How Can Kaizen Be Used to Boost Performance Management in the Workplace?

Hi everyone,

Everyone uses many techniques to increase performance and bring out the best in people. If the management/quality strategy Kaizen can be used to maintain and increase performance, then how can it be implemented?

Hi Sreenivasan,

Not that I know a lot about Kaizen, but let me share with you my two cents' worth. Kaizen advocates the principle of 5S, which focuses on:

- sorting unnecessary items in the workplace
- setting the workplace in order
- cleaning the workplace on a regular basis
- standardizing this ritual throughout the organization
- sustaining the process

The principle of applying 5S at your workplace not only ensures safety but also enhances better work performance. I have visited companies in Japan where this practice exists and have been a witness to the improved performance. If you want to learn more about the same, I suggest you key in 5S in the Google search engine and check out the results.

Regards,
Melissa

Kaizen Method

The Kaizen method of continuous incremental improvements is an originally Japanese management concept for gradual, continuous change and improvement. Kaizen is actually a way of life philosophy, assuming that every aspect of our life deserves to be constantly improved. The Kaizen philosophy underlies many Japanese management concepts such as Total Quality Control, Quality Control circles, small group activities, and labor relations. Key elements of Kaizen include quality, effort, involvement of all employees, willingness to change, and communication.

Japanese companies differentiate between innovation (radical) and Kaizen (continuous). Kaizen literally means change (kai) to become good (zen).

The foundation of the Kaizen method consists of 5 founding elements:

1. Teamwork,
2. Personal discipline,
3. Improved morale,
4. Quality circles, and
5. Suggestions for improvement.

Out of this foundation, three key factors in Kaizen arise:

- Elimination of waste (muda) and inefficiency
- The Kaizen five-S framework for good housekeeping
1. Seiri - tidiness
2. Seiton - orderliness
3. Seiso - cleanliness
4. Seiketsu - standardized clean-up
5. Shitsuke - discipline
- Standardization.

Source: http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_kaizen.html

Dear GYM (Mirza Ji),

Thanks for sharing this info. The way Japanese people do their work is outstanding; their management is perfect. In India, when they are working on the Delhi Metro Project, it is sometimes amazing to see that these people complete their job before the project completion date. Recently, they have completed one Delhi Metro track two months in advance. That's along with Indian Government Officials! They must have taught Kaizen to government officials.

Hey Manu,

"And that's along with Indian Government Officials! They must have taught Kaizen to government officials."

The top government officials are IAS officers, and the IAS test is as tough as the IIM admission procedure. So, we have the very best becoming the IAS officers. It is the politicians who slow down the system, and sometimes the lack of funds. I have not seen a project not being completed on time just because of the indecision of an IAS officer. It is more because of some discussions taking place in parliament, lack of funds, court matters (PIL, etc.), or opposition to the project by other political parties.

Hi Ajmal, Melissa, Deepali, and Manu,

Actually, I am not very concerned about what Kaizen is. I want to know how you prepare your workforce for Kaizen, how you implement it, and get some practical insights into it. As an HR professional, what role do we play in this process, etc. I have some knowledge about Kaizen, but from an HR perspective, it is crucial to learn more.

Just in that vein, I know a little bit about Kaizen, but from an HR perspective, it is essential to learn more.

Thank you.

Preparing for Kaizen:

I don't have a practical knowledge of this method, but I have read an interesting story in one book.

Few Americans were waiting for a Kaizen teacher to come and teach them Kaizen. This was their first class. The Kaizen teacher arrived, and the Americans greeted him. He responded with a smile. Now everyone was expecting him to start delivering a speech and write something on the board.

But he told his assistant to bring a glass of water. His assistant followed the order and brought a glass of water and a jug containing water.

He placed the glass of water on the table and then started pouring water from the jug into the glass. As the glass already had water in it, it started spilling on the table. Everyone attending that session was shocked!

The Kaizen teacher kept on doing this until the jug was empty.

He then said to the class, "Your mind is full of 'Western Thinking.' If I teach you anything new, then it won't fit inside your mind. Come tomorrow after emptying your mind (Western thinking), and I will teach you then."

Hi Sreenivasan,

I don't know exactly if I can call it Kaizen; however, this concept also has its origin from Japan (production housekeeping).

If you are in the Production sector, you may try to implement this.

I am working in ITeS, it's a BPO based in Mumbai in technical offshoring. I have implemented something in my organization, the concept is simple: PEEP - "Place for Everything and Everything in Place."

1. Ensure who are the Executors (Who will benefit if it works well).

2. Have a small team, do counseling, take this small team into your confidence. If needed, do repeated counseling, tell them why you have chosen them, make them understand the concept, and ensure they feel they are the 'owner' of the process. Do NOT force anything, invite discussions on it, document all.

