All 8 entries tagged Change

THE FINAL SPRINT

It is the last month of my masters that is coming up. As the title rightly suggests, it is the time for the final sprint. I have been reflecting regularly about my daily experiences. Since the past few weeks I was feeling a bit choatic about the strategy that i have to make. I have identified the major problems through data analysis. There som emajor themes that have emerged which need improvement in. It includes process improvement, supply chain inventory, logistics and operations. There are certain ideas that came into my mind that I can include in my roadmap.

This reflective blog aims to structure those ideas and work on them further. The first thing will be to improve the processes and making them stable. There are a lot of ways to do that. The most important thing will be to find the bottlenecks in the processes. It involves making the maps and flows of all the processes and start identifying the bottlenecks. After standing and observing the processes and bottlenecks it will be necessary to actually make and standardize data on the cycle times and the lead time for all the processes. Actually just doing this thing and communicate a brainstorming session with the top management will help to solve a lot of loopholes in the process. Once I know the lead time of my operations then I understand my process better. In order to integrate the whole supply chain then it is necessary to know your demand. Do the unorganized companies know their demand? I doubt that. There has to be a separate program for that purpose as well.

There are a lot of talks about the quality management systems in the literature. I think the basic start of quality will be from the observation on how do we do things? What are the products and tools that we require to manufacture one particular product? Are the inputs standardized? It will be more about how do you do the things? For instance I will observe the chemical pasting technique on the shoe sole. It will help to make a huge amendament into the current process and ensure the quality of the product. One thing very necessary to ensure quality is the flow of the whole business. Along with the flow of the materials it is important to record the information flow of process. How the information flow can also help us to ensure the quality. If there are the right check points about the product quality in the process then it can help in maintaining quality with right information flowing. The data flow of the process can also help in the quality management. The data on the defects counting, rework products can also help improve the quality.

We talk about the operations and the thing that comes into the mind is the lean production. The very first basic thing will be to apply the 5S and the 7 waste techniques. Just making sure that everything is in place and there are no wastes in the processes. I learnt about some techniques such as the value stream assessment for checking the whole process flow. If I look at the current processes in the value stream assessment, i think I can identify the main areas and bottlenecks in the business that I can target. For instance the customer gives order, it goes to the sale department for verification and updation of the records, then that goes into the ERP system data feed, with which a new forecast is made and also the materials are ordered looking at the production capacity and the production schedule. This is the process of normal companies. But does the unorganized manufacturing businesses have even this process? This is something to be considered. This is all judged on the basis of process flow mapping. Once other interesting tool that I observed today was the swimlane tool. It is also very effective to showcase the processes. It segregates the processes on the basis of different functions and it is very important to see the interlinkages.

All the strategic roadmaps are developed by first of all seeing the current state then the desired state. Today James Black showcased me his work on the roadmaps. The first was the process flow of the whole organization. then he identified the loopholes in the process. For instance, the organization was not undertaking the forecasting with the data and the sales order. So he recommended those changes with the new swimlane map which showed at what point in the process should the organization forecast. this will vary organization to organization. Right now if I can just focus on inward operations and supply chain of the organization, that will be really great.

Now I think one strategy that I have to make will be that of data collection points and themes. It is very necessary. The roadmap that I saw today was actually good. I have some ideas about it to add on. There can be two swim lane themes such as operations projects and the technological projects. In the operations project I can suggest that there should be scrap recording (as it is the KPIs for the operational excellence and quality). Then I can introduce the kanban and production planning project. Then I can introduce a project to get in the layout and flow of a critical parameter or process that was identified in the value assessment. Value assessment is more holistic than the value stream map. The technological projects will support my operational projects. This way I can put in process projects as well. Like the ERP project or the Data analysis project will be beneficial to support the flow and bottleneck project.

Lot of things can be done. Just using the stick it notes with the directors and telling them what is wrong can also be of much use. The visualization solves much of the problems. There are some data collection points in mind such as the cycle time, defect rate, or the sampling data. Look at demand segmentation concept once more. I found it interesting the amount I read. I ll read it more. I think I am ready to amke the startegy. Let's go ahead with it.

Saurabh Kukreja : 19 Jul 2019 21:49 |  Tags: Change Efqm Management Mbe Passion |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

THE ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING

Today we had a seminar day at our last module KBAM. We discussed on a very interesting topic related to intellectual property in the organization and the training. I think the intellectual property sharing should not be a major issue for me particularly when I talk about the development of the whole sector as a whole. I think the role of a leader in knowledge management shouldbe related to protecting the knowledge base in an organization in such a way that the organizational knowledge is not lost even if the people leave the organization. There were certain points raised where there was a genuine concern that said that all kinds of knowledge must not be shared with everyone in the organization. I do not agree to it. If we do not share the knowledge with everyone then the people feel that they are not part of the system which will reduce motivation and remove the foundation of knowledge based organization. My responsibility will be to make one system work by retaining and reusing the knowledge. Sharing knowledge with everyone does not mean that eberyone will be an expert in the organization. It just means that making right knowledge available at the right places in the organization to work without obstacles. The Hoshin Kanri was a very useful approach in depicting how the major objectives can be made available at the shop floor level. Make the knowledge available to shop floor in such a way that they understand and contribute to the overall organizational goal. One very important point that I learnt from Paul's experience in military was about the increment that you get with the skills training. The organizations are always in doubt about the employees and their loyalty after they are provided with the training and education. There is always a fear that they will leave. But an increment and added responsibility after their training is always a good idea to retain them. To convert tacit knowledge into the organized knowledge, annual group appraisals and the interviews can always be a good idea. It gives us just a sufficient contact with the employees to know what they feel about the organization.

