Organizations have had a choice to make over the last few decades on how to survive. One choice is to improve their current operations. This has led to things like Lean Six Sigma. The other is to outsource. This has led to unemployment.
Both of these are chasing fast and cheap. They are both lazy. Improving an organization looks like hard work and feels like taking a big risk. So, people avoid it. Outsourcing just requires suspending disbelief and fooling yourself. It also allows blaming the employees, who are then layed off without guilt.
An article available from InformationWeek (May 2011, Outsourcing 2011: The Incredible Shrinking IT Team) indicates that most are taking the lazy path and not getting the results they hoped. They are locked into the Frederick Taylor management philosophy and cannot see their way out. They cannot see their way to command and control their way out of their plight.
Readers that see themselves in this position do not see the correct role of a manager. It is to understand the 'system' that everyone works in and convey its meaning and its purpose. To help everyone see their role in the system and how to work together for its aim. To help each person maximize their contribution to the system and find joy in their work. There is more, but note that bossing or commanding is not to be found.
Methods like Lean Six Sigma promise improvement, but they are rarely sustainable. They are a catechism. W. Edwards Deming captured the true faith in his System of Profound Knowledge. Anyone who truly wants to improve their organization needs to learn and employ it. And, that requires unlearning a lot of everything else.
False paths to improvement and outsourcing lead to cost-cutting and the general demise of the organizations that choose them. Deming's SoPK is really the less risky because it has, at least, a chance of working in the long run and being sustainable.
Comments