IHSAS-ZEAUOXIS-FUNDUTHOUGHTS: accoutability at work

IHSAS-ZEAUOXIS-FUNDUTHOUGHTS: accoutability at work

IHSAS-ZEAUOXIS-FUNDUTHOUGHTS: accoutability at work

IHSAS-ZEAUOXIS-FUNDUTHOUGHTS: accoutability at work

my learnings

The first thing I have learnt is that we have to be able to identify our core competencies and our weaknesses. identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suityour core competency., if you are a good speaker, make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the senior management to notice you. If your strength is analysis, make sure you do some sort of research, make a report and send it upstairs. Working to your strengths will notonly get you noticed, but will also create opportunities for growth and advancement. but always remember “ ability without dependability is a liability.”
The second lesson I have learnt is that nothing in this life is permanent but change. There is only one person who likes a change: the wet baby. Change is an ongoing fact of life. It changes us as we have to move away from our “ zone of comfort” and makes our life difficult for a while. Change brings with it a lot of stress as our paradigms are constantly being challenged. To bring about a change one has to change the “BAT”. BEHAVIOUR ATTITUDE THINKING. ATTITIUDE: are changes that happen from within oneself. One has to take responsibility for What one is What one does What one has The only thing that is truly yours -- that no one can control or take from you- is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier. THINKING: comes from “logically” observing every situation in life. One has to manage “self talk”. You think you can or cannot you are right. Positive thinking with" effort” increases the probability of success. Negative thinking with “effort” decreases the probability of success. Positive thinking backed with positive actions comes with positive believing. If u believe u cannot do it then you do justify that you cant do it & vice versa. You have two choices –either you think you can do it or you think you cannot do it.
The third lesson I have learnt is whatever goes up has to come down and this is cyclic in nature. Life has many challenging situations . You win some and lose some. You enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don’t beat yourself for it or any one else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the problem and learn from it .The important thing is, when you lose, do not lose the lesson or the moral of the story.
The fourth lesson I learnt is that we must always strive for perfection. In our quest for perfection we end up in achieving excellence. One way of achieving excellence is by looking at those individuals much better than ourselves. Keep learning what they do differently, why they do it and why is it ,what they do?. Emulate it and bring into every day situations these different effective methods. The fifth lesson I have learnt is to have a” never say die approach in times of adversities It comes on you suddenly without warning and surely without an announcement. .we must remember that “tough times don’t last but tough men do”. it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel. My 5 year old daughter taught me an important thing . I was playing Captain Claw on the computer and despite my very best effort ,could not beat La Roca so I shut down the game. I did this at least 3 times in half an hour. I told myself in a loud and irritating tone of voice "Look, why don’t you just give up? I don’t think you will beat him tonight. Look at it another day." The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes, "But, dad, why should you give up? All the weapons are available you have just got to use them effectively " If we try hard & long enough, we can put any problem into its perspective. Sometimes we have to work very hard ,sometimes we need to change the strategy and some times we need a combination of both. But it is our attitude which will sail us through these adversities.
The sixth lesson I have learnt is leadership is not a popularity contest. As a matter of fact parenting teaching and leadership are not popularity contests. It is hard enough for leaders to take out what is left in individuals. A true leader will gauge the individual before he tries to put in anything because beyond a certain point it is worthless trying to put in and mould an individual. And this goes on

reflections....

life is not always a cake walk.not always easynot always comfortableand sometimes real hard.things dont always happen as we like.people dont always treat us as we would have liked(not that we treat people the way we would expected to be treated).stuff does not happen as we wish.we slog in and slog out and work real hard but get very few results.grass seems greener on the other side.it is at these times that we ought to pull ourselves togeather and put on our otherwise dormant thinking cap and get down to some serious reflecting time.we need to succeed and for this we must try...........&try and try again.we must believe in what we do and must not give up our conviction.we must keep pushing, we must be patient.problems ,difficulties ,catch 22 situations give us a chance to be stronger,better and tougher.when we overcome our obstacles we we learn new things.we acquire new knowledge ,skills and new abilities .we grow in experience.we make the world around us a better place to live in.so join me in making this world a better place to llive in.work hard -party hard and leave a bit to luck and the rest to the supreme being.

TO delegate....or not to.......

Can we delegate effectively to others? Do we like to delegate? Should we delegate?

Can we delegate when we are at the receiving end or when we consider our function a thankless job yet a glamorous way to be in limelight?

The strategy behind being able to delegate or being an able delegator is that there is an increased chance of moving up in an organization.

What really is delegation?

Where does the buck stop?

Many executives really confuse delegation with abdication of responsibility. It makes sense to be clear about certain fundamentals of delegation. I firmly believe any executive in the middle management (with reportees) having “fire in the belly” about climbing the corporate ladder must allocate time to correspond to relative importance of issues facing them. He must set a value added time/importance of the activity, function, job ratio and do justice to it. He must possess the ability to manage his time, so as to focus & channalise his energy on high value activity, job or tasks. This will finally determine his level of achievements.

This can be done only by delegating functions down the line. To relinquish your power to a reportee is not delegation. It is evasion of responsibility. Delegation in the true sense is entrusting another person a job together with authority to do it. Thus the delegate now acts on behalf of you like the emissaries of the days of yore or the diplomats of today.

If you happen to be the delegate then the function, task or job entrusted to you by someone in authority comes with the necessary power to complete it successfully.

Delegation saves your time and develops people while failure to delegate eats your time.
Delegation is necessary in organizations. What matters in organizations is doing such things well, but of course in organizations it is difficult to do simple things well. Delegation is one such glaring example. It either does not happen too well or it does not just enough. That is very regrettable as both sins of omission & commission consume rather than save a valuable commodity called “time”. Where you could reap double the crop per acre you end up with a bad crop and then blame it on…………………………… .



Some comments made to me over a period of the last twenty years in various functions I have worked like: manufacturing, ancillary development, projects, planning, exports, costing, customer support, marketing and materials management are as illustrated.

“I strongly believe that information is power. I would rather keep really important information secret. If I hand that over then perhaps one will be able to displace me.”

“When I was away with influenza for a week the entire place came to a halt, so you see I am indispensable to the firm”

“I really and strongly believe in delegation but just seethe monkeys & clowns I have working for me”

“Unless they are trained I will have to continue to carry two bulging briefcases”

“Most of them have psychologically retired even though they are not drawing their pensions”


“Even though I delegate they will not perform as I would have done so myself”

“My boss will not keep coming to me and will he bypass me to my reportees if I delegate.”


Research has revealed 9 top reasons why delegation does not take place irrespective of tier of the management.

Delegating is a high risk activity which need risk assessment.
We enjoying doing these things so why do we delegate?
It is a very slow process
we don’t want to sit and think
we would like to be “on top of everything”
Will our subordinate displace us from our positions?
No one can do it better than or as good as I can?
No one will come to me for solutions in that area
Why do I bring him into limelight for no rhyme or reason? After all I’m the mentor.

We can delegate authority to do the job and hold the person accountable for the performance. If the activity is done in the right way and spirit it will generate a sense of responsibility in the delegate. As you are ultimately responsible for what happens or does not happen as an outcome. A corollary to the above is that sufficient control must be maintained in order to protect your ultimate accountability.


Leadership is the second responsibility that cannot be delegated.
In reality any great leader will not delegate his leadership to others as in doing so all he will be left is an empty title while the ethos of his job lies elsewhere.

Another important thing to remember is that as a delegator you cannot divest yourself of the accountability and leadership. Last but not the least you should never allow any one to decide what you should delegate and what you should not.

There are certain key factors that a delegator may consider and constantly review for delegating or not doing so.

Complexity: the complexity or delicacy of function, activity or job determines whether to delegate or not. A&M, policy decisions on pricing or budgets are examples of areas where you may feel that you need to handle yourself. The more the challenge in uncharted waters the more you should attack yourself. Similarly where there is a chance of major repurcations for good or bad on profitability, do not delegate to any other person.

Confidence: one is more comfortable to delegate if he can trust his subordinate. The trust encompasses the professional competence and personal qualities. One must make sure that he is not either optimistic or pessimistic in varying degrees about his subordinate in order to delegate. We need to work with them, talk to them, advice them, guide them, spend time with them, observe them support them and then reflect about them before forming our judgments. Some will need hand holding and walking through initially in the introductory phase, some would do an appropriate job with a little risk of any negative impact. The best are capable to understand the business model, company’s philosophy and work towards execution of the function without consequences or mistakes. Be forewarned that many leaders believe in intuition, but rest assured intuition could be misleading and decisions taken based on a haunch could be disastrous in the real sense of the word.’
Availability of time: crisis situation where time is short must not be delegated. The time taken to explain, cross check if the matter is understood as required by you, and action initiated by the delegate may not be there to give.

