"Capitalizing on Capabilities"

Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood

Harvard Business Review

June 2004, pp. 119-127

The authors of this article have compiled a list of 11 capabilities that well-managed companies tend to exhibit. To maintain success, it is suggested that companies typically excel in as many as three of these capabilities, while managing to keep up with industry competitors on the other capabilities. The eleven capabilities are characterized by the authors as follows:

1. Talent—The organization is good at attracting, motivating, and retaining talented people
2. Speed—The organization is good at making significant changes in a short period of time
3. Shared Mind-Set and Coherent Brand Identity—The organization is good at arranging for customers and employees to have consistently positive experiences with the organization
4. Accountability—The organization is good at making sure that the performance management and reward systems hold employees accountable and obtain high performance
5. Collaboration—The organization is good working across internal boundaries for the overall effectiveness of the organization
6. Learning—The organization is good at generating and generalizing significant new ideas
7. Leadership—The organization is good at consistently producing effective leaders
8. Customer Connectivity—The organization is good at building enduring relationships with targeted customers
9. Strategic Unity—The organization is good at articulating and sharing their strategic point of view among employees
10. Innovation—The organization is good at doing something new in both its products and its processes
11. Efficiency—The organization is good at managing its costs

This article provides extra value by including a step-by-step process to guide organizations through the process of auditing themselves on these 11 capabilities.

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"Achieving Deep Customer Focus"

Sandra Vandermere

MIT Sloan Management Review

Spring 2004, pp. 26-34

The author of this article states that "Companies need a systematic process to activate deep customer focus that shapes priorities, behavior and systems." Ten critical breakthroughs are identified for such a systematic process:

Breakthrough	Results
Create Strategic Excitement	A significant number of the correct people see the urgent need to change to new ways of doing things for customers
Enlist Employees Who Are "Points of Light"	A key small group of people are prepared to break with the past and move ahead, even under conditions of uncertainty
Articulate the New Market Space	Agreement is reached on aspirations, and this agreement is articulated as a customer outcome
Identify the Value Opportunities	By methodically identifying the key activities customers go through to achieve an outcome, gaps are identified that have the potential for new company wealth creation
Build a Compelling Case	The company builds detailed stories to promote the new customer offerings
Size the Prize	Numbers are created that identify potential returns that justify the investment
Model the Concept	Key customers are involved to validate the concept and buy into making it work
Get People Working Together	Different individuals and parts of the organization start to work collaboratively and actively together on supporting the new concept
Get Critical Mass	Through making acceptance of the new approach easy and through quantifying the results for customers, adoption starts to be accepted by some customers
Gather Momentum	Other potential customers are influenced by the positive results of early adopters, and financial rewards flow to the company

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"Effective White-Collar Teams: The New Quality Imperative"

Howard Guttman

Quality Progress

June 2004, pp. 24-28

This article identifies four areas in which agreement or alignment is key to the success of white-collar teams:

• The organization's key strategic and operational goals and how the team's goals relate to these goals—The article provides a case example of how Johnson & Johnson has achieved this strategic clarity.
• What they are responsible for and what they are authorized to do, both individually and as a full team—The article recommends that each individual first discuss how clear their own role and the roles of others are to them. The next step is to examine their job activities in detail and identify perception gaps between themselves and other team members.
• The team's protocols or ground rules for dealing with conflict—The article suggests the following "rules of engagement": Resolve disputes within your team, rather than involving a third-party rescuer; Don't recruit supporters to your point of view; Resolve it or let it go; Don't accuse in absentia; Don't personalize issues; Don't allow continued lobbying for alternatives that have already been taken out of the running.
• Their interpersonal relationships or the range of personality styles team members adopt when interacting with one another—"In dysfunctional teams and organizations, here is where the all the silo thinking and subterfuge surface."

