Question from a colleague:”If thermodynamics is the science of getting useful work out of engines, then surely organodynamics is the science of getting useful work out of organisations. Thermodynamics is based on three laws (or according to some purists, four): what three (or four!) laws of organodynamics would you
suggest?”
Answer: The objective function in managing any system must be solving problems and learning. There are four principles of a ‘basic science’ of system design, operation, and management, which if followed, generate, sustain, and accelerate high velocity learning, improvement, and innovation. If they are not followed, learning, improvement, and innovation are compromised.
(This basic science has a sound theoretical underpinning as it is rooted in the science of closed loop control and experiential and experimental learning.)
Learning, improvement, and innovation are core objective functions because the complexity of the ’socio-technical’ systems (e.g., groups of people, doing interdependent work, to create value for others) upon which we depend for delivering value to customers.
The complexity resides in the product itself (e.g., cars with multiple materials depending on well integrated mechanics and electronics), in the service (e.g., cancer treatment requiring the customization and integration of multiple diagnostics, pharmacology, oncology radiation, and surgery), or in the production methods.
The problem with complex systems, those with many parts connected and interacting in non linear ways, is that their structure and dynamics are difficult/impossible to model and predict accurately. Therefore, no few people can design them perfectly in isolation. Large numbers of people must pursue perfection by iterative discovery.
There are four basic principles for achieving high speed iteration, in tightly compressed cycles.
1: Seeing problems: Systems must be designed:
— with a high degree of specificity in terms of output, pathway
(e.g., flow, architecture), connections (e.g., interfaces), and component-activity
methods to capture best known approaches and
— with tests built in to show problems (e.g., that the best known approach has failed).
2: Solving problems: When problems are seen, they must be:
— contained to prevent their spread
— investigated and solved quickly and rigorously (e.g., scientific method) to convert
the ignorance that was the core source of their occurrence into useful knowledge.
3: Sharing learnings: When problems are solved, new knowledge must be:
— incorporated into new approaches for doing work and
— applied systemically so the impact of the new knowledge is multiplied
4: Leadership: For learning, improvement, and innovation to occur relentlessly, leaders must:
— actively see, solve, and share for system problems
for which they alone have span of perspective, and
— relentlessly cultivate skills 1 - 3 in those whom they support.
Teach, learn, practice, and apply these four and high performance can be achieved. Don’t and it won’t.
Steve Spear
http://ChasingTheRabbitBook.Com
Here is one link to my interview last night following Akio Toyoda’s Congressional testimony.
Steve
MIT’s Spear Discusses Toyota’s Corporate Culture: Bloomberg TV Wednesday, February 24, 2010
FIRST TRUE STATEWIDE CELEBRATION OF “MADE IN MICHIGAN” PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO TAKE PLACE IN OCTOBER
The Michigan Experience aims to boost Michigan economy by connecting thousands to high quality consumer products, foods and services from hundreds of Michigan companies
Farmington Hills, Mich. – The Made in Michigan Movement today announced plans for The Michigan Experience, Michigan’s first truly statewide celebration of Michigan-made products and services. The event will take place October 16 and 17, 2010 at Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, Mich. Designed to provide a boost to the Michigan economy, the event will be a two-day celebration of the wide variety of high quality consumer products, services and foods produced by companies across all Michigan geographies.
“With the termination of the Michigan State Fair and the countless blows this state has endured, Michigan has a void for a unifying, uplifting event for all to embrace,” said Made in Michigan Movement Founder and CEO Neil Yaremchuk. “Michigan Experience is more than an expo. It’s a celebration of everything this state has to offer and a look forward to the bright future we can have ahead.”
Yaremchuk expects at least 10,000 consumer attendees to visit The Michigan Experience and is planning for the participation of approximately 300 businesses, small and large, from across the state. Consumers will have the opportunity to purchase products from many of the participating businesses. The celebration will be the keystone annual event of the Made in Michigan Movement. Information on sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities is available at http://www.madeinmichiganmovement.com or by calling (734) 677-0503.
“Michiganders from Grand Rapids to the Upper Peninsula to Metro Detroit to Lansing and Flint are telling me they want to support the Michigan economy and they want to purchase more from Michigan companies,” Yaremchuk said. “The demand is there. The Michigan business community now needs a rallying point to connect with consumers and show off the great things produced right here.”
Michigan companies signing early commitments to participate range from the Detroit-based manufacturer of the Talegator pickup truck sports tailgating accessory (http://www.thetalegator.com) to Selestial Soap (http://www.selestialsoap.com), a Traverse City, Mich.-based maker of natural cleaning products.
“I know I make truly 100 percent pure and natural cleaning products, and I’m proud that I make them in Michigan, but as a small business with a tight budget, it’s tough to gain exposure,” said Selestial Soap founder Ruth Smith. “The Michigan Experience is going to help me get my Michigan-made products in front of thousands of people who want to buy Michigan-made products.”
Preliminary plans for The Michigan Experience also call for entertainment from some of the state’s most talented performers, displays of artwork from Michigan’s creative community and a preview night supporting multiple Michigan charities. Additional details will be announced as they are finalized.
The Made in Michigan movement counts more than 14,000 members in its growing Web community, operates a popular online Michigan business portal at http://www.madeinmichiganmovement.com and produces periodic gift guides featuring Michigan-made products.
Follow the organization on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/madeinmich or search “Made in Michigan Movement” on Facebook.
About the Made in Michigan Movement
The Made in Michigan Movement is an action-oriented grassroots network of businesses producing high quality goods and services in the state of Michigan and consumers who feel purchasing from those companies is in the best interest of the state’s economic future. With more than 14,000 members, the organization’s motto for Michigan consumers is “Earn it here. Spend it here. Keep it here!”
For additional information on the Made in Michigan Movement, visit http://www.madeinmichiganmovement.com or contact Neil Yaremchuk at madeinmichiganinfo@gmail.com.
For decades, Toyota has been viewed as a paragon of corporate improvement, innovation and effectiveness, qualities that helped it become the world’s largest automaker. But the firm’s reputation has been sorely tested in recent weeks amid a string of well-publicized recalls involving millions of Toyota vehicles due to problems involving sticking accelerator pedals and brake systems. In the words of Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, the firm is “in a crisis.”
Steven Spear, a senior lecturer in MIT’s Engineering Systems Division, is one of the leading experts on Toyota’s management system. He wrote about the topic extensively in his book, Chasing the Rabbit: How Market Leaders Outdistance the Competition (McGraw-Hill, 2008), and in a 1999 Harvard Business Review article, “Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System.” With Toyota in unprecedented turmoil, MIT News talked to Spear about the Japanese automaker’s problems — and potential solutions.
It should have been a walkover: a Democratic attorney general, running to fill the vacant Senate seat held by state political icon, Ted Kennedy. Instead, it is a neck and neck race with previously little known Republican state senator, Scott Brown.
Is this, like many say a referendum on ObamaCare?
If Brown wins, what does that say for for healthcare reform?
Let us know what you think!