Future development: delegation is centered on the routine and administrative chunks of a function. One must be however careful not to delegate all administrative work and work only on leadership. As for me I make it point to delegate everything that can be defined. This gives me the time to keep the scores on the delegated jobs and freedom to spend time in exploring new avenues or chase opportunities that lie ahead. My work style encourages me to select jobs I know best and could supervise them and delegate these once first. As a practice I work on my present activities and keep reviewing those to see if the time is ripe enough to delegate them .If the time is just ripe them I go ahead and delegate the job and am in a position to take decisions and follow up.

The correct approach is to assign tasks & functions to others though you remain ultimately accountable. One needs to keep in mind to strike a balance between needs of the company and development needs of an individual. We often come across organizations where there are senior managers who do not want to delegate because they want to do it with out delegation. These people have risen from the ranks through sheer hard work. The problem commences when these people are promoted beyond their level of competence. Such organizations or departments loose their momentum as even a minor decision has to be taken at the helm.

Skills of a delegator


SKILL
REMARKS
1) Select the right people.
If the people are incompetent or unwilling to do the job even with training you should get rid of them. Having the right people to do the job is the basic need of delegation. Remember there never are bad soldiers but only bad officers.
2)training
How ever high profile performers you have in your rank and file all the delegates need to be trained.
Demonstrate the job
Get feedback
Get delegate to do it
Delegate does it on his/her own
Delegate reports back on completion.
3)Knowledge and reason
Training and delegation is 2- way traffic. The function, activity or job must be clearly communicated and authority specifically defined. The delegate needs to know policies and goal so that he knows what he is doing and why he is doing it.
4)Support service
Resist the temptation to plunge in.
When the delegate approaches you for a solution never give him the answer but lead him to it. The aim is to develop the delegate so that he can cope up and do well as you have in the past.
5)control
Check the progress in your own defined way. It is important to know that it is not abdication but control that is the name of the game.

To sum up
Delegation begins with a sense of value. From there stems a strong desire to focus on priorities and delegate the rest as it will leave free time to think plan and act very effectively.
Delegation is not abdication.
Delegators often complain that they have two bulging briefcases to work with when their subordinates are running out of worthwhile work.
To be giving people power to make decisions and act in your place requires courage, judgement and faith in others because at the end “the buck stops with you”.
Delegation is a great motivator as it enriches the job and raises morale.
Delegation does not save the organization’s time but it saves yours.

success

Success breeds success. Nothing is as sweet as success. It is the journey through pain, agony, hard work, planning, strategy and bits of luck that cultivates what is known as success.
The difference between success and failure is wafer thin.
The greatest success principle I have come across is “learn from the experts”. Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you want to succeed find out what other successful people are doing and do the same things until you commence to reap similar results. Most successful people have on comman trait i.e. they are “very well organized” and in order to be so they use their time very well. They are highly productive and get more work done than average people for a similar period of time. These successful people are high performers with qualities to be both capable and efficient. They do things right in the right way at the right time with the right approach having the right attitude and aptitude. As a result their contributions in the spheres of work are far more than an average individuals .

. It is tough for manufacturing to compete for talent because of this smokestack stereotype. Although most of us were neophytes regarding advanced manufacturing, we expected to see wonders rather than drudgery.

After all, this was advanced manufacturing. And in many respects our expectations were fulfilled.

We saw chip fabrication lines - as antiseptic as operating rooms - whose life cycle is four years. We saw auto plants as clean as cafeterias where robots outnumbered human workers. So much for dirty.

We repeatedly saw production runs of single units . We also saw long production runs in process, but the trend was clearly toward rapidly reconfigurable production and shorter, customer-responsive runs. The dull stereotype is therefore also outdated. We saw plants where the latest technology is hand fitted in buildings that are not much altered from fifty years ago. So our preconceptions of what ‘advanced’ means were challenged, too.

Opportunities for increasing profit are deeply explored. The relentless way in which profit incentives drive technological innovation in the private manufacturing sector explains much of the widening gap between that sector and the defense sector, in the use of automation technology ,process engineering and best management practices. Enterprise resource planning, lean manufacturing practices, just-in-time inventory control models, and the outsourcing of non-core capabilities were commonplace in the firms visited.

Reliance on web-based capabilities as well as ERP(where usually man becomes the slave of system as many different busniess models have the same path, criteria and rules) some which link manufacturers with their customers and suppliers, and others uniting global networks of production units, was a notable trend. and an understanding that successful manufacturers integrate people, processes and technology to rapidly turn materials into finished products that address customer needs. As problematic as manufacturing is, we report rapid consolidation of advances in materials, processing, management and information. We see renewed productivity and new marvels. That is the ascending baseline.

DEFINITION. Advanced manufacturing is not an industry but a series of processes. ‘manufacturing’ has been defined as “science and technology, process development and production, to make a component and manage it through its life cycle,” while their definition of ‘advanced manufacturing’ excludes ‘production.’ It’s a reasonable research view. What’s left?

• Materials organization

• Computational organization

• Research and development prototyping: Hardware, Models, Processes

• Process development, including unique production equipment One could argue that science and technology plus process development is undeniably advanced but not (at least not necessarily) manufacturing. Laboratory researchers acknowledge the fact that what they mean by ‘production’ is traditional industrial ‘manufacturing’. On the other hand, the third and fourth ‘advanced’ subcategories - prototyping and process development - can be accomplished on factory floors as well as in laboratories. Costs of such research can then more readily be recovered from revenues associated with products, leading to greater economic efficiency. In the perspective of industrial consultants, what is ‘advanced’ has everything to do with production, but focuses outside of milling, joining and assembly processes traditionally associated with the term ‘manufacturing’. In this view, ‘advanced’ manufacturing leverages information technology in the supply chain by generating an integrated approach toward supply chain ‘synthesis’ (vice ‘management’) oriented to developing positive ‘flow’ rather than ‘links.’ ‘Warehousing’ gives way to ‘materials handling integration.’ Of course, from fabrication managers in high technology industries, one also hears that manufacturing applications and technology come down to the unchanging two basic components for production--people and materials. CURRENT CONDITIONS.

Advanced manufacturing occurs in many widely differentiated sectors of the economy.

We observed manufacturing management and production practices in the auto, pharmaceutical, electronics and electrical equipment assembly, jet engine, construction equipment, and semiconductor sectors. In the defense sector, we observed manufacture of helicopters, munitions, aircraft and ships. The behavior and strategy of the observed companies varied greatly. Some were clearly struggling to make any revenue and profit, while a few were expanding and producing at near capacity. Most were looking for new products or product differentiation, strategic alliances and partnerships, or novel marketing strategies to pull ahead in the current economy. Additionally, all were focused on cost-cutting efficiencies to improve their ability to compete. Such endeavors include out-sourcing or alternatively increased vertical integration, supply chain integration and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and just-in-time and lean manufacturing. . Manufacturing employment consists of almost entirely high-skill, technology-intensive jobs with wages well above the service sector. The notion of poorly educated blue-collar workers laboring in dangerous jobs in dank, smoke-belching factories is a bygone image. Reality is more likely to be clean rooms and pharmaceutical laboratories, and brightly lit, clean, environmentally friendly production facilities employing advanced automation, robotics, and information technology. This is particularly evident in companies’ efforts to acquire both ISO 9000 (quality) and 14000 (environmental) certifications.

