Office Kaizen

Office Kaizen

Many business functions have been significantly improved through the use of a variety of quality techniques, but for the most part office and administrative functions have not kept pace.

Most companies find it difficult to reduce costs in the office without noticeable sacrifices in performance.

Some progressive companies are seeing improvements in their office environments through the use of Office Kaizen™, which emphasizes making continuous improvements over the long haul.

"Office Kaizen: Transforming Office Operations Into a Strategic Competitive Advantage" presents a unified, consistent approach that enables businesses to establish a strategic competitive advantage by significantly improving the efficiency, quality and productivity of their office and administrative processes.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Biginslow situation overview
Office performance improvements have not kept pace with improvements in other areas
Office Kaizen

What Is Office Kaizen and What Does It Do? A "Ten Thousand Foot" View

Office Kaizen Is Not a New Concept
Management's "Blind Spot"
Process Levels and Management Strategies: the Logic Behind Office Kaizen
The Parameters of Leadership and the Office Kaizen Cube
Office Kaizen and Slim-It

Surface Wastes … The Silent Killers

People Wastes
- Goal Alignment Waste
- Assignment Waste
- Waiting Waste
- Motion Waste
- Processing Waste
Process Wastes
- Control Waste
- Variability Waste
- Tampering Waste
- Strategic Waste
- Reliability Waste
- Standardization Waste
- Suboptimization Waste
- Scheduling Waste
- Work-Around Waste
- Uneven Flow Waste
- Checking Waste
- Error Waste
Information Waste
- Translation Waste
- Missing Information Waste
- Hand-Off Waste
- Irrelevancy Waste
- Inaccuracy Waste
Asset Waste
- Inventory Waste
- Work-in-Process Waste
- Fixed Asset Waste
- Moving Things Waste
Dealing With Surface Waste

Leadership Waste and the Executive Challenge

Office Kaizen rests upon the absolute, critical need to reduce leadership waste
Focus
- Focus Waste
Structure
- Structure Waste
Discipline
- Discipline Waste
Ownership
- Ownership Waste
Summary

Getting Human Nature on Your Side

Many change efforts fail because …
Organizational Culture and Individual Behavior
Control Theory: the Five Needs That Drive All Human Behavior
Involvement and Commitment
Small Group Formation
Conformity
Social Loafing
Authority and Status
Polarization
Cognitive Dissonance
What Do These Tendencies Create?

The Concept of SLIM-IT and the Structure of Change

The Concept of Slim-It
Structured Change Management
The Executive Steering Committee (ESC)
Change Teams
Champions
Charters

The Lean Daily Management System

The purpose and operation of the LDMS
Intact Work Groups: the Focus of the LDMS
Elements of the LDMS
- Daily Work Group Meeting
  - Definition
  - Purpose
  - Operation
- Primary Visual Display (PVD)
  - Definition
  - Purpose
  - Operation
- Kaizen Action Sheet (KAS) System
  - Definition
  - Purpose
  - Operation
- Short-Interval Leadership
  - Definition
  - Purpose
  - Operation
- KCG 20 Keys Assessment and Long-Term Improvement Plan
  - Definition

Mentoring and Training

Why Is Mentoring Essential?
How Many Mentors?
What Must Be Mentored?
The Place of Training in Office Kaizen
Implementation Alternatives
- 1. An earnest attempt by site management
- 2. Site management "decree."
- 3. Existing site trainers
- 4. Site mentors are selected and "learn-as-you-go."
- 5. Corporate "assistance."
- 6. External resources implement Office Kaizen
- 7. External resources "mentor the mentors and management."
Mentoring is not an easy task

The KCG 20 Keys Approach

Concepts
The general procedures for implementing and sustaining the KCG 20 Keys
Do not "stretch" the KCG 20 Keys beyond their design limits
There are several additional mistakes
- 1. Applying the KCG 20 Keys to processes
- 2. Applying the KCG 20 Keys to individuals
- 3. Turning the KCG 20 Keys approach into a reporting requirement
- 4. Computerizing the scoring and posting of results
- 5. Weighing the KCG 20 Keys
Final Comment

How to Integrate Office Kaizen with "Big Name" Tools and Approaches

Overview
Balanced Scorecard
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
Value Stream Mapping
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
Reengineering/Continuous Improvement
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
Six Sigma
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
Lean Manufacturing
- Strengths
- Best Integration Appraoch
Project Management
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
ISO 9000/QS-9000
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
DOE/Shainin
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
Integrated Product Development (IPD)
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
Enterprise Software
- Strengths
- Best Integration Approach
Final Comments

The Lens for Focus: Metrics

Measurements vs. Metrics
The Place of Metrics in Slim-It
What Makes a Good Metric?
Leadership and Management Metrics
Costs Are Not Good Metrics
Internal and External Customers
Final Comments

The Realities of Implementation

Knowing what needs to be done is not the same as knowing how to do it
Each Site Stands Alone
The Role of Leadership at Various Levels
Mistakes to Avoid
Bringing It All Together

Epilogue Two Years Later …

Appendix A: KCG 20 Keys of Office Kaizen

Key 1-Leadership
Key 2-Documentation Management
Key 3-Deadlines and Commitments
Key 4-Competence
Key 5-Time Management
Key 6-Workplace Arrangement
Key 7-Skill Flexibility
Key 8-Roles and Responsibilities
Key 9-Ownership and Objectives
Key 10-Cleaning and Organizing
Key 11-Daily Work Group Meetings
Key 12-Problem Solving
Key 13-Internal Customer Service
Key 14-Priority Management
Key 15-Work Standards
Key 16-Primary Visual Display
Key 17-Time Control & Commitment
Key 18-Metrics & Measurement
Key 19-Budgets and Costs
Key 20-External Customer Service

Glossary of Important Terms

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic”. — Peter Drucker

The shift from manual workers who do as they are being told — either by the task or by the boss — to knowledge workers who have to manage themselves ↓ profoundly challenges social structure …

“Managing Oneself is a REVOLUTION in human affairs.” … “It also requires an almost 180-degree change in the knowledge workers’ thoughts and actions from what most of us—even of the younger generation—still take for granted as the way to think and the way to act.” …

… “Managing Oneself is based on the very opposite realities: Workers are likely to outlive organizations (and therefore, employers can’t be depended on for designing your life), and the knowledge worker has mobility.” ← in a context

These pages are attention directing tools for navigating a world moving toward unimagined futures.

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— working something out in time (1915, 1940, 1970 … 2040 … the outer limit of your concern) — nobody is going to do it for you.

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