3. Make the team sketch a rough action diagram, refine it. Guide them.

4. After successful test-runs, transfer complete ownership. Guide them as and when needed. Act as a Counselor and Facilitator, not an Administrator. This will make a big difference.

5. Learn from your mistakes working with the Pilot group, Generalize the results, replicate this experiment with a bigger workforce with systematic phases.

Hope it will work.

PEEP as a Concept can be used anywhere, even at your own desk.

Regards,

Thesysthink

KAIZEN means continuous improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and working life. When applied to the workplace, KAIZEN means ongoing improvement involving everyone - managers and workers alike.

The KAIZEN strategy begins and ends with people. With KAIZEN, involved leadership guides people to continuously improve their ability to meet expectations of high quality, low cost, and on-time delivery. KAIZEN transforms companies into 'Superior Global Competitors'.

In our concepts, three functions should happen simultaneously within any organizations: Maintenance, Innovation, and KAIZEN. By maintenance, we refer to maintaining the current status, where procedures are set, and standards are implemented. People in the lower level of the organization mostly do that; they maintain their standards.

Regarding Innovation, we refer to breakthrough activities initiated by top management, such as buying new machines, equipment, developing new markets, directing R&D, and changing strategies.

In the middle, there is KAIZEN, which involves small steps but continuous improvement. KAIZEN should be implemented by the lower/middle management and workers, with the encouragement and direction of the top management. The top management's responsibility is to cultivate a KAIZEN working climate and culture in the organization.

Not a day should go by without some kind of improvement being made somewhere in the company. When KAIZEN is adapted in organizations and management perspectives, it is easier to talk about it than to implement it. It is natural that people will propose some kind of change in their workplace when they become unsatisfied with their current conditions. Some improvements could be carried out right away, and perhaps the boss won't even notice them. However, when approval is required, different responses from the boss could take place. The ideal situation is that the boss encourages their subordinates to carry out their ideas and then appreciates their efforts or gives recognition. This is what people expect when they propose something. The positive response given by the boss will develop trust with the subordinates and stimulate other improvements, creating momentum for continuous improvement.

The Wet Blanket List

However, life in the organization is not easy. The boss could ask you a silly question like: "it is not broken, why should we change it" or "the procedures are fine with me, why should we change them?". You know that if you change it, the boss will blame you. The boss may not want to give you a try, with many reasons or no reasons. You might feel like you can't do anything anymore, as the saying goes, "the boss is always right." There are many bosses like that. The bosses should encourage their subordinates, but in reality, the wet blankets put out the "fire" of improvement suggestions.

In an inefficient organization, everybody tends to throw wet blankets everywhere. You could also add more wet blankets from your own vocabulary; the list could be endless.

The Real Organizational Life

That's what really happens in organizational life. Bosses discourage subordinates, and the subordinates become skeptical. They stop making proposals, suggestions, and improvements, and the organization becomes stagnant. Sometimes, the bosses are aware of the stagnation and buy a new machine, change layouts, or even hire consultants to make a breakthrough. They do that because it's their function to make breakthroughs. They change everything and shake up the organization. However, they don't change and still criticize their subordinates, tossing wet blankets at the people. It is crucial that change and improvement start from top management. Top management should change their behavior when dealing with subordinates.

BASIC TIPS FOR KAIZEN ACTIVITIES

- Discard conventional fixed ideas.
- Think of how to do it, not why it cannot be done.
- Do not make excuses; start by questioning current practices.
- Do not seek perfection; do it right away, even if only 50% of the target.
- Correct mistakes right away.
- Do not spend money for KAIZEN; use your wisdom.
- Wisdom is brought out when faced with hardship.
- Ask "WHY?" five times and seek root causes.
- Seek the wisdom of ten people rather than the knowledge of one.
- KAIZEN ideas are infinite.

Source: http://www.revisionguru.co.uk/business/kaizen.htm

Kaizen is about making small positive changes - the field in which you do this - accounting, manufacturing, etc., matters not.

It seems prudent that before any change is made, no matter how small, the implications and consequences of the proposed change are known in advance, or at least are known with a very high degree of certainty.

Typically today we find a great deal of UNCERTAINTY before any change - and this CAN be a source of poor behaviors, poor performance, and so lead us down the path to all the uncomfortable things at work that HR often has to deal with.

Understand your organization and its systems to such an extent that you know with more confidence the outcome of any changes, and plan accordingly.

This means there is a big role for well-defined systems and procedures, for educating employees, for training managers to behave in appropriate ways, for having truly effective communication channels, and so on.

What has this to do with people? EVERYTHING!!!

What is HR's role in this?

MASSIVE!!

Who else is equipped, other than HR, to deliver on this? These are all the basics of an effective HR function!

I believe we try to see things like this as too complicated and then feel overwhelmed when trying to do things. Do what you feel is right - it almost always will be - and do so from a position of decisions made with the full facts - there's no need to rush so!