Many companies reduced R&D investments due to the soft economy. However, a few recognized the opportunity by increasing investment in new technologies and facilities to be positioned for the recovery. productivity and Information Technology. Information technology and information management systems are credited with the strong economy-wide growth and high productivity (> 3% per annum) of the mid and late 1990s. High productivity was especially important to the manufacturing industry where it generally equated to lower unit costs in production, and therefore, increased revenues and profits. In fact, manufacturing productivity averaged a 4.3% growth rate over the period 1996-1999. Although productivity had fallen precipitously during 2000, data from the fourth quarter of 2001 and the first quarter of 2002 indicate that productivity is rebounding. Availability of Skilled Labor. The majority of companies visited expressed concern with their ability to hire skilled labor. Given the recession, none noted any shortage of applicants. However, almost without exception they were frustrated by applicants’ lack of specific skills required for their industry. Most stated that applicants lacked the mechanical aptitude, knowledge, and technical background in basic math and sciences to propel their company in this highly competitive globalized economy. In the case of defense companies, the pool of qualified applicants was further reduced by drug testing and security requirements. A few companies placed equal emphasis on an applicant’s ability to perform in a team environment or alternatively, with minimal supervision. Job tender statistics such as 2 in 30, 1 in 60 or even 1 in 100 were commonplace among the companies visited. To address the skills shortage, many companies developed targeted education and training outreach programs to improve basic skills and enlarge the pool of potential applicants. Partnerships, to include internships, were developed with local high schools, trade schools, and colleges and universities to educate and train students for employment. In some cases, companies developed their own in-house training and certification programs for specific skills, such as welding and pipefitting. These companies screened initial applicants for “employability” and then placed them into in-house training programs prior to assigning them to a manufacturing activity. No statistics were offered to validate the success of these initiatives, nor was there any quantification of return on investment, but all felt these managerial practices were both necessary and profitable in terms of “growing” the basic employee skills for their industry. Automation and Robotics. Many companies sought to mitigate manpower shortfalls while simultaneously improving productivity and reducing costs by increasing the levels of automation and robotics in their manufacturing processes. High-speed machine tools under computer numerical control (CNC) continue to revolutionize manufacturing. More capable bits and cutters, and multi-axial machines, allow machining of ever larger components without repositioning. Variability continues to drop and quality and labor productivity to rise. Linked by the web, quality can be remotely controlled, which leverages engineering expertise. We saw robotics commonly employed for repetitive tasks such as auto body welding. This did substantially reduce manpower requirements on the floor as one or a few employees could operate and oversee several robotic manufacturing cells. However, the remaining employees needed even greater technical knowledge and skill. Not only were they expected to set-up and oversee robotic cells, but in many cases they were the first line of maintenance should the robots break down or the line stop. Employees who were capable of meeting these new challenges became that much more valuable to the companies and in return, could command higher levels of compensation. Aging Workforce. Many of the companies visited faced the related issue of an aging workforce. The situation was particularly acute in defense and unionized facilities. Managers at one defense aircraft company quoted the average age of their manufacturing workforce to be 55 years; those at a defense munitions plant quoted their workforce at between 48-52 years. By contrast, those at a commercial, non-union semiconductor facility estimated their manufacturing workforce to be between 26-30 years. The effects of aging are compounded when companies outsource their personnel surge requirements. U.S. firms often obtain surge workers as temps through manpower companies. In Japan, expatriate third generation Japanese descendents, recruited abroad for the purpose, can fill the gap. In both systems, a cohort of young, second-class workers are cycled in and out, and trained, yet are not expected to count on a career, advancement, or even a permanent position. An aging workforce is a very experienced and skilled group of employees with comparatively higher levels of pay and benefits. This two-edged sword engenders higher relative levels of productivity with concomitant higher direct labor costs. An even greater concern is that their knowledge will be lost when they retire. Without the ability to systematically transfer knowledge to younger employees and facing the difficulty in hiring skilled labor, these companies may soon be facing a shortfall in their manufacturing capabilities. All of this places a fundamental limitation on a company’s ability to surge production. Most of the companies visited had significant excess capacity with facilities that could accommodate expanded production if required. However, to surge with a new manufacturing line or extra shifts would require an increase in manufacturing personnel which for the reasons cited above would not appear practicable in the short term.

CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES. manufacturers need to address several challenges in order to maintain competitive advantage. Adapting to the increasing effects of globalization and commercializing advanced technology requires constant fine-tuning. Adaptability is the key to generating and sustaining a competitive advantage in a global market. “Manufacturing in the information age will bring new ideas and innovations to the marketplace rapidly and effectively. Individuals and teams will learn new skills rapidly because of advanced network-based learning, computer-based communication across extended enterprises, enhanced communications between people and machines, and improvements in the transaction and alliance infrastructure.” The National Research Council (NRC) report from which this quote is drawn noted several grand challenges to the future of advanced manufacturing, which we used as a baseline for our study. The following paragraphs discuss our view of the challenges facing advanced manufacturing based on our domestic and international travel. In this new age, one key to the success of an advanced manufacturing firm is the ability of its senior leadership to leverage information to maintain a competitive advantage. Concurrency. The first challenge is to achieve concurrency in all operations. That is, manufacturers should plan, develop, and implement in parallel, vice sequentially. Concurrent processing will bring together all elements of a product process from “cradle-to-grave.” Increased use of networked processes and equipment will be required to transfer information and experience. This will make it possible to reduce product time to market, promote innovation, and improve quality. In order to meet this challenge and realize these improvements, manufacturing industries should address several items:

(1) Development or purchase of intelligent collaboration systems. Information sharing is the biggest priority if companies want to plan, develop, and implement in parallel. Without real-time information flow, successful concurrency is not possible. Collaboration hardware and software is an enabling tool to meet this challenge.

(2) Identification and acquisition of technologies to convert information into knowledge for effective decision-making. The vast quantities of information available now and in the future are becoming overwhelming for decision makers. Firms should use technology to assist in converting information to knowledge for management use.

(3) System synthesis, modeling, and simulation for all manufacturing operations should be accomplished. In order to achieve concurrency, it is necessary for all operations to peacefully coexist and to share information on a timely and accurate basis. However, some tradeoffs may have to occur. Understanding each system process and being able to model and simulate the process allows for understanding the existing complex interactions. Use of models and simulations would allow management to try new proposed operations to improve efficiency and competitive advantage.

(4) System development to provide the ability to achieve concurrency (once the processes and interactions between them are understood). Companies should identify, develop, and/or acquire adaptable, readily reconfigurable, integrated equipment, processes, and systems. Flexibility will be the key to maintaining competitive advantage in the future for advanced manufacturers. Flexible systems and processes, designed for rapid change, will provide advanced manufacturers the edge they need to rapidly respond to a changing market while maintaining concurrency in their processes. Human/Technical Integration. A second challenge is to integrate human and technical resources to enhance workforce performance and satisfaction. Even though technology is rapidly improving and automation is becoming increasingly popular, firms cannot fully remove humans from manufacturing. During both domestic and international company visits, we saw that humans still do some tasks that machines cannot (usually that require specific dexterity), while machines handled tasks that humans cannot (movement of heavy objects – although usually with human guidance). However, we also viewed several processes where humans performed routine and often repetitive tasks where the use of technical resources could have improved the process. Therefore, better integration of human and technical resources is necessary to further improve manufacturing operations.

(5) Knowledge transfer from an aging work force. One of the recurring trends encountered during our industry visits was the increasing age of the workforce. As noted above, some companies had average workforce ages of over 49 years old. As these older workers finally retire, the loss of knowledge could be high. The manufacturing industry must anticipate this occurrence, and take action to retrieve that knowledge from the older workers and transfer it to a younger work force when required. Information into Knowledge. Advanced manufacturers are dependent on information technology already, and will become more so in the future. This third challenge addresses the need to value, capture, and "instantaneously" transform information gathered from a vast array of diverse sources into useful knowledge for making effective decisions. For organizations to be truly successful in the information era and maintain their competitive advantage, they will have to learn how to “develop knowledge, procure knowledge, protect knowledge, and manage people with knowledge.” In order to accomplish this, manufacturers should provide for:

(1) Synthesis, modeling, and simulation for all manufacturing operations. Once a firm understands all operations and models them, effects of changes to any process or operation can be easily determined and disseminated quickly to all users.

(2) Identification and acquisition of technologies to convert information into knowledge for effective decision-making. As seen by the overwhelming effects of electronic mail on some workers, workers need technology to help deal with the vast amounts of information now available to them. Management must identify technology to collate information from different sources, deconflict that information, and transform it into knowledge useful to a company’s workers.

