The qualities of an effective manager
The distinguished and brilliant Hajime Karatsu, winner of the Deming Prize, describes to us those essential qualities that a director must possess to be able to radically transform his organization and lead it on a path of competitiveness and continuous improvement.
Thirteen are the qualities described by him, starting with specialized knowledge. A director needs to know yes or yes the production processes of the company under his charge. The higher your position in the organization, the more knowledge you must have about business processes. Thus, the fact of having knowledge about certain legal or administrative aspects is not an excuse to justify the inability to understand technical issues. Any self-respecting manager must have the ability to invest enough time and resources to learn about their industry.
But having specialized knowledge is not enough, it is also necessary to have general knowledge, otherwise, according to Karatsu's words, he will be nothing more than "a madman of his own specialization". It is essential to know about the various aspects that make up the environment and systems of your organization in order to understand the effects that have to be generated as a result of your various decisions.
No matter how much knowledge a manager possesses, he will not be able to carry out his organization without a fighting spirit, which implies the imperative need to have what the Japanese consultant has classified as enthusiasm.
A well-informed and motivated person but lacking in common sense is without a doubt a great candidate to be the worst type of director. The manager to be sensible must be possessor of wisdom as well as common sense.
Always, and today more than ever, a director must have the ability to lead and generate teamwork. Individual and solitary work is not typical of a time of high competitiveness, which is why the manager must encourage and motivate the formation and predisposition for deep and serious teamwork.
Subordinates are always aware of how their manager views them. So if they have been treated unfairly, the less motivated they will be to do their job. For this reason, the higher the position of a manager in the organization, the greater the need for their impartiality.
Communicating is essential, and for this it is necessary to have the ability to quickly and accurately grasp the message that the other person is transmitting. This means having the ability to understand. A subordinate will quickly lose interest if, after careful presentation, he observes that the manager is not committing to his message. Employees are willing to help in difficult times to the extent that they feel that what they offer is understood and appreciated by their superiors.
No matter how good a plan is, if a manager lacks the power of persuasion to make that plan put into action. Without the ability to speak persuasively it is impossible to lead people.
Emotional stability is a critical point to allow the manager to lead through thick and thin his proposals until reaching the objectives. A manager who bows to negative events and adversities loses the ability to generate follow-up in his subordinates.
Going against the odds trying to be bold enough to execute unusual plans, that is, those plans that are not limited to continuous improvement or incremental advances, but are willing to generate the great leap forward through reengineering and the innovation.
A person leading others must be in good health, having enough energy to set an example.
Something already classic in Japanese management is never to blame subordinates for mistakes, with the manager assuming responsibility. This implies nothing more and nothing less than being aware that subordinates are their responsibility as guide and leader.
Having sensitivity is important, but the manager should never mix his personal feelings with the job, as this can jeopardize the solidarity of the entire organization.
Although no person has all these qualities, he should focus on them, putting all his effort and concentration in achieving them. The manager as organizational head is in charge of the destiny of each of the employees, being for this reason a person who bears the enormous responsibility of developing and increasing as many of these skills and qualities as is feasible.
How to prevent mistakes from repeating themselves
If there is anyone in a position to teach how to avoid mistakes, that character is Kaoru Ishikawa. According to him, the most important thing in quality control and guarantee is to prevent mistakes from being repeated
There are three steps considered as measures to prevent the repetition of errors:
A. Eliminate the symptom.
B. Eliminate a cause.
C. Eliminate the root cause.
In reality, only measures B and C prevent the repetition of errors: but if step C is not taken, there can be no true prevention. As for measure A, it is merely temporary.
To demonstrate what was described above, Ishikawa shows us the case of a device that was attached to a machine by means of four bolts. A complaint was received that one of the bolts used to break, so it was changed to a larger one. Then another of the bolts broke, proceeding to change all the bolts for larger ones. When it seemed that everything had been solved, a new complaint came about that the iron plate that carried the device was splitting in two. Faced with this situation, said plate was changed for another of greater thickness. The company then announced that it had succeeded in preventing a recurrence of the problem.
The company managed to eliminate the phenomena of rupture of the bolts and the plate, but it limited itself to eliminating the symptoms (Category A), not proceeding to prevent the repetition of the error.
When it was decided to actually study the problem, it was discovered that what caused the breakage was the vibrations that reached the device. By not eliminating the vibrations, the company had used larger bolts and thicker iron plates, leaving the causes behind the breakage undiminished, with the vibrations eventually affecting the device itself and damaging it. The only true preventive measure was therefore to eliminate vibrations (Category B).
However, the fundamental or root cause had not been eliminated, because even if the vibration were eliminated at a later stage, this would not prevent the repetition of the problem, because a similar error may arise in the development of another new product. It is clear that several tests were carried out in the development of this machine. Why couldn't the operators foresee the vibration? Evidently the tests were inadequate.
The company will need to reexamine its test procedure and develop a new one capable of indicating the presence of vibrations that could break the bolts. The only way to avoid repeating these issues is to go back to basics and reexamine everything step by step. It is essential to go back to the development of test procedures and their modifications during the early stages of product development. This is without a doubt the only way to eliminate the root causes.
More generally speaking, the elimination of the root cause is directly related to improvements in management and important regulations. Therefore, quality does not have to improve if the company is only interested in the performance and functions carried out by line workers. Quality is everyone's business, and the company should, according to Ishikawa, strive for the best quality in all its divisions, from design to sales to service. You will also need to strive for better quality of performance among all your employees, managers and line workers, as well as your sales staff. If the company doesn't take these steps, it won't be able to keep making good products.
