cheap and of low quality. In the Kaizen method the entire company is focused on continuous quality improvement of the processes and the products manufactured by the company. Small groups of manufacturing workers meet and discuss ways to improve their part of the manufacturing process. This method stresses product quality over product cost. Extra processes my be added to improve quality in the belief that improved quality in the companies products would lead to increased sales. The Kaizen method worked for Sony, which made a variety of cheap products and today is world renowned for its quality. Kaizen is the basis all of the quality improvement techniques. It was not widely implemented in the US until the early 1980’s under a variety of names.
Q: What is Quality of Work Life?
A: In the early 1980’s I assisted with the implementation of Quality of Work Life (QWL) work groups at McDonnell Douglas Missile Systems Company. The method was based on the Kaizen method but stressed improving the quality of the work environment by allowing workers to make decisions in improving their manufacturing processes. Product Quality was less of an issue for QWL work groups because of the sophisticated nature of the company’s products.
Q: What is Total Quality Management?
A: Total Quality Management (TQM) uses the Kaizen method for continual improvement to the product. Its work groups are focused on improving manufacturing processes and products by improving their quality. It is probably the most widely used method in US manufacturing before Enterprise Lean.
Q: What is Lean Manufacturing?
A: What exactly is Lean Government? It’s a formalized discipline for making efficient and effective decisions. There are four key steps:
1. Be clear about your purpose and bottom line. What effective good are you trying to create?
2. Know what customers want and what they value.
3. Build great widgets (functional processes) : permits, child abuse investigation reports, substance abuse counseling programs, tax audits and so on.
4. Find a way to make functions better, faster and cheaper. Notice the sequence.
Q: What is Six Sigma (a tool associated with Lean)?
A: Six Sigma gets its name from the statistical bell chart traditionally used in statistical quality analysis and carries quality improvement to a new height with extensive company wide training in quality techniques for manufacturing. Six Sigma is simply a more sophisticated focused method but based on TQM and Kaizen Quality methods.
Q: Which quality technique is best suited for government application?
A: The implementation of Enterprise Lean works best for government. It has a broad enough focus to cover all functions of government. For example it can be used by welfare workers to study the safest method of placing children in foster care homes. Another example is the study of safety procedures by highway repair workers. These are not budget issues but in all cases a detailed flow chart is developed. A specialized flow chart method called Value Stream Mapping is used for: document, information and material flows.
Q: What should a Government organization planning to implement Lean tell its employees about the program and what it is expected to accomplish?
A: The truth. By that I mean discussions with employees should include not only what Lean Teams are, but also the organization’s reason to increase efficiency at the workplace. There are multiple reasons an organization will choose to implement Lean, anything from quality of products such as highways, budget cuts, or better service to the public. Generally some mixture of these reasons will push the implementation with primary focus on one specific driver within each organization. The primary focus for the implementation will have a great deal of impact on expected accomplishments. For instance, if the purpose behind the implementation is primarily budgetary, employees should be told about reduced budgets and the need for improving processes and eliminating waste. If the focus is on improving quality, communications should contain an explanation of the public’s quality expectations and current level of performance to those expectations. Additionally, employees should understand their own roles in the implementation as well as those who will be leading the projects. And employees should know the expected outcome of projects. Lean Teams are primarily about changing the culture of an organization’s problem-solving strategy. Culture change will succeed or fail in accordance with the quality of communication leading the process.
Q: How can a Government organization convince employees to fully support Lean Teams when process improvements and productivity increases may lead to fewer jobs?
A: The message has to focus on the positive aspects of what Lean Teams can do for the organization. Conversations should be directed to the positive opportunities provided by a Lean implementation, such as how improving quality will lead to better service to the public and employee participation in process improvement decisions helps to eliminate unnecessary waste. There is a valid argument that with decreased budgets, improved productivity can lead to staff reductions. However, allowing the organization to dwell on the negative aspects of improving processes will not serve the employees or the organization well in the long run. It is necessary to shift the focus from why it cannot work, to how it can work. The most important thing is to make sure the leadership of the organization stays positive. Remember employees will be afraid of losing their jobs; one wrong word from the leadership team can undermine the process. If the leadership team cannot remain positive throughout implementation, the employees will not either.
Q: What should employees look for in their organization’s Lean program to see that it is good for them as well as the organization?
A: Employees should look at the benefits of being a member of an Enterprise Lean Team and senior management’s close interest in the success of the projects under way. The management should visit Lean Team meetings to witness their success. Employees should understand the focus for improvement is on problem solving; studying and improving processes that improve public service, employee safety and eliminating waste. A key indicator of the value of the project will be employee job satisfaction as a member of a Lean Team.
Q: How are Lean Teams organized and implemented?
A: Following management’s decision to implement Lean Teams a top-level leadership committee is formed to manage the implementation. There are two levels of Lean Teams management trained in Lean Six Sigma and work place Lean teams trained only in Lean. Work place Lean teams are formed one for each organizational function. They are self managed and meet usually once a week and elect their new leader. The work place Lean Team’s meetings will need to be moderated by a facilitator until they understand how the method works.
Q: How will Lean Teams be trained?
A Facilitator with special training in group dynamics will start training the functional Lean Team at its weekly meetings in Lean techniques the most important is the Value Steam Mapping method. This is the most valuable to the Lean team it allows them to study the detail processes of their work function. Training sessions will be initiated for the entire organization for the purpose of introducing the Enterprise Lean method.
Q: How can an even more efficient government organization be acquired through the implementation of Enterprise Lean Team?
A: The leadership team can use Value Stream Mapping developed by the Lean Teams as input for budgeting and staffing purposes.
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