(3) Development of new educational and training methods that enable the rapid assimilation of knowledge. Once a firm uses technology to transform information into knowledge, workers must be educated and trained to rapidly respond to what this tells them. That is, the workers need to be educated and trained on how to act rapidly on the knowledge transferred to them in order to take advantage of the technology. If workers cannot react rapidly, the investment in the technology may be wasted. Rapidly Reconfigurable Systems. A fourth challenge to advanced manufacturing is to design, develop, and implement reconfigurable manufacturing enterprises to rapidly respond to changing needs and opportunities. The globalized marketplace changes rapidly. Manufacturers must be able to quickly and efficiently reconfigure their products and processes to take advantage of the changing marketplace and attain or maintain their competitive advantage. In order to do this, manufacturers should address: (1) Synthesis, modeling, and simulation for all manufacturing operations. Once a company understands and models all operations, effects of changes to any process or operation can be quickly and easily determined. When operations must change, companies can use the models and simulations to determine the optimum reconfiguration for the new process. (2) Design, development and acquisition of readily reconfigurable, adaptable, and integrated equipment, processes, and systems. Rapidly changing customer needs, market opportunities, and information technologies drive the need for a company to be able to rapidly reconfigure and respond to changes. It is too costly in terms of both time and money to develop, design, and acquire new equipment, processes, and systems for every change. However, as seen during our industry visits, particularly to machine tool manufacturers, systems and equipment now exist that firms use interchangeably in a process. Flexible fixturing is one example of where interconnected equipment can be rapidly changed out (mixed and matched) to accommodate changing requirements. This equipment can then be immediately reprogrammed via its connectivity to the other machines and be fully ready for the new task. Environmental. Manufacturing of products generally requires transforming of raw materials into some intermediate or finished product. This process also typically produces some form and quantity of waste. With the growing world population and increase in manufacturing products, the strain on the global ecosystem is increasing. Therefore, reduction of production waste and minimization of product environmental impact to "near zero" are big long-term challenges for manufacturing. Manufacturers are striving to develop cost-effective, competitive products and processes that don’t harm the environment. Recycling and reduction of waste were the two most often cited examples of process improvements during our industry visits. However, manufacturers still face significant environmental challenges and should address the following: (1) Synthesis, modeling, and simulation for all manufacturing operations. Modeling of manufacturing processes would provide a cost-effective method on analyzing risks and benefits to the environment of possible process/product changes. A goal would be to create and maintain a database of useful and accurate environmental assessments. This database could prove useful and cost-beneficial for further product/process developments as well as for regulatory defense. (2) Production with Near-Zero Waste. In order to manufacture products with near-zero waste, it will be necessary to understand the product process from “cradle-to-grave.” Only after understanding the entire process can an environmental evaluation be truly creditable. Manufacturers should consider use of advanced technologies in recycling and waste production. Additionally, recycling should be addressed to the maximum extent. The most environmentally successful firms visited were those who had developed recycling programs to use their production waste as resource materials for additional products and processes. The most common application was the use of production waste for energy. This not only reduced required waste disposal, but also provided for reduction of energy consumption from outside sources. (3) Environmentally Friendly Production. A growing trend among visited companies was for meeting ISO 14000 standards for environmental processes. Manufacturers with a environmentally friendly attitude tend to make more efficient use of their resources through product waste re-use, recycling, and more efficient processes that reduce waste generation. One good example is the use of powdered-coat painting of parts. One particular company’s use of powder-coating versus liquid painting of products reduced product waste from seventy-seven 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste per year to five 55-gallon drums of waste per year. Manufacturers with an environmentally friendly production process and attitude are more likely to have a competitive advantage over their competitors by reducing the environmental costs associated with their products. OUTLOOK Economic. Since 1969, “there have been six economic downturns in manufacturing that have lasted, on average, about 10 months. Output fell about 9 percent and employment declined 7.5 percent (employment declined by about 1.5 million) during the typical economic downturn.” One of the most interesting observations made is that every economic downturn since 1969 was preceded by a surge in energy prices. Examples include: the Arab oil embargo—1973, turmoil in the Middle East, Iranian revolution—1980s, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait—1990, and the energy price spike in 2000. While all sectors of the economy are affected by rising energy costs, the manufacturing sector is particularly vulnerable to surges in energy costs. “Manufacturing makes up 28 percent of the nation’s overall energy demand, more than any other sector.” Fluctuations in oil and natural gas prices create serious challenges in U.S. manufacturing. One such challenge is the difficulty manufacturers face in adjusting pricing strategies to compensate for spikes in energy costs. This challenge generates a rippling effect for employment, overall production, and economic growth in general. The manufacturing sector will remain vulnerable to fluctuations in energy prices in the foreseeable future unless alternative, price-stable, forms of energy become available industry-wide. “Globalization has greatly increased the range and intensity of international political, economic, and social interactions.” Generally speaking, manufacturers are more connected to the international economy than the rest of the U.S. economy—65 percent of U.S. manufacturing output produced in 1999 was for international trade. This is significant in that if the U.S. dollar is strong, the price of U.S. exports in markets overseas will be more expensive, resulting in decreased international demand for U.S. output. “Manufacturing operates in a global marketplace where prices are determined by supply and demand relationships and firms are price takers, not price setters.” This truism will have more severe ramifications in the future as more and more newly developed countries gain economic power. “The nature of manufacturing enterprises will evolve in response to changes in the technological, political, and economic climate.” Most of the executives we spoke with during our visits would agree that companies providing goods and services to consumers in the future must continue to emphasize the relationship between quality, service, and price. This means that companies must continue pursuing innovative ways to customize products (being agile), reduce product delivery time, and reduce costs consistent with consumer expectations. Human Resources. The manufacturing workforce will be as diverse as the global economy.” People will continue to play a vital role in shaping the future of manufacturing. Competition will be fierce globally and firms able to adapt to meet the rapidly changing needs of the market will prosper. “Expanding productivity growth in the U.S. economy will require workers with higher levels of skills and knowledge to keep pace with the rapid technological changes.” In the future, “sustaining competitive advantages will depend on a company’s ability to value and capture practical know-how or knowledge.” Capturing practical know-how involves capturing the constant parameters used to make decisions. This involves developing knowledge management systems that give a company’s workforce a wide range of capabilities in their manufacturing sector. The primary issues with knowledge systems will be related to a firm’s current and future capabilities. Knowledge management systems will be seen as methods of creating organizational synergy that cannot be easily duplicated by competitors. Processes. The future of manufacturing is moving toward concurrent engineering. Manufacturing is different from other industries (for example, the service sector) in that, generally speaking, there is not a lot of personal contact between the consumer of the product and the people actually producing or assembling the product. And “despite the rapid growth of information technology, firms still spend more money on old-fashioned capital equipment, such as drills and welding machines, than they do on computers, telephones, and other information gadgets.” Information technology will have its biggest future impact for manufacturing in the areas of planning, developing, and organizing. Technological advances in these areas should generate sufficient efficiencies allowing companies to respond to consumer needs, while at the same time reducing production delivery time and costs. GOVERNMENT GOALS AND ROLES. The health of the. advanced manufacturing industry affects both the economic and military elements of national power, and is therefore a national security issue. Consequently, the Government should assume an appropriate role supporting the stability and vitality of this industry. The government should establish and enforce manufacturing policies in three key areas that directly affect the health of the industry: promoting the availability of skilled labor, encouraging manufacturing process improvements, and stimulating the research and development technology base. Success in manufacturing largely depends on the quality and skill of the workforce. A common concern expressed by managers of both domestic and international firms is the shortage of personnel trained in science and engineering disciplines. To ensure an adequate pool of science and engineering workers in the., government policies need to provide better incentives for students to enter the science and engineering areas of study. Given that the. must increase the skilled labor supply, several policies can help relieve the skilled labor shortage. More. students simply must graduate from science and technology (S&T) programs. The government should provide targeted incentives such as tax breaks or interest-free loans to entice domestic students to seek S&T education and training. S&T education is an investment in human capital and is essential to the vitality of a networked economy. The government should work in close partnership with industry to identify emerging skills that merit targeted financial incentives. Furthermore, manufacturers should be rewarded for providing internships to science and engineering graduate students.Government policies should also encourage highly qualified foreign graduate students to stay in the. after graduation. Immigration policies should provide more flexibility for. industry to recruit the best and brightest from other nations. . companies can help to identify and sponsor outstanding foreign undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. Exemplary foreign students should be given preferred consideration for. citizenship after graduation. The government would have several years prior to graduation to complete any required background checks on foreign students. Another. workforce issue is aging, particularly among union manufacturers. The aging trend will create a major knowledge and leadership void in the next decade as the workforce enters retirement. Young skilled workers are seeking employment in other industries. This demographic trend will make. manufacturers more dependent on immigrants to supplement the shortage of domestic workers. To ensure the. has a sufficient labor force, immigration policies need to provide. firms with greater flexibility to draw from the global workforce. Manufacturing process improvements enhance competitiveness, but they often require significant capital investments. Government policies should provide economic incentives to encourage these investments. Fiscal policies, such as tax breaks for efficient processes or faster capital equipment depreciation schedules, can energize companies to implement process improvements and capital upgrades. Promoting international free trade agreements also gives manufacturers the ability to leverage market forces to improve manufacturing posture. Potential leverage areas are foreign research and development (R&D) efforts and the available pool of well-trained, skilled workers overseas. R&D is the fuel for technology innovation. Since advanced research requires tremendous resources and time before yielding useful products, only governments and large multinational companies have the financial resources to support meaningful advanced research. Government has the greatest influence in this area through policies that sponsor advanced research across a broad spectrum of science and technology areas. Organizations such as the National Institutes of Science and Technology (NIST), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) should expand their efforts to develop advanced manufacturing processes. One R&D area in need of government support is flexible manufacturing. Flexible manufacturing will enable the mass customization of products and create new market opportunities in the commercial sector. Flexible manufacturing processes can provide the. advanced manufacturing sector with continued world leadership, while providing DoD with assured access to affordable, customized war fighting systems.

behavoiur

Managing relationships is prime in todays world. It does not really matter what you truly are but what others perceive you are is the crux.
Until a year and a half back i was a hot headed go getter so ruthless in my words, action and thoughts that i had hardly any true friends and all i could see was to succeed in every action and job that i set out to.
I was stressed out and believed that its all about winning and there is nothing like coming second or losing out at times.i did not believe that whatever goes up has to come down and then later go up. I laughed at anything cyclic in nature and abhored defeats .

thinking caps

Did u just come back from a reveiw with your superior and feel you should not could have done a better job. If no dont waste your time reading further.If yes then dont just sit down pull up your socks and do some analysis.
any iself improvement activity should always

CAN JIT ENSURE QUALITY & QUANTITY?

