article thumbnail

The Case for Investing More in People

Harvard Business Review

Companies that follow the Toyota Production System use Kaizen events to improve productivity on the manufacturing line. Both Kaizen events and Agile sprints are investments in innovation and human capital productivity. This includes more autonomy and agility as well as inspirational leadership.

article thumbnail

Why You Should Automate Parts of Your Job to Save It

Harvard Business Review

Though charmingly valuable, Kaizen and suggestion boxes are 20th-century productivity anachronisms. The bank loan officer or nurse or UPS/FedEx delivery person who isn't using technology to trim their cognitive burden or get the same process result 25 seconds faster is less likely to get a raise or a glowing job review.

Kaizen 14
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Being the World's Largest Ad Agency Might Not Be Something to Brag About

Harvard Business Review

Kaizen, Japanese for "continuous improvement," is Toyota''s self-described business model. In a rebuke to the traditional practice of cutting a check to support a charity, Toyota offered the Food Bank for New York City some strategy consulting instead. But it also saves the Food Bank time and money.

article thumbnail

Jennifer Prosek: An interview by Bob Morris

First Friday Book Synopsis

Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of CJP Communications (CJP), where she leads many of the firm’s key accounts. Under her leadership, the firm has become a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy with offices in New York, Connecticut and London.

article thumbnail

The Key to Change Is Middle Management

Harvard Business Review

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 leaders use Six Sigma , Kaizen , and Lean for continuous improvement. Planning how to accomplish the change.

article thumbnail

How 1% Performance Improvements Led to Olympic Gold

Harvard Business Review

As an MBA, I had become fascinated with Kaizen and other process-improvement techniques. But as we’ve seen in the car industry recently with the Volkswagen scandal and banking before that — when people compete, they will always look for an edge. Aiming for gold was too daunting.

Kaizen 8