Efficiency begins with each employee’s mindfulness
RECENTLYI read a fascinating article in the Society for Organised Learning journal on knowledge, learning and change, entitled “The Thinking Production System” and co-authored by Dr Michael Ballé, Godefroy Beauvallet, Art Smalley and Durward K Sobek, who look at why, although productivity gains have been made, so few enterprises have managed successfully to implement “full lean”.
“Lean” is a workplace philosophy and production practice that focuses on preserving value while eliminating waste. It is based on the Toyota Production System, an integrated socio-technical system comprising Toyota’s management philosophy and practices.
A fundamental premise of learning is that other people’s experiences provide insight and perspective that can help us to achieve the results we are looking for.
The managing director of Society for Organised Learning, C Sherry Immediato, makes the point that we assume we can improve our performance by imitating behaviour that produces the results we desire, but that we need only look at the many frustrated attempts to replicate the Toyota system to know that, “while imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, it does not reliably produce results or learning”.
The paper takes a look at why this is the case and how to redirect these well-intentioned efforts to achieve the desired gains.
In SA, as in many Western societies, lean implementation tends to be tool- and system-focused, but it is important to understand that the philosophy plays a critical role. One practitioner describes the primary aim as “drawing out people’s capability and motivation”, which is very different from driving out cost. The authors of the article hope that by framing the change to be implemented as a “thinking system”, we will grow to understand that the work of management is about “frame control” and creating a conducive environment for new tools and methods to be introduced.
Framing is a well-acknowledged concept in social science. The article says “frames are the mental constructs through which we see, interpret and act on the world”. Framing explains why the same events can be interpreted very differently by different people depending on their “framework”. Framing can be thought of as looking at a picture and focusing on some aspects, while completely missing others.
The lean movement has been responsible for changing some frames in the industrial world, like how large inventories are perceived. They were once thought to be healthy assets that could be accessed when needed, but they are now recognised as wasteful.
The authors try to show that the true benefits of lean can be realised through a shift in how managers “frame” the system. Toyota Production System masters continually talk about making sure the tools are applied in the right perspective.
Teruyuki Minoura, a veteran of the Toyota system, or TPS, says that the “T” stands for “thinking”. The system is about creating the kind of place where people have to think, which results in wisdom, and this wisdom brings continual improvement (kaizen). Nampachi Hayashi, a Toyota executive advisory engineer, argued that the essence of the system is developing in each employee a “kaizen consciousness”.
Masters view lean transformation as changing the thought processes of every employee. Going lean, then, is less about cutting out waste from every business process and more about improving organisational performance – seeing problems and solving them the “right” way, and in so doing, continually increasing the intellectual capacity, thinking ability, and employees.
The authors explain that applying lean tools to every process frame is not the answer, but that “tapping and evolving the creativity of every employee, if properly cultivated and directed, has unlimited potential”. As they so aptly point out: “It enables the core principle of lean, kaizen, to take root so that learning becomes an organic process of operations.” The conclusion is that “realising the full promise of this thinking production system requires a shift to this learning frame”.
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