Basically JIT is a programme directed towards ensuring that the right quantities are purchased or produced at the right time, and that there is no waste in terms of material or money anywhere in our supply chain. JIT fits well under the TQM umbrella, for many of the ideas and techniques are very similar and, moreover, JIT will not work without TQM in operation. It is essentially: · A series of operating concepts that allows systematic identification of operational problems. · A series of technology –based tools for correcting problems following their identification. An important outcome of JIT is a disciplined programme for improving productivity and reducing waste. This programme leads to cost-effective production or operation and delivery of only the required goods or services, in the correct quantity, at the right time and place. This is achieved with the minimum amount of resources – facilities, equipment, materials, and people. The successful operation of JIT is dependent upon a balance between the suppliers’ flexibility and the users’ stability, and of course requires total management and employee commitment and teamwork. 1 AIMS OF JIT The fundamental aims of JIT are to produce or operate to meet the requirements of the customer exactly, without waste, immediately on demand. In some manufacturing companies JIT has been introduced as ‘continuous flow production,’ which describes very well the objective of achieving conversion of purchased material or service receipt to delivery, i.e. from supplier to customer. If this extends into the supplier and customer chains, all operating with JIT, a perfectly continuous flow of material, information or service will be achieved. JIT may be used in non-manufacturing in administration areas, for example, by using external standards as reference points. The JIT concepts identify operational problems by tracking the following:

1. Material Movements – when material stops, diverts or turns backwards, these always correlate with an aberration in the ‘process.’

2. Material accumulations – these are there as a buffer for problem, excessive variability, etc., like water covering up ‘rocks’.

3. Process flexibility –an absolute necessity for flexible operation and design.

4. Value-added efforts – much of what is done does not add value and the customer will not pay for it.

THE OPERATION OF JIT

The tools to carry out the monitoring required are familiar quality and operations management methods, such as: · Flowcharting · Method study and analysis. · Preventive maintenance. · Plant layout methods. · Standardized design. · Statistical process control. · Value analysis and value engineering. But some techniques are more directly associated with the operation of JIT systems: 1. Batch or lot size reduction. 2. Flexible Workforce. 3. Kanban or cards with material visibility. 4. Mistake- proofing. 5. Pull-scheduling. 6. Set-up time reduction 7. Standardized containers. In addition, joint development programmes with suppliers and customers will be required to establish long-term relationships and develop single sourcing arrangement that provide frequent deliveries in small quantities. These can only be achieved through close communications and meaningful certified quality.

THE OPERATION OF JIT

There is clear evidence that JIT has been an important component of business success in the Far East and that it is used by Japanese companies operating in the West. Many European and American companies that have adopted JIT have made spectacular improvement in performance. These include: · Increased flexibility (particularly of the workforce). · Reduction in stock and work-in-progress, and the space it occupies. · Simplification of products and processes. These programmes are always characterized by a real commitment to continuous improvement. Organizations have been rewarded, however, by the low cost, low risk aspects of implementation, provided a sensible attitude prevails. The golden rule is to never remove resources – such as stock –before the organization is ready and able to correct the problems that will be exposed by doing so. Reduction of the water level to reveal the rocks, so that they may be demolished, is fine, provided that we can quickly get our hands back on the stock while the problem is being corrected. Successive phases of JIT may well become self-financing by rapid simplification of systems and work flows, JIT must never be regarded at the intermediate stage as the ‘quick-fix’. Management must contemplate:

THE OPERATION OF JIT 1. Long implementation times – typically 5-7 years.

2. A total or company- wide quality and just-in-time management programme.

3. Never ending improvement and reduction of waste.

The primary objective of JIT is the improvement of quality through elimination of waste. It demands that inventory is kept minimum, for inventory costs (insurance, interest, obsolescence, etc.) can be as high as 26 per cent of stock value, and significant improvements in costs and quality can be achieved by the reduction of inventory. Defective parts, materials, and workmanship are detected promptly and quickly fed back to the producing process. Where the problems are identified and corrected on the spot. In addition to quality improvement, there is no requirement for a profusion of warehouses, fleets of forklift trucks, rows of racks, scores of employees, and piles of cash to purchase, handle, and move the inventory.

THE OPERATION OF JIT

In some engineering and process industry applications the major obstacle in producing small lots is the set-up times of equipment and machines. Long set-up time make the small lot size uneconomical so, clearly, cutting set-up times is one of the first tasks. This will also reduce equipment downtime; work-in-progress costs associated with obsolescence, materials handling and control, and quality control. Shorter set-up times also result in shorter lead times, which provides greater flexibility for processes to adapt to changes in the market demand and requirements.

THE KANBAN SYSTEM

Kanban is a Japanese word meaning visible record, but in the West it is generally taken to mean a card that signals the need to deliver or produce more parts or components. In manufacturing, various types of record cards, e.g. job orders or tickets and route cards, are used for ordering more parts in a push type, schedule-based system. In a push system a multi-period master production schedule of future demands is prepared, and a computer explodes this into detailed schedules for producing or purchasing the appropriate parts or materials. The schedules then push the production of the parts or components, out and onward. These systems, when computer-based, are usually called Material Requirements Planning (MRP) or the more recent Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII).

THE KANBAN SYSTEM

The main feature of the Kanban system is that it pulls parts and components through the production processes when they are needed. Each material, component, or part has its own special container designed to hold a precise, preferably small, quantity. The number of containers for each part is a carefully considered management decision. Only standard containers are used, and they are always filled with the prescribed quantity. There are two cards of Kanbans for each container. The production or P-Kanban serves the work centre producing the part, whereas the conveyance or C-Kanban serves the work centre using it. Each container travels between the two work centres and one Kandan is exchanged for another along the way. No parts may be made at any work centre may come to a halt rather than produce materials or parts not yet requested. The operators will engage in other activities, such as cleaning, maintenance, improvement or quality-circle project work when no P-Kanbans have been submitted. These hold-ups often help to identify and improve bottleneck situations. PLANNING JUST-IN-TIME (JIT) MANAGEMENT

· JIT fits well under the TQM umbrella and is essentially a series of operating concepts that allow the systematic identification of problems, and tools for correcting them. · JIT aims to produce or operate, in accordance with customer requirements, without waste, immediately on demand. Some of the direct techniques associated with JIT are batch or lot size reduction, flexible, standardized containers. · JIT implementation requires the foundations of quality, low cost, minimum lead times, high flexibility, through the core techniques of pull scheduling, JIT purchasing, buffer stock removal, multifunction workforce and enforced improvement. · As with TQM, a steering committee, a project manager and project teams are enforced improvement. · Purchasing is an important feature of JIT. Long-term relationships with a few suppliers, or ‘co-producers’, are developed in networks of trust to provide quality goods and services.

