Industry and professional specialization continues to increase. Even generalists are now specialists
Filed under: Finance, Labor markets, leadership | Tagged: general manager, generalist, hiring, human resources, industry, match, specialists, specialization, technical | Leave a Comment »
There is synergy across the pillars of modern operations. Understanding variability, defining processes, building self-improving systems, using ideal long-term goals of zero waste, pursuing customer value, using pull production designs, empowering people and operating a single management system are mutually reinforcing components of world-class operations.
Filed under: leadership, Operations, quality, strategy | Tagged: balanced scorecard, continuous process improvement, cost of quality, customer, empowerment, fail-safe, feedback, financial paradigm, forecast, inventory, JIT, kaizen, lean, lean manufacturing, management system, operations, processes, pull, push, quality, quality paradigm, re-engineering, self-improving systems, six sigma, supply chain management, unit of one, variability, visual management, waste, zero defects | Leave a Comment »
Managing the tail of operations processes is an increasingly important role for managers and analysts. Greater variety and consumer demand makes it ever more challenging to resolve issues or to know when to stop pursuing them. Teaching staff to understand the complementary roles of the financial and quality paradigms and providing them with best practices tools helps them to produce cost-effective results.
Filed under: leadership, Operations, quality, strategy | Tagged: black swan, combinations, complexity, customer, diagnosis, finance paradigm, infinite, IT, modular, product development, project management, quality paradigm, ROI, six sigma, tail, unknown and unknowable, variability | Leave a Comment »
Great progress has been made by firms in achieving near ideal customer desires for quality, speed, flexibility, value, information costs and personal service.
Filed under: leadership, Operations, quality, strategy | Tagged: balanced scrorecard, customer, flexibility, goals, information, ISO 9000, personal service, process, productivity. six sigma, quality, speed, value | Leave a Comment »
Labor Day conjures up many misleading concepts of the past. It should be replaced by Talent Day to reflect the much greater contributions of human resources to the economy today.
Filed under: Labor markets, leadership, Operations, public policy | Tagged: class, communications, contracting, energy, factors of production, innovation, labor, Labor Day, outsourcing, productivity, quality, responsibility, risk, soft skills, specialization, talent, teamwork, words | Leave a Comment »
The greatest net benefits of functional specialization can be reallized by using a set of generic strategies.
Filed under: Finance, leadership, Operations, quality, strategy | Tagged: alpha risk, beta risk, board governance, communications, finance, functional specialization, generalists, means-ends, paradigms, personality, planning, portfolio, processes, quality, situational leadership, specialists, supplier management, talents | Leave a Comment »
The workplace has completely changed in the last 40 years, becoming more complex, dynamic, informed, fluid, engaged and effective.
Filed under: leadership, strategy, quality, Operations, growth | Tagged: strategy, mass production, modular, quality, baby boomers, core competencies, changes, post-industrial, virtual, corporate ladder, best practices, ERP, automation, processes, computers, mainframes, personal computers, PCs, global, six sigma, focused factory, push, pull, JIT, supplier management, situational leadership, theory X | Leave a Comment »
Cleveland was a top 10 city from 1900-1960, while Indianapolis rested in the top 25. Indianapolis has added 750,000 people in the last 50 years while Cleveland’s population has remained flat. Indy has done a better job of focusing on the needs of the central city and the role of regional government.
Filed under: growth, Labor markets, leadership, Progressive Center, public finance | Tagged: arts, central city, Cleveland, culture, education, Fortune 500, growth, health care, Indianapolis, location, manufacturing, momentum, public relations, public schools, race relations, regional economics, regional government, sports, transportation | Leave a Comment »
Customers want quality, speed, flexibility, value, information and personal relations. Defining exactly what your customers want is a vital business function.
Filed under: Finance, leadership, Operations, quality, strategy | Tagged: customers, flexibility, information, marketing research, personal relations, quality, results, Schonberger, speed, value, value added | Leave a Comment »
Project sponsors can use a 15 question template to quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of a proposal. This template is designed for a not-for-profit, but the focus on qualitative topics like strategic alignment and core competencies is important for all firms.
Filed under: Finance, leadership, Operations, strategy | Tagged: brand, capabilities, critical success factors, culture, evaluation, funding, market potential, opportunity analysis, planning, portfolio, project management, proposals, strategic alignment | Leave a Comment »
