"The Big Leagues"

David Drickhamer

Industry Week

October 2004, pp. 36-70

This article consists of 2 or 3 page descriptions of the winners of the 2004 Industry Week's Best Plants awards. The winners are:

1. Batesville Casket Co., Manchester, TN (steel burial caskets)—This plant has increased its productivity by 22%, and its improvements saved $1.8 million last year
2. Boeing, Macon, GA (military airplane manufacturing)—This plant has increased overall manufacturing efficiency by 54% over the last five years, while reducing the cost of rework and repair by 89%
3. Collins & Aikman Plastics: Williamston Operations, Williamston, MI (automotive headrests, armrests, console covers and other interior components). Among lean methods widely adopted by this plant are value-stream mapping, 5S, kanban, heijunka, visual changeover and total productive maintenance
4. Dana Corp: Perfect Circle Products., Franklin, KY (stainless steel oil ring expanders)—This plant has maintained an average 99% on-time delivery rate to its customers since 2001. Customer complaints and customer reject rates have been zero parts per million recently
5. Dj Orthopedics de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., Tijuana, Mexico (wrist braces, arm slings, back and abdominal supports; rigid knee braces, and other products)—This plant has cut manufacturing cycle time 95% on average during the past three years. Order-to-shipment lead time has been slashed 98% to 24 hours
6. Guidant Puerto Rico, Dorado, Puerto Rico (medical devices, including a variety of pacemaker leads)—This plant reports a seven-fold increase in volume over the last three years, while increasing productivity by 30% or more
7. Maytag Jackson Dishwashing Products, Jackson, TN (dishwashers)—This plant has first pass yields approaching 95%
8. Northrup Grumman Corp., Defensive Systems Division, Rolling Meadows, IL (defense electronic systems)—This plant maintains a 100% repeat business rate
9. Rockwell Automotive Marion Roller Bearing Plant, Marion, NC (mounted roller bearings)—This plant has industry-leading low costs, and it has a first-pass yield of 99.7% for all finished products
10. TRW Automotive, Fowlerville, MI (automotive slip-control units)—This plant has reduced finished goods inventory by 80%, and reduced customer reject rate to 3ppm

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"The Value of Vision"

Gwendolyn Galsworth

Industrial Engineer

August 2004, pp. 44-49

This article emphasizes that in order to get the full, sustained value from Lean approaches, Lean must be complemented by the visual approach: "The visual workplace is the language of Lean made visual. The purpose of the visual approach is to identify and eliminate deficits in information through visual solutions covering all work venues and intentional events. A visual workplace is a self-ordering, self-explaining, self-regulating, and self-improving work environment where what is supposed to happen happens on time, every time, because of visual devices."

The visual workplace operates on five levels:

1. Visual order—At level 1 can be found the answer to the questions of where things should be
2. Visual standards—Level 2 focuses on implementing visual standards for what, when, who, how many, and how
3. Visual measures—At level 3 you can find your running scorecards for how you are doing performance-wise
4. Visual controls—At level 4, kanban and other methods to control the process are installed
5. Visual guarantees—At level 5, you have poka-yoke systems that do not allow errors to occur

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"Toward Culture Intelligence: Turning Cultural Advantage into a Workplace Advantage"

P. Christopher Earley and Elaine Mosakowski

Academy of Management Executive

August 2004, pp. 151-157

This article looks at the expanding field of cross-cultural management. The first approaches in the field focused on the general beliefs and attitudes of people within various cultures (usually countries or regions). Based on these generalities, researchers attempted to identify management practices that would be effective given the values and attitudes that most of the people in that group ascribed to. Attempts to prepare managers for overseas assignments were based on teaching the packet of cultural values that the manager was likely to encounter in his or her new assignment.

The second approach to this topic sought to individualize the discussion by "seeking to understand how an individual's actions are in part the result of national and even organizational values." However, the individual was not thought to be purely the result of a monolithic culture that determined his or her values and attitudes with little or no individual variance. This approach urged managers to be more fine-grained in their view of culture, bringing it to the local, company, group, familial, or individual level.

The third approach focuses on how individuals adapt to new and culturally diverse work assignments. The authors of this article term the factors that allow one to adapt (or not) as one's cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence is seen as being composed of the three interdependent strengths of:

• Thinking—While learning generalities about a specific country or culture may be useful, the authors recommend strategies that help you absorb the critical aspects of a culture when you are in it
• Energizing—This factor refers to self-confidence and motivation to persevere even in the face of setbacks in the new culture
• Acting—One must be able to put into practice the appropriate behavior in its cultural context in order to act effectively in the new culture

Everyone has a mix of relative strengths on each of these three factors. A preliminary form has been developed to measure an individual's "CQ" or cultural intelligence. Existing managers can either be trained to improve their CQ, or the organization can select for overseas assignments those who already have a high CQ.