A quality every executive must possess-DETERMINATION

In our day-to-day life as professionals we come across many obstacles.
Obstacles of different types.
Some of us encounter jealous colleagues.
Some of us have nagging bosses.
In order to succeed we need to take all such obstacles in our strides and stay on our path towards our goal. We need to focus on our goal. We need to develop a trait called “determination” to help us in our journey.
Determination makes up for the lack of many other qualities, which we do not possess. As human beings none of us are perfect.
We need to identify our core competencies and work on them, so also we need to target our weaknesses and work hard to reduce their negativity on our approach if not eliminate them out totally.
Reading this article is very easy as all you need to do is to briskly run through the words that I have put down. Remember it took me a long time to pen this article for you. I spent a long time on my couch going through the notes I made over a period of time. I woke up at 5.10 am for the past three days in order to find a logical way of putting down my thoughts for you to read and all through my journey from the time the idea germinated in my mind to the actual execution it was “determination” that guided me the way through the pathways of work to the end.
The golden rule is “never give up” once you have made up your mind.
Going from one level to another causes pain.
Pain is both physical and physcological.
We need to be cautious as going from one level to another costs something and we need to bear that little something.
It is said that there is no gain without pain.
The difference between success and failure is wafer thin and it is the right proportion of “determination” to succeed that distinguishes between the winners and losers.
Winners don’t like to do stuff so also losers don’t like to do stuff.
But winners just do stuff and get on with life in spite of their personal dislike.
This is the difference and it is determination that drives this spirit.
Winners put in more than 100% always and thus succeed.
It is my opinion that there is no second or third best. It is either you have got the top rung or you have lost. In our formative years our involvement in sports and competitive extracurricular activities sets the pace for determination.
More the involvement the more is the chance that we would bring in the competitive nature with us in whatever we do.
Just the other day while shopping at a mall I heard a child yelling out at her parents. I was astonished at what she said to her parents. She said either you love me or you don’t, if you love me then you surely will buy me this doll. The doll was an expensive one and it really must not have been affordable for the parents. That’s a different story all together. We need to really understand is that the child was determined to get the doll and she decided to give her best shot by using the strong tool called “love”. Morally I don’t vouch for the child’s behavior but aren’t we all children? At times it is really confusing as to what we call determination.
To have determination we need to have a strong mind and to have a strong mind we need to have a healthy body. We all know that body follows the mind. Hence mind is the temple of determination. The thought of determination by itself is inert if it is not backed up by strong levels of energy generated by our “prana” which is the link between our body and mind.
Don’t we at some time in our life visit a close relative or a friend or an acquaintance and be awe struck by their huge mansion with expensive rugs, artistic paintings of snob value, modern furniture, modular kitchen. When we closely look at most of these homes we find that the items by themselves are really very exquisite in taste but as a whole there seems that some of the items are out of place and the house now looks unorganized.
In comparison some other homes we visit are simple in their furniture and are really pleasing to look at, as there is an element of symmetry and simplicity about them. Our minds too are such. We need to arrange our thoughts such that they are logical and can be worked upon. If there is a clutter of thoughts, ideologies and theories then we will not be able to deliver even though we are determined to achieve our goals.
To complete this article on determination one last area we need to work on in “getting into the zone”. “Zone” is the state of mind where we are in a different plane all together. To explain the concept of “zone” let us consider an inform cricket batsman. An inform cricket batsman who has set into the game will see the ball as big as a football. His eye too has set in and he will drive, pull, sweep, square cut with elegance. He is totally focused on amassing runs for himself and his team. We often see on the television during live coverage that the batsman at the non-striker’s end walks up to the batsman and mutters something for which the usual response is a nod of the head. Do you really think that the batsman is aware of what is said to him? If your response is yes then you are sadly mistaken. The batsman has conditioned himself to receiving praises and what ever the non- striker says falls on his deaf ears and he continues his game in a determined fashion to accumulate runs.

COMPETITIVE MANUFACTURING METRICS.

Senior management too often chooses to concentrate its efforts in other areas, leaving manufacturing partially or totally unintegrated. Too many corporate myopias and parochial views place manufacturers in a less than desirable competitive position.
The competitive challenge necessitates a new corporate attitude about the increased importance of World Class Manufacturing. This will cause senior management to view manufacturing with renewed importance as part of an integrated corporate strategy.
This renewed importance for manufacturing will require a better understanding of manufacturing strategy implications, tradeoffs, and manufacturing planning, execution, and control techniques to gain and maintain competitive advantage. We must also recognize that MRP, JIT, etc. by themselves are only a piece of the whole. A new perspective is needed. The old, and unfortunately some new, parochial views have caused many of us to be nearsighted and lose ground because of it. We have learned a hard lesson.
One of our greatest areas of vulnerability was in taking for granted that we knew how to apply our own manufacturing techniques, and we were so good at manufacturing that no one could beat us at our own game.
What must be understood by senior management is that planning, organizing, executing and controlling manufac­turing resources is one of the key cornerstones to a profitable and dominant competitive position. In order to gain competitive superiority in a world economy, the development and implementation of an effective manufacturing strategy has become an essential, overriding mission for manu­facturers.
Developing a highly competitive manufacturing strat­egy, as an integral part of an overall corporate strategy is a vital part of the management process as a company develops its instincts for Manufacturing Excellence.
Are You on THE RIGHT Track? You may be on the right track but please ensure that you don’t sit down on the track as you may be run over and end up not knowing what hit you.
Is your company firmly committed and involved with making Manufacturing Excellence an integral part of the management process?
After serious consideration, candid answers to the following 10 questions will help you benchmark how your organization is progressing toward the goal of Manufacturing Excellence. The scoring system is 10 points for yes and zero points for no answers. Nothing less than 100 points or 100% performance is really acceptable if Manufacturing Excellence is an integral part of your company's strategy for competitive advantage.
1) Do we have a formal, top management driven Sales and Operations Planning process for determining the capacity requirements, financial resources, cycle times, etc. to support anticipated customer demand?
2) Do we thoroughly understand that excess inventory masks operational and quality problems, making it difficult to identify the specific cause for correction?
3) Do we know the expected reduction in work-in-process and finished goods inventories from shorter cycle times?
4) Have we developed the mindset to constantly identify problems and immediately resolve them?
5) Are we working aggressively on the redesign of complicated products, which are difficult to manufacture because they have been over designed.
6) Does senior management thoroughly understands that they decide how important quality is and improvement begins from that point?
7) Have we calculated the production capacity increase from a 75% or more reduction in current changeover times?
8) Have we significantly reduced alternate sources of supply and made our primary vendors working partners?
9) Do our performance measurements stimulate improvement in the right direction?
10) Do we have a well conceived, documented action plan that has the organization focused on and aggressively working on the right issues?

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

Strategic planning is a business process that many companies employ to identify critical success factors that set the course for future growth and profits.
Lewis Carroll in "Alice in Wonderland" makes a good case for it: "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice. "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where…," said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
Like most business processes, the key to success is the effective implementation of the plan. Companies that do a good job of developing and executing their strategies can create a competitive edge that provides increased market share and higher gross profit margins. Organizations that turn their plan into a "dust collector" upon an executive bookshelf, will never achieve their full growth and profit potential. Strategic plan knowledge for anyone ... anywhere ... anytime.
Most criticism of strategic planning is aimed at the planning process. They question the validity of a plan that has been based on market "guestimates", the questionable valuation of the depth and breadth of competitors and an optimistic assessment of the company's internal strength and weakness. The fact that strategic plans can be overly optimistic is not the core problem. Although the criticism may be appropriate, it puts the focus for improvement on the wrong end of the process - it is the implementation task that is critical to producing positive results and it is here where most companies fail at strategic planning.
Poorly implemented rational, strategic plans will produce limited positive results. On the other hand, overly optimistic strategic plans, effectively implemented, can produce results beyond everyone's expectations. This being the case, what is the key to effective implementation? In one word - commitment! Companies that are good at strategic planning build commitment to the planning process and to each of the strategies within the plan. They build commitment throughout the organization, working with people from all business functions to build commitment before, during and after development of their strategic plan.
Strategic plan knowledge for anyone ... anywhere ... anytime.
Winners begin early in building a commitment to the strategic plan. Suggestions are encouraged from managers at all levels, from key executives who will participate in the planning sessions, and others who will share responsibility for implementing the resultant strategies. Together, they surface issues that will require changes in business process and/or culture and identify those constraints that will need to be overcome if implementation is to be successful During planning sessions, key executives from each functional area are all encouraged to participate and contribute to the plan. These executives develop strategies that build on organizational strengths and consider resources required to accomplish those strategies. They assure that a key executive "owns" each strategy and commits to a time schedule for its accomplishment. The key executives give thought to resource planning - realizing that human resources are the key to making positive things happen in difficult, complex business environments - and they commit accordingly. Following the development of their plan, those responsible for implementations develop their own "tactical plans."
These action plans, when coupled with self-directed work teams, are major contributors to a successful Strategic Planning implementation. Teams use their plan to manage, to make decisions and to grow their business. Periodically, they review their "tactical plans" to monitor and report on the progress of implementation - keeping the plan "alive" by revising strategies and tactics when necessary. Strategic plan knowledge for anyone ... anywhere ... anytime. Finally, to insure successful implementation of their strategic plan, they work on the planning process itself. The planning group continuously "fine tunes" the planning process to insure that inputs from all business functions are given their due consideration and to insure that buy-in and commitment to the final plan is agreed upon throughout all levels of the organization. So, why are most operations management teams outside of the strategic planning process? Why do many line managers view strategic planning as a make work project that produces little or zero value to customers? Maybe, it's because they did not participate in its development nor did they buy-into its validity - let alone commit to the execution of its strategic objectives. In short, they're not connected to the process! To achieve a company's full growth and profit potential, CEOs and business owners need to insure the active participation of operation management in the strategic planning process.

