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The Great Post Office Scandal

6 March, 2024 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

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A Case Study of a Dysfunctional Culture Nick Wallis writes a story that should be a work of science fiction. Like Jurassic Park, he takes a ridiculous premise but then plays the idea through in a totally believable way. Nobody could recreate the dinosaurs, but good fiction takes a bizarre proposition and makes the outcome […]

Filed Under: Blog, Book Tagged With: case study, cost of poor quality, cost saving, culture, fessing up, ignorance, Post Office, purpose, supply chain, targets

Fixes That Fail

2 January, 2020 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Cost cutting Definition : An effective short term financial fix that has long-term consequences. These ultimately require more of the same short term fix. Examples: Profit numbers were low so managers deferred essential maintenance.  They saved money in the short term, but the machines failed.  This led to poor customer service, reduced sales and — in […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: capability, cost saving, systems thinking

The Most Profitable Activity in the World

18 September, 2019 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Collaboration The iPhone is — arguably — the most profitable product in the world.  Since it was launched in 2007 it has sold over 700 million units.  In my household alone we have 4 of the damned things. I hasten to add my daughter’s phones are hand-me downs, but all the same. The iPhone 11 […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: collaboration, command and control, communication, complexity, cost saving, supply chain, systems thinking

Centre of Excellence or Management Folly?

28 July, 2019 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

The centre of excellence How many times have you heard the claim “We are building a centre of excellence”? Or, even more triumphant, “We are a centre of excellence!” It is great management speak. It shows strategic drive and direction. Every thrusting young manager wants a centre of excellence, why wouldn’t they? There are a […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: cheap and nasty, collaboration, cost saving, human nature, organisation, point optimisation, silo management, systems thinking, targets, world class

Efficiency or Productivity

24 November, 2018 by James Lawther 6 Comments

Efficiency versus Productivity

Which is better? Should you be more efficient or more productive? On the face of it they sound like very similar things, so does it matter which you strive to be? Efficiency is the amount of input you use to produce a standard level of output.  If you become more efficient you do the same […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: cost saving, human nature, office productivity, waste

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