The same can be said about process control. When things got out of hand in a company on one occasion, workers analyzed the cause and discovered that materials that did not correspond to the process had been used by mistake. The correct materials were then used and the company ensured in such a way that such a problem would not recur.
But this is a simple type A measure and not a measure that prevents future repetition. The company had to analyze why inappropriate materials were used and has had to take the appropriate measures; since it did not, it is likely that it will use inappropriate materials again, perhaps not in the same process, but in another. The solution may be to make the sheet containing the materials more legible or to change the storage location, in such a way as to avoid the repetition of such errors regardless of the material or process in question.
The last step is to analyze in which other situation or process may have the same inconveniences, in order to avoid similar errors in other processes, sectors, products or services.
A company depends on the quality of its people
For Kazuo Murata “in the long run, good company simply means a company that has good people with high potential”, and then he clarifies: “When you visit an excellent manufacturing company on a Sunday, you can only see excellent machines there. Perhaps there is even an industrial system integrated into the computer. But without the people it won't work ”.
This Japanese consultant is worthy of the highest praise. A member of the Japan Academy of Creativity and winner of an award for innovation in Japanese products, he founded the Yuasa Battery company in Wales in 1981, building a company of such a level and competitive capacity that it has allowed him to face not only European companies, but also that of Japan and above all achieve the same levels of productivity as its parent company in Japan. Therefore, his is not theory or advice, it is more the implementation and development of the valuable concepts of the Japanese management system.
Knowing from his own experience, he makes it clear that although the right investment is always fundamental and even critical, the true competition does not go through the acquisition of refined machines and equipment, but in making them work efficiently. Good machines are only powerful, to become such they require good operators. Well, bad operators always lead to a significant reduction in the value of the company's assets.
It must be clear that the operator's job is the same whether the machine is complex or simple. There is and will always be a need to detect deviations through observation, immediate analysis and corrective action, as well as following standard routine operations. It should be perfectly clear that if operators do not work according to established standards, they will cause problems, just as if they do not have the ability and willingness to observe, they must ignore all problems. These fundamental skills are not achieved with direct training, as they can only be acquired through prolonged training on the job site, in such a way that it ends up becoming habits.
If we concentrate on office work, the same essentials apply to it. More and more office jobs are done through the use of computers. When these office tasks are systematized, routine work will be significantly reduced. From there, the ability to observe and detect problems will assume a critical role. The administrative staff will be able to continue enjoying their work because from the computerization of their work they will have more time to discover problems, correct them and continuously improve their performance levels.
Today more than ever, companies require disciplined and creative personnel. The disciplined staff respect the rules and regulations, communicating correctly with the entire organization. While creativity requires the ability to observe, analyze, understand, know how to detect key points, produce ideas and put them into practice to improve activities and processes. For Kazuo Murata “people who can do this work best in any organization and position. That means you can enjoy your work all the time. " For Murata there is no doubt that a company that has succeeded in training people in this way will undoubtedly succeed in the future.
Murata, knowledgeable by trade and experience, tells us: “People are the main asset of the company and that is the reason why I look at the brightness of people's eyes and the neatness of the factory when I visit one to study their performance.. The sparkle in people's eyes is a good indicator of their creativity; the cleanliness of the factory shows the degree of discipline of the people who work there. Sometimes these observations are more important than document proven company performance. "
In this sense, Murata says, a good company can only be the result of good people. The discipline and creativity of all its members makes an efficient and highly competitive organization.
Resource allocation
When you say "resource allocation" it is generally thought in relation to the funds available, but in the case of the resources of a company they are not limited merely to the funds available. Japanese managers focus their attention on what they call milestone-kane-mono, which means: people-money-things (fixed assets), considering that efficiency achieves its maximum objective when these three critical resources achieve balance, without excesses or waste.
Thus, it is a remarkable waste to have more cash than any competent person can spend wisely.
According to Kenichi Ohmae, of the three critical resources, funds are the last to be allocated. Having the plants and equipment available, the creative capacities of the workforce and managers must be made available, and then the money is allocated to the specific ideas and programs generated by management levels.
You should always invest in attractive programs rather than attractive industries. Thus imaginative planning and execution in a depressed industry can yield higher returns than poorly planned and executed operations in good industries. Only competent people can generate good ideas, and only competent managers can carry out good strategies. Money is, according to Ohmae, nothing more than a means to fulfill the objective of the corporation, which in turn, is the centripetal force that links and brings together the three critical managerial resources.
What lessons can be learned from such concepts? First of all, the fact that in order to be successful, the various resources that give it life must coexist in a balanced and harmonious way. Secondly, these resources must be assigned according to both the mission of the company and its strategic and operational objectives. And thirdly, the use of different resources must be coordinated through planning according to needs.
Not having enough resources, in the right place and at the right time, should not contribute to the achievement of the objectives. These can only be realized effectively through the just in time availability of the various resources.
The strategist must be aware when planning what must be the fundamental resources necessary for the success of their projects. Having good projects but lacking the resources is wasting your own time and that of your followers.
Ohmae focuses in such a way the imperative need that executives, managers and supervisors have, never to lose sight of the resources they have and the best use they must make of them.
If there is a waste (muda) that companies must avoid from the start, it is the result of improperly managing and combining the various resources they have.
Bibliography
- TQC Wisdom of Japan - Hajime Karatsu - Productivity Press - 1992What is Total Quality Control? - Kaoru Ishikawa - Prentice Hall Inc. - 1985 How to Make Japanese Management Methods Work in the West - Kazuo Murata and Alan Harrison - Gower Publishing Company Limited - 1991
