Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 15, 2011

Though charmingly valuable, Kaizen and suggestion boxes are 20th-century productivity anachronisms. Not even a decade ago, organizations had systems analysts design and impose norms demanding total employee compliance. What portion of that could be automated and fed directly into the larger system with only minimal review by you?

Kaizen 14

Kaizen Bottom-up Efficiency Technology 14

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 23, 2011

To show how different it is, we have special words to describe them such as " Master Black Belt ," " DMAIC ," " Kaizen ," " A3 ," and " SIPOC.". In 2009, Grainger's senior management team decided to reflect on their history with improvement initiatives before deploying a Lean-based continuous improvement system.

Six Sigma 14

Six Sigma TQM Kaizen Balanced Scorecard 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 3, 2011

The cause was not malfeasant individuals; it was inadequately designed and operated systems of care delivery. In short, system complexity is the essential challenge. They also need a methodical approach for making things better — a reliable approach for generating improvement and innovation.

Health Care 15

Health Care Kaizen McKinsey Operations 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2016

They see disrupted incumbents from retail, finance, health care, transportation, professional services, and manufacturing requiring radical restructuring of assets, productivity , and innovation. Are our user experience designs and delivery systems appropriately aligned with use cases? Delightful user experiences are delightful.

Levitt 8

Levitt Disaggregation Kaizen Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 28, 2015

.” When I see just how difficult and challenging it is for so many smart and talented organizations to innovate and adapt under pressure, I see people who are overeducated and undertrained. A kaizen—continuous improvement—ethos is one thing. That scares me. Incorporate New Ideas from the Ground.

Training 8

Training Education Incentives Leadership 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 21, 2016

Systems don’t scale. Founded in 1966, Norwegian quickly became an innovator in its field as the first company to offer round-trip cruises that nearly anybody could afford. An innovator? He’s no longer thinking about serving and delighting his audience (customers). There are plenty of signs that overload has arrived.

Company 9

Company IPO Price Loyalty 9

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 7, 2011

They try to institutionalize process improvement — that is, put in place the right mechanisms in their management systems so that their business processes don't become grossly unproductive in the future. The manufacturer has since introduced quality techniques (" kaizen " events), as well as Lean strategy deployment methods and tools.

Six Sigma 15

Six Sigma BPM Process Hammer 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 27, 2014

I studied large-scale change and innovation efforts in 56 randomly selected companies in the high-tech, retail, pharmaceutical, banking, automotive, insurance, energy, non-profit, and health care industries. Many change efforts fail because people reduce themselves to checking boxes in safe, defensible systems such as Lean and Six Sigma.

Middle Management 13

Middle Management Six Sigma Taylorism Taylor 13

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

Where they fail, however, is at turning those ideas into actual innovations. Indeed, few creative ideas ever become innovative products or services. And yet too many managers see a lack of innovation in their companies and lament their teams’ “lack of creativity.” HBR Must Reads on Innovation.

Creativity 8

Creativity Team Kaizen Innovation 8