LIFE IN A MANUFACTURING ORGANISATION-AFTER A FRUSTATING DAY ON THE SHOPFLOOR

Life is not always a cake walk.
Not always easy not always comfortable and sometimes real hard.
Things dont always happen as we like.
People dont always treat us as we would have liked(not that we treat people the way we would expected to be treated).
Stuff does not happen as we wish. we slog in and slog out and work real hard but get very few results. Grass seems greener on the other side. It is at these times that we ought to pull ourselves togeather and put on our otherwise dormant thinking cap and get down to some serious reflecting time.
We need to succeed and for this we must try...........&try and try again.
We must believe in what we do and must not give up our conviction.
We must keep pushing, we must be patient. problems ,difficulties ,catch 22 situations give us a chance to be stronger,better and tougher. We overcome our obstacles we we learn new things.
We acquire new knowledge ,skills and new abilities .
We grow in experience. We make the world around us a better place to live in.
So join me in making this world a better place to llive in. work hard -party hard and leave a bit to luck and the rest to the supreme being.

TWO CHOICES & MY DRIVE

I awoke with a start this morn at 5.10am as there was a big commotion due to a fight between two packs of dogs.Nothing could motivate me to get out of bed and drag myself to another day of rituals at the office.i somehow got up and went to my pc and switched on the suround sound so that i could wake up the neighbour hood too. "what a devilish ploy " ithought to myself to get even with neighbours who occupy my parking spot each time and everytime.i choose to play "lady in red " and backed that up with " smoke on the waters" followed bygreatest hits of eagles.Refreshed i sat at my study table to complete the article i was penning " delegation -an art".well i would not mind awaking up every morning with a start if it will help me complete 23 articles that i am penning and yearing to find an end.Well i thought to myself as was sipping some hot coffee from the mug (my wife had sort of emphatically thuded on the table some moments back),what is it that has driven me to complete the article?was it the early morning awakening ? was it the music? was it ?..........well as i swung my chair it occured to me ...to start a day on a no note basis is rather plain.as i had two choices either to go get it or laze.i chose the prior and am happy about it.

moral: failures happen because we dont try to do things.success occurs because we have an urge not to do things but we overcome this feeling and just do it.so positive attitude backed with postive actions will yeild positive results.

success revisited

Success breeds success. Nothing is as sweet as success. It is the journey through pain, agony, hard work, planning, strategy and bits of luck that cultivates what is known as success. The difference between success and failure is wafer thin. The greatest success principle I have come across is “learn from the experts”. Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you want to succeed find out what other successful people are doing and do the same things until you commence to reap similar results. Most successful people have on comman trait i.e. they are “very well organized” and in order to be so they use their time very well. They are highly productive and get more work done than average people for a similar period of time. These successful people are high performers with qualities to be both capable and efficient. They do things right in the right way at the right time with the right approach having the right attitude and aptitude. As a result their contributions in the spheres of work are far more than an average individuals . another trait in 75% of successful persons is that they possess some maverical traits. it is this trait that drives them to compete with themselves first and then others. they drive themselves to unimaginable limits and thus give a better prioductivity than average persons working in that sphere of work. succesful people also have their share of badluck but when they are unsuccesful they dont lose sight of the moral and gear up to encounter the nadir with a strong determination to move up the performance curve and feel the zenith .

ATTITUDINAL ISSUES IN SOME EMERGING ORGANISATIONS.

walk the talk :
practice what you preach:
show the way:
let actions speak louder than words
are something that many managers opt to forget or let go in the context of delivering qualitative & quantitative results.
It is not because they are not capable or they are not skilled enough to do so. The reason is they feel it is not their job and this is the job of another manager in the organisation. They feel that their job is to highlight the problem, record it, make paper reports save it in different colourful formats and just do nothing apart from saving these reports on the hard disk in the virtual world.
Is this comman situation in your organisation???????
Welcome to the world of woes.
The probable cause of this is that the senior management is happy recruting people who are not team players(they fail to recogonise this trait as crucial during selection process) and who are of less worthy than some hardworking street smart candidates. This non team players are just 9 to 5 players who always want to hold the ball and do nothing but place the ball before the goal line and expect another player to come kick the ball as they imagine thats what they are paid for.
The word " excellence" " camaraderie" " organisational goals,objectives" mean nothing or very little to these managers and yet during appraisals they score higher than their collegues in functions who have been delivering results. surprised?????
Welcome to the corporate world where all people are equal but some people are more equal than others.
Some time back i met an improvement consultant who has really been a bright patch in every organisation that he's been working with and he had a lot to say about these type of managers.
He was of the opinion that every manager has two roles to play. One is a departmental role and the other is towards his organisation and both these roles should produce results that are unidirectional. IF A MANAGER FAILS TO UNDERSTAND THIS DUAL responsibility then it is the responsibility of the immediate superior to make the erring manager correct the attitude.
It is usually observed that the superior is so busy with his personal agenda that he does nothing to correct this and the situation swings from bad to worse affecting the performance of performing managers and thus organisation looses out on performance as the speed and agility is hindered and the well oiled machine develops snags and chutters as it moves along.
It is essential for senior managers who are into strategic decision making to once in a while reveiw tactical areas especially one of human resource development as even in today's corporate world we do have mangers who would not show the way to the younger managers due to the following reasons:

1) They are busy with their personal agendas.

2)They dont just care.

3) They are on the brink of retirement

4) They are seeking out new oppurtunities of employment in some other organisation.

5) They dont know how to handle such situations.

6) They get sadistic pleasure as these performances affect some other manager and not them.

7) They are not ACCOUNTABLE

8) AN ELEMENT OF LOYALTY TO THE ORGANISATION IS MISSING AND THEIR SUPERIORS ARE MISLED.

9) These managers are not capable and they are in the position not on merit but have been promoted due to seniority.

and the list can go on.....

But this exists in many growing organisations.

Can we have a awakening in the senior management and reduce the ill effects of such attitudes on the progress of the organisations?

performance appraisals

performance appraisal is a critical issue for any organisation. While appraisals are a necessary part of the system, the sad truth remains that it is a process that more than often leaves both sides unhappy. The mismatch between expectations and delivery, combined with the formality of the process leads to dissatisfaction for the appraiser and the appraisee. There are even a few who question the effectiveness of a formal appraisal system, considering the many complications that arise. Constant feedback to the employee about his performance and expectations is more effective in meeting organisational and individual goals, instead of a day or two in a year to apprise him of the expectations.
Few organisations are able to understand the flaws in the appraisal system and do something to rectify the problems. It is a known fact that few line managers are good appraisers, they need training in how to do the job well and handle the situation with sensitivity. It is this lack of understanding which sometimes leads to bad blood during the appraisal process. There should be no nasty surprises for the employee.
The problem stems from mis-match of expectations, from both sides. “It is all about expectation setting and continuous communication. If the manager and the employee are continuously monitoring the progress, a performance appraisal discussion should not be a surprise to either party.” He believes that it only becomes a more formal way to document these conversations and if these interactions are not happening, then there is a surprise element which many times lead to unhappiness on both sides. Furthermore, many times it ends up becoming a defensive conversation—a manager defending their appraisal, and the employee defending their contributions and so the positive elements are never discussed and over-looked.
This constant communication is to a large extent depended on individual personalities in how openly and honestly they are providing feedback and how an individual is accepting and listening to the feedback. Consequently, if both parties are not coming to an appraisal with a positive attitude and willing to listen to each other, there will be unhappiness. Focussing on the achievements and concentrating on the positive elements is very important. Objective assessment needs to happen with real examples to avoid emotionalising of this discussion. Ongoing feedback is essential to help monitor progress on goals and to reinforce or adjust them as realities change,”
There are many reasons why managing people performance and measuring productivity is a complex process.
The question is: if an ongoing dialogue with an employee is more effective in improving his performance than a six-monthly or yearly appraisal? “. one of the weaknesses of any appraisal system is the lack of frequency with which progress and success are measured and tracked. you ou are most likely to accomplish the goals you set if you review them at regular and frequent intervals as a part of your normal planning process. The discipline of the daily review is a powerful goal accomplishment tool and if you do it daily, it will take just a few minutes and will have much more positive results.
It is debatable if a formal appraisal process is really needed, or is it better to do away with the system. This apart, a formal appraisal system allows an organisation to clearly define expectations that it has from an employee and helps analyse an individual against those expectations. In fact, it still is one of the most-used methods to appraise an employee on the basis of the objectives laid down by the employer.
the ongoing dialogue ensures that any issue, concern or problem is dealt with at the right time with the right approach instead of waiting for the dissatisfaction and distress levels reaching greater heights. However, a six-monthly or annual appraisal is a formal process of recognising employee efforts and contribution to the organisation. it is a combination of a regular dialogue and formal appraisals which we feel work the best and help in maximising an employee’s potential to his best.

