Harvard Business Review

MARCH 23, 2011

The result: Employees get confused and cynical (senior management's "flavor of the month"). New process improvement initiatives tend to start with some hype. To show how different it is, we have special words to describe them such as " Master Black Belt ," " DMAIC ," " Kaizen ," " A3 ," and " SIPOC.".

Six Sigma 14

Six Sigma TQM Kaizen Balanced Scorecard 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 8, 2012

Six Sigma , Kaizen , Lean , and other variations on continuous improvement can be hazardous to your organization's health. As Fujio Ando, senior managing director at Chibagin Asset Management suggests, "Japan's consumer electronics industry is facing defeat. Admittedly, continuous improvement once powered Japan's economy.

Six Sigma 17

Six Sigma Kaizen Govindarajan Telecommunications 17

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 29, 2017

The Japanese employees, while already fluent with Japanese concepts such as kaizen (improvement) and omotenashi (hospitality), struggled to become proficient in English. These challenges differed depending on people’s backgrounds and location. Two groups had the steepest learning curve in particular. It consists of five key actions.

Succession 15

Succession Globalization Tacit Knowledge GDP 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 4, 2013

It has a more rigorous organization structure that divides responsibilities between the innovation team and development team, and strengthens management around the opportunity pipeline. These teams have disciplined processes to get the technology to market, generally with a one- to two-year product horizon.

Technology 8

Technology Innovation Kaizen Chief Executive Officer 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2015

Our expanding abilities to digitally, visually and pervasively self-monitor will transform how on-the-job feedback gets defined, developed, and delivered. In other words, feedback compliance — or assurance — becomes integrated into the networked fabric of day-to-day performance and processes.

Kaizen 8

Kaizen Self-aware Construction Compliance 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 7, 2011

When they set out to turn around processes that have become woefully inefficient or ineffective, most companies choose one of four process improvement "religions": Lean , Six Sigma , Business Reengineering or Business Process Management (BPM). In some of these companies, senior managers were dubious about the claims.

Six Sigma 14

Six Sigma BPM Process Hammer 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 27, 2014

A mid-level manager in this 5,000-employee hospital, she is leading a 70-member group on patient flow as part of a larger organizational effort. Her ability to lead and inspire — to become a change leader from her position as a mid-level manager — is helping her team produce results. I found a few defining characteristics: 1.

Middle Management 13

Middle Management Six Sigma Taylorism Taylor 13

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 21, 2016

Soon what once was a satisfying process becomes a deeply troubling and threatening one (overload): plates start to wobble, and the spinner has to scramble ever faster to keep them all in motion. He’s just trying to manage the chaos and avoid catastrophe. His mission has changed. Celebrate and reward frontline heroes.

Company 9

Company IPO Price Loyalty 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Instead of simplistic, one-note fixes, smart managers consider broader improvement plans, such as these: Set a cohesive sales strategy that focuses sales effort on the right customer segments with a compelling value proposition. Design a high-impact sales process for communicating and delivering value to customers.

Kaizen 8

Kaizen Incentives Market Segmentation Efficiency 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 21, 2016

” Process and methodology debates have turned into the operational challenge of how best to boost people’s capabilities. So at a people-analytics-oriented global professional services firm, innovation has moved front and center in both interview and onboarding processes. The ethos is as much about culture as competence.

Innovation 8

Innovation Company Kaizen KPI 8