Ram Narayanan SastryProduct Analyst| Toshiba Medical Systems CorporationNasushiobara-Shi, Tochigi-Ken, Japan
During my tenure as Project Manager, I have often seen an obsessive dream of the Quality departmetns to try and implement Japanese Quality Concepts such as Six Sigma, Kaizen or TQM. Most of the efforts at implementing these faced stiff resistance from the employees and also had an impact on the overall productivity of the teams without too much of added value in terms of quality. Now I work in Japan and have first hand experience of how these are implemented and my views on these quality concepts are very different now. I have captured my observations on this blog: https://ramadvice.wordpress.com/2016/05/22...ality-concepts/
What are your views on this? Do you guys concur with this analysis or do you view things differently?
There is still a gap in the US about continuous process improvement and how to leverage quality methodologies like TQM in the workplace. For instance, many individuals, even some with business college education,feel that TQM is only applicable for manufacturing firms. So, as more quality practitioners get certified with Six Sigma, it will help to introduce quality improvement practices in the workplace, regardless if it is a B2B or B2C, manufacturing or service. All companies can benefit from continuous improvement practices. Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
The key to implementation of any new process / techniques is planning and implementing Change Management effectively. Saving Changes...
arlene trimbleAssistant IT Director| Local GovernmentAlamo, Ca, United States
I agree that these buzzwords could be just Word of the Day/Week/Month until the next buzzword comes along. Yes, there needs to be an organizational transformation to make these buzzwords meaningful. Sustaining these buzzwords could be an exciting and challenging field as well. Saving Changes...
LORI WILSONRETIRED - Technical Project Manager| RETIRED - LifePoint HealthClarkston, Wa, United States
Hello Ram - our company offers a 1-day training for all staff on Lean Training. It is well received for the most part and is something leadership promotes and encourages. Saving Changes...
One interesting positive side effect of following a process to the letter is that it improves the QA department's opportunity for improving the rule.
By following the rule repeatedly, the QA department can use control chart to monitor the process and see the areas that can be improved. Saving Changes...
Thanks for sharing.
I'm worried that Japanese companies are trying to imitate ideas from other countries while looking only at the good parts. Saving Changes...
Yuriy SimonoffSenior Project Manager| N/ABuffalo Grove, Il, United States
Blog article is advocating that without a lot of paperwork, tons of overtime and following rule to the dot - no quality system can be implemented. I disagree with that.
I've seen some implementations of quality approaches. They were success when they were applied to proper environments, but became office joke when were applied to office environments. Morale: use right tool for the right job. Saving Changes...
Mahadevan SannasyProject Lead/Project Manager| EMIRATES AIRLINES (Engineering Projects)Al-Sufuoh 2, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Enjoyed reading your blog on Japanese quality culture, thank you. Saving Changes...
Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
Mar 27, 2017 7:27 AM
Replying to Pravin Kumar Shrivastava
...
Primary concern is about culture and strive for quality. Every one irrespective of culture wants the end result well but not one wants to go for a rigorous process of achieving quality. I worked with Japanese teams and they follow the rules strictly.
I agree with Pravin. Educational concepts and philosophical discussions are based on one type of employee, mainly because educational courses and book writers are basing their assumptions on the research that most of the time takes place in one location on a carefully selected sample.
Then, people try to uplift it and drop it on people who don't understand the underlying cultural and organizational values of own organization, as well as the system where it came from.
I am firm believer, on the other hand, that it is possible to make i.e. Kaizen work. It takes Champion (not a top-down hierarchy) to help people get there (so they make it their choice to adopt it). Saving Changes...
Milena IlievaProgram Manager Global accounts| VMWareVienna, Austria
Ram,
Interesting blog, which shares your experience. I agree with you, that it is always fascinating having experience in other country, culture, etc. One can learn a lot and expand his/hers perspective a lot.
In my experience quality standards can be very helpful. I led a program, with the aim to improve software development defects in several large projects in different countries. Before that, I had only heard about Six sigma, but in this program, I worked closely with QM department and we went through the projects in scope together with PMs, Systems Architects, SW developers, ...you name it. We analysed the situation in all projects, number of bugs, areas with most bugs, defined measures and set timelines, which were shared with the customers.
It was very interesting experience for me. I have to admit that most of us, including the PMs found it tedious at the beginning, as it had to be done at the top of managing the projects. But at the end all realised the benefits of such analysis and having an action plan, which was shared with customers.
So, I can concur with you that there are great benefits in quality standards. But, my program was initiated and supported by global management and I had to report on a monthly basis of our status, as the goal was to improve customer satisfaction. Which is what also was mentioned from other people before that.
As for your experience on the way Japanese people work, I find cultural specifics to be of enormous importance for the change management to be successful. When we talk about big, international companies, we know that they have company cultural, but very often it is forgotten that there is also country culture, which needs to be considered. When a process needs to be implemented or improved very often it is forgotten about the specifics of the countries' culture in that company.
An one last point from my side, regarding processes. Yes, they can be annoying, slow, people try to avoid them, but at the end of the day, they are one useful necessity, as they put things in order. As long as they easy to adapt and change, they can bring a lot of benefits. Saving Changes...