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"The 5 P's of Change: Leading Change by Effectively Utilizing Leverage Points Within an Organization"

Craig McAllister

Organizational Dynamics

Vol. 33, No. 3, 2004, pp. 318-328

The author of this article identifies five leverage points for change. Each of these can work independently, but they are seen as most effective when they work together:

• Pain—"Many people and organizations change only when faced with a level of pain that leaves them without options." The author identifies three general categories of pain: (a) "bad" pain, when the outlook for the future looks very gloomy unless change occurs; (b) "good" pain, where growth and opportunities are outstripping the organization's ability to cope; and (c) "imposed" pain, where the manger decides he or she will not wait for bad or good pain, but will create a situation where change is necessary.
• Process—"Process is the essence of how one goes about changing the environment." The author recommends the following as a sound process for change: (a) Research problems and identify the causal problems or fundamental opportunities; (b) Identify possible solutions; (c) Communicate, communicate, and communicate; (d) Select and announce the chosen course of action as soon as possible; (e) Execute, execute, execute; (f) Follow-up, re-evaluate, and modify.
• Politics—"The effective agent of change will factor politics into the equation and effectively leverage it into any change activity." The effective leader must be aware of who are the supporters of the change, who are the opponents, and who are undecided. Coalitions must be built.
• Payoff—"Too often managers and executives implement sweeping changes in organizations, and never think about the payoff for people affected by the change." Some of the key potential payoffs for change are money, relationships, opportunity and development, and pride;
• Persistence—"Success is built upon creating momentum through persistent efforts to overcome resistance." Employees need to know if this is another "flavor of the month", or if the change is for real. Leaders must repeat their message frequently and consistently.

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"The Top 24"

Jennifer Salopek

T&D

October 2004, pp. 28-66

For the second year, the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) has announced its BEST Awards for organizations that "Build talent, Enterprise-wide, Supported by the organization's leaders, fostering a Thorough learning culture."

The measures on which the BEST winning organizations excelled were:

• High percentage of mandatory training time
• Inclusion of learning objectives as part of individual performance goals
• A C-level learning or knowledge officer in place
• Leaders who support learning enterprise-wide
• A clear link between learning and performance
• Contribution to strategic objectives for the enterprise
• Appropriate blend of learning delivery methods
• Consistent standards for assessment of learning
• High percentage of employees that receive learning and development opportunities

This article profiles all 24 winners:

1. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Fort Belvoir, VA (public administration)
2. The Schwan Food Company, Marshall, MN (manufacturing)
3. Unisys Corporation, Blue Bell, PA (information technology)
4. PeopleSoft, Inc., Pleasanton, CA (information)
5. BoozAllenHamilton, McLean, VA (professional services)
6. TELUS, Vancouver, BC (telecommunications)
7. Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (manufacturing)
8. American Express Company, New York, NY (financial services)
9. Toshiba America Business, Irvine, CA (manufacturing)
10. AT&T Corporation, Bedminster, NJ (information)
11. Old Mutual, Capetown, South Africa (life insurance)
12. Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, MI (manufacturing)
13. Wipro Technologies, Bangalore, India (information)
14. HP, Palo Alto, CA (information technology)
15. Equity Residential, Chicago, IL (real estate)
16. Sterling Bank, Houston, TX (financial services)
17. Accenture, Chicago, IL (professional services)
18. The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI (manufacturing)
19. Northwire, Inc., Osceola, WI (manufacturing)
20. Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, LA (health care)
21. Deloitte & Touche USA, New York, NY (professional services)
22. ICICI Bank Limited, Mumbai, India (financial services)
23. KLA-Tencor Corporation, San Jose, CA (manufacturing)
24. MTR Corporation, Hong Kong, SAR, China (transportation)

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Leading Change: Navigation Principles for the Transformation Journey

Charlie Standard, GP Deltapoint

The five "leverage points for change" identified by Craig McAllister (2004) are timely reminders for today's corporate leaders. They call attention to common perils in the change process, and they provide insight for safely navigating change.

Pain

Successful change initiatives can only begin after there is widespread realization (among managers) that the current situation has become untenable and the company's viability is at risk. In essence, operating the company in its current state must seem more dangerous than embarking on the daunting transformation journey. Not only must an urgent need for change be recognized, it must be acknowledged as such by the vast majority of managers within a company before a successful transformation journey can be expected. Establishing this sense of pain and urgency is essential to any transformation journey.

Process and Politics

A sufficiently-powerful guiding coalition is paramount in large-scale change initiatives. Senior managers form the core, but the guiding coalition should also include other individuals who are not normally considered part of the senior management staff. This blend helps with trust and communication and ensures that the transformation progresses in a direction consistent with the company's strategic plans. The seniority of the coalition ensures that obstacles are removed and resources allocated enabling the transformation to continue unencumbered.

Payoff and Persistence

The payoff for employees comes when the "new way of doing things" makes their jobs safer, more rewarding, and more secure. Interestingly, this is also the payoff for the company because this is the first step toward cementing the changes in a new corporate culture. Culture is manifest in outward behaviors, but it is defined by the shared values, attitudes, and underlying assumptions of a group of people. When people in the company begin to understand the personal benefit of the new way, the corporate culture itself begins to change. Old values and attitudes are challenged (subconsciously) and are replaced by new values that are consistent with the new way. Of course, the guiding coalition can help create the new culture by celebrating successes along the way; establishing symbols, targets, and reward structures that are consistent with the new way; and by refraining from declaring victory too soon.

By using these change management "navigation" principles, it is possible to lead a safe and successful transformation journey that is well-aligned with strategic goals and secured in a favorable corporate culture.

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