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"Developing a Performance-Based Culture"

Julia Graham

The Journal for Quality and Participation

Spring 2004, pp. 4-8

This article summarizes the characteristics of a performance-based culture as follows:

• "In a performance-based culture, a premium is placed on excellence in performance—obtaining desired behaviors and results"
• "Organizations with performance-based cultures acknowledge that their success is contingent upon the successful performance of their employees"
• "Strategic outcomes drive the work of organizations with performance-based cultures"
• "Management in these organizations is strongly committed to creating conditions and consequences that support and sustain strong performance"

The article lists the following management practices as being associated with performance-based cultures:

• A well-articulated mission and operating system that is understood and accepted by employees
• A management climate that encourages taking on new tasks/problems and improving ways to accomplish goals
• Organizational goals that are measurable and credible
• Clear alignment of department, work unit, and team goals
• Employees participate in the development of their individual goals and measures
• Investing in training and development
• Regular communication with employees about performance results
• Regular feedback to employees for career development
• A recognition and reward system that supports the importance of good performance at all levels
• Adequate funding to acquire the tools and technology needed to succeed.

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"Shingo Prizes Presented to Lean Manufacturers"

Quality Progress

June 2004, p. 15

The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing was awarded this year to the following manufacturers:

• ArvinMeritor Light Vehicle Systems Gladstone plant, Columbus, IN
• Delphi Corp., Delphi Electronics and Safety, Delnosa 5 and 6 Operations, Reynosa, Mexico
• Delphi Electronics & Safety, Kokomo Operations, Plants 7 and 9, Kokomo, IN
• Delphi Corp., Energy & Chassis Systems, Empresas Ca-le de Tiaxcala, Mexico
• Delphi Sisternas de Energia S.A. de C.V., Plant 57, Chihuahua, Mexico
• Delphi Corp., Packard Electric Systems, Plant 58, Meoqui, Mexico
• Delphi Packard, Plant 98, Centro Tecnico Herramental S.S. de C.V., Ramos Arizpe, Mexico
• Delphi Packard, Plant 51, Nuevo Casas Grandes, Mexico
• Maytag Corp.'s Jackson Dishwashing Products, Jackson, TN
• Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson Operations, Tucson, AZ
• TI Automotive, Cartersville, GA

The article states, "Three notable achievements of the 2004 recipients include seven of the 12 having product quality of fewer than 10 parts per million opportunities returned from the customer, seven of the 12 with inventory turns of more than 25 per year compared to a U.S. average of eight and an impressive average of 0.12% premium freight as a percentage of production costs covering 2003."

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"P&G: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks"

Patricia Sellers

Fortune

May 31, 2004, pp. 167-184

Procter & Gamble's CEO A. G. Lafley has reinvigorated P&G's model for innovation. Here are the key elements he has emphasized:

• Crank up one-on-one consumer research—Marketers now spend three times as much time as previously with consumers in their homes, watching the way products are used
• Expand what each brand does—Broader missions for each brand have been created
• Get employees from different divisions to exchange ideas—An internal R&D website and Communities of Practice have been developed
• Reach outside for ideas—More ideas are being brought in from entrepreneurs, and P&G is also working more closely with other companies
• Stop testing so much—Getting the product to market sooner is key
• Give designers more power—Focus on the customer's experience as well as the product itself
• Cater to developing markets—This includes making smarter, cheaper products and asking consumers more what they want
• Know what not to do—Fat bonuses for innovation are not offered, and "stars" are not hired from outside.

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"Lean Manufacturing: Unexpected Benefits for Accident Prevention"

William Kincaid

Occupational Hazards

June 2004, pp. 49-52

This article begins by reviewing the key elements of Lean manufacturing. The author urges Safety professionals to get involved and play a significant value-adding role in the Lean manufacturing effort. Some ways safety professionals can add value are:

• Providing ergonomics assistance during the value stream mapping component of the Lean process
• Incorporating safety concerns into visual process control layouts
• Including safety-critical items in Total Productive Maintenance
• Providing in-house safety and ergonomic standards for new equipment
• Integrating relevant safety items into standard work procedures

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