((Appraisals: best practices
Individuals involved in this activity are required to move from a ‘defensive-reactive’ position to a ‘problem-solving’ orientation
With a performance enhancement momentum setting in, the review, feedback, diagnosis, constructive feedback, development planning, ideally should be undertaken during the appraisals
A reinforcement of desired behaviours and plan to correct unwanted behaviours is essential
At the end of the day the best practice is also about making a system purposeful, complimentary and mutually supportive while ensuring that the individual’s self esteem is preserved
As it is process that requires a great deal of emotional intelligence, all managers must undergo a ‘sensitisation session’ which includes role play and a special film on the dos and don’ts before they start the appraisal activity ))
(Source: Rapidigm)

learnings of life.

The first thing I have learnt is that we have to be able to identify our core competencies and our weaknesses. identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suityour core competency., if you are a good speaker, make sureyou create opportunities to give presentations that enable the senior managementto notice you. If your strength is analysis, make sure you do some sort ofresearch, make a report and send it upstairs. Working to your strengths will notonly get you noticed, but will also create opportunities for growth andadvancement. but always remember “ ability without dependability is a liability.”

The second lesson I have learnt is that nothing in this life is permanent but change. There is only one person who likes a change: the wet baby. Change is an ongoing fact of life. It changes us as we have to move away from our “ zone of comfort” and makes our life difficult for a while. Change brings with it a lot of stress as our paradigms are constantly being challenged. To bring about a change one has to change the “BAT”.
BEHAVIOUR
ATTITUDE
THINKING.
ATTITIUDE: are changes that happen from within oneself.
One has to take responsibility for
What one is
What one does
What one has
The only thing that is truly yours -- that no one can control or take from you- is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.
THINKING: comes from “logically” observing every situation in life.
One has to manage “self talk”. You think you can or cannot you are right. Positive thinking with" effort” increases the probability of success. Negative thinking with “effort” decreases the probability of success. Positive thinking backed with positive actions comes with positive believing. If u believe u cannot do it then you do justify that you cant do it & vice versa. You have two choices –either you think you can do it or you think you cannot do it.

The third lesson I have learnt is whatever goes up has to come down and this is cyclic in nature.
Life has many challenging situations . You win some and lose some. You enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don’t beat yourself for it or any one else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the problem and learn from it .The important thing is, when you lose, do not lose the lesson or the moral of the story.
The fourth lesson I learnt is that we must always strive for perfection. In our quest for perfection we end up in achieving excellence. One way of achieving excellence is by looking at those individuals much better than ourselves. Keep learning what they do differently, why they do it and why is it ,what they do?. Emulate it and bring into every day situations these different effective methods.
The fifth lesson I have learnt is to have a” never say die approach in times of adversities It comes on you suddenly without warning and surely without an announcement. .we must remember that “tough times don’t last but tough men do”. it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel. My 5 year old daughter taught me an important thing . I was playing Captain Claw on the computer and despite my very best effort ,could not beat La Roca so I shut down the game. I did this at least 3 times in half an hour. I told myself in a loud and irritating tone of voice "Look, why don’t you just give up? I don’t think you will beat him tonight. Look at it another day." The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes, "But, dad, why should you give up? All the weapons are available you have just got to use them effectively " If we try hard & long enough, we can put any problem into its perspective. Sometimes we have to work very hard ,sometimes we need to change the strategy and some times we need a combination of both. But it is our attitude which will sail us through these adversities.
The sixth lesson I have learnt is leadership is not a popularity contest. As a matter of fact parenting teaching and leadership are not popularity contests. It is hard enough for leaders to take out what is left in individuals. A true leader will gauge the individual before he tries to put in anything because beyond a certain point it is worthless trying to put in and mould an individual.

And this goes on

documentation

Documentation can be one the most effective tools you have in your ready kit. It’s also most likely the you never make time for. You’re not being fair to yourself or your team. There are so many varied reasons managers choose not to document; the most popular are negativity and laziness.
Many people see documentation as a negative. They have a belief if something warrants documentation it must be a bad thing. Documentation is a tool, a teaching tool if used properly. Many times we find ourselves following up with our people on multiple occasions regarding the same behavior, or lack thereof. Our feedback is much more effective if we can show them the various times you’ve spoken to them concerning the issue. It makes it a more serious conversation when someone realizes they’ve had the same conversation any number of times. Not necessarily more serious in a negative way. To be fair, hasn’t someone spoken to you regarding a matter and you didn’t see the severity of the situation? You didn’t recall they’d spoken to you at least six times about the same thing? You didn’t share their frustration because it just didn’t seem like a big deal to you? By documenting we’re being fair to our people. They can begin to understand the frustration associated with repetitive conversations. I’ve found many people see documentation as a necessary reminder in the course to change behaviors.
Then there are those of us who are just too lazy to document. All I can say is a mighty shame on us. I was one of these people for a long time. I would run myself in circles following up with my reports, revisiting matters, retraining and never seeming to get anywhere. It was not fun for me. I was never able to get past the initial conversations because I was having them everyday. Then one day I committed to making the time. The initial documentation was the worst, but once you get it down, the rest are so much easier. I would simply talk to a report and make notes on a piece of paper. I would let the report read those notes and agree on accuracy and a course of action. Later I would type it up and have them sign it, agreeing on the wording, etc. Then subsequent conversations involved simply adding a date and time at the bottom, along with their signature. Once I’d shown the same sheet of paper to one of my collegues three times, she took notice. She didn’t even realize what a problem her action was. She quickly moved toward correcting the behavior. To get to this point, I had to make the commitment to document.
Now this goes beyond being a manager of people. You can use this tool being a manager of life, finance, etc. I had a habit I wanted to break. I would document each time I went to the fridge. Initially, it didn’t change. But once I saw the pattern of my behavior, I was able to limit not eliminate. I also am taking this course of action with my debit card spending. I am the worst at not recording my spending.
Documentation helps me see the pattern.

COLIN POWELL' S LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES.

Colin Powell’s principles of leadership include the following:
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off without really caring about the intensity but being able to convey the message loud & clear. Leaders should remember that they are not in popularity contests & have a mission to deliver consistently high quality results each time & every time.
The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems & concerns is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either which way is a sign is a failure of leadership.
Don’t be bullied by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world.
Never be afraid to challenge the so called “experts”, even in their own backyard.
Never ever neglect details. Keep the mind’s eye open. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.
You really are not aware what you can get away with until you try.
Keep looking below surface appearances. Don’t shrink from doing so because you might not like what you find. Remember that the iceberg you see is 1/9 of the actual size. The problems always almost lie below a niggle.
Organization doesn’t really accomplish anything. Plans don’t accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don’t much matter. Endeavors succeed or fall because of the people involved. Only by attracting and making the best people will you accomplish great deeds.
Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.
Never let your ego gets so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.
Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission. Just because it is the in thing don’t grab the concept and try to apply it . be wise enough to customize it.
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
Powell’s Rules for Picking People: Look for intelligence and judgment, and most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego, and the drive to get things done.
Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.
Part I: Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired. Part II: “Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.
The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.
Have fun in your command. Don’t always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you’ve earned it: Spend time with your families. Corollary: surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.
Command is very lonely.

16 rule to live by(i guess so)there could be more

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone.
2. Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work.
3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think. There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”
4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
6. Take things a day at a time.
7. Always be moving forward. Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way
8. Be quick to decide. Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”
9. Measure everything of significance.
10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.
12. Never let anybody push you around.
13. Never expect life to be fair. Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks.
14. Solve your own problems.
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
16. There’s always a reason to smile. Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time; we’re here for a good time.”