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Organisational Mechanics

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An Extraordinary System

11 March, 2017 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Dabbawalla

The logistics organisation In Mumbai there is an organisation that delivers meals to office workers. It is called the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association.  That is a bit of a mouthful, they are more commonly known as Dabbawalas (lunch box men).  Think deliveroo and you wouldn’t be too wide of the mark, except that meals […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: customer focus, employee ownership, purpose, systems thinking

Why Do You Have a Boss?

18 October, 2016 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

The Boss

Pre History In the primordial swamp, single cell organisms developed.  They formed symbiotic relationships.  These relationships needed controlling.  So the organisms developed hormones, nervous systems and brains to help them function. The bacteria came before the lion. Ancient History On the fertile plains, people grouped together.  They built villages and towns.  As the towns grew they […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: back to the floor, management style, systems thinking

Does All That “Structure” Help?

26 September, 2016 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Escapology

Organisations are complicated They have: Customer requirements Partner requirements Legal requirements Compliance requirements Legacy systems Specialist teams Obsolete databases Competitive pressure Profitability problems And all those competing priorities are in conflict with each other. How do we manage complexity? By creating process and structure: RACI frameworks Target Operating Models Interim targets Delegated authority levels KPIs Heads […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: best practice, blame, business process management, collaboration, command and control, complexity, constraints, office productivity, performance management, systems thinking, teamwork

Productivity for Productivity’s Sake

15 May, 2016 by James Lawther 7 Comments

stock waste

The obsession We love to make things more productive. We strive to be cheaper, more efficient, higher yielding.  It is the holy grail, taking up most of our working hours. More for less in itself isn’t a bad goal, but who decides if we are being productive? Myopic measurement Imagine you flip burgers for a living and you […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: lean thinking, McDonald's, measurement, office productivity, over-production, stock, systems thinking

Synergy

7 May, 2016 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Synergy

A great management word We love to talk about synergies, it is a super word, hard and scientific. It gives the impression that we know what we are doing. That we are in control. Synergy: the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts What drives synergy? If synergy is […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: management style, performance management, reinforcing behaviour, systems thinking

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