I have been researching a bit about measuring the benefits of knowledge management. It is difficult to measure the quantifiable benefits. some of the points in seminars that I found interesting were employee attitude surveys were a good way of measuring and indicating the benefits of the KM. One we can define the expected outcome and the current situation, then we can easily see the benefits of KM in the organization. This can be done with making forecasts and seeing whether our outcome was similar to forecast. Then we can improve on the new factor due to which the original result was not similar to the forecast. this will help us to add to the knowledge base and if outcome is same as the forecast then we can see the benefit of the knowledge management. The same way we can work on the repeated mistakes in the organization if we keep a record of it. KM is a stepping stone for creating a learning organization. There was a lot of self-learning in this module. Tomorrow we have the presentation. I am eager to see the 5 year plan and learn from my mistakes, as it si something that I have to do in my dissertation as well.

Saurabh Kukreja : 05 Jun 2019 21:56 |  Tags: Change Efqm Kbam Management Mbe |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

SELF–Learning

It is the firstI th day of the module week of KBAM.It is my last module at WMG. The course MBE was really good. It helped me learn a lot. I will miss the learning environment in the classroom and the discussions that we had with Paul. The very interesting thing about this module is 40 hours of self-learning. It is sometimes hard to digest this fact of autonomous learning. But I feel this is the reality of life. With this last module we are trained to submerse ourself with the real world. This presentation was a bit challenging. There are a lot of things that I need to consider. KBAM is such a wide concept and it is really difficult to extract the information out from such a source. It was really challenging. Tomorrow we will be focussing on the last leg of presentation, the preparation of the growth plan. The main point should be to present a plan showing benefits of each action and quick wins. This is the art of the possible. The main challenge will be to convince people about the benefits of knowledge managemnet as it is hard to measure its worth in absolute terms. It will be my first attempt to make the plan and will be interesting to learn from other teams as well. It is necessary to learn from mistakes. We have tries to make a practical implementation plan this time trying to avoid the mistake commited in hoshin kanri. Apart from this we learnt about respecting the individual an dtheir job in the organization which sets the basis of excellence.In the current industry, I feel that the employees are not trained, they do not know what is expected from them in the job and there are no standards in the job. Therefore in order to standardize the jobs it is necessary to standardize the processes. Excited to see what lies ahead.

Saurabh Kukreja : 03 Jun 2019 21:36 |  Tags: Change Efqm Management Mbe |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

SME KNOWLWDGE AND COMPETITIVENESS

It has been couple of days since I have been researching on the knowledge management in an organization. The basic idea that I always get is to improve the organizational capabilities. Improving the knowledge management system will lead to improved capabilities. It is very important to have a system where there is enough craetion of knowledge. The basic start for this in the unorganized SME can be to chart the process flow. The understanding of the whole process in an organization can lead to understanding of process loopholes. The brainstorming will lead to sharing and creating of knowledge about the process. The market research, customer and supplier feedback mechanisms create various forms of knowledge within an organization. Although the major challenge will be to create a system that helps to share and retain the knowledge within an organization. One way is to encourage sharing through workshops and sessions and visual boards. It thus becomes necessary to standardize the processes so that the processes oberve only the common cause variations. In that case documentation of the information and knowledge by one system operator could be used by the next operator. There has to be a way to extract the tacit knowledge from the individuals. This can be done through scrum meetings, departmental meetings, team meetings. Especially in a high labour turnover environment, a standarized process to record personal knowledge and experience is very necessary. This will lead to retention of knowledge within an organization.

talking about the competitiveness, it is necessary to move away from the rigid corporate structures. The SMEs need to start working like agile startups. The cross functional teams and the interdepartmental communication can lead to this. This is what system thinking teaches us. One very important aspect of this is to make knowledge accessible to every person in the organization more important the right person at the right time. I feel that establishing the right process is very necessary. The culture, process, leadership and organizational structures can be one of the most important competitive advantage factors for an organization. They can facilitate knowledge sharing.

Saurabh Kukreja : 02 Jun 2019 21:05 |  Tags: Change Efqm Kbam Management Mbe |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

PURSUIT OF GROWTH

This week has been a start of a very interesting module knowledge based asset management. We have to present the Board of Directors a five year strategic plan on implementation of knowledge and asset systems in waveriders. I haven't read too much on the topic so probably I ll start writing blogs and building my knowledge from the next blog. In this blog I ll discuss about the strategic growth plan. It is something which comes under the scope of my dissertation where I am making a growth strategy for the unorganized manufacturing business in India. I have gone through a lot of testing processes to stand where I am right now in my dissertation which comes out of the scope of this blog.

I have developed a criteria on the basis of which I ll find the loopholes in the current practices of unorganized manufacturing firms. The first part of growth is stability. Hence it is essential for my growth plan to provide them stability in the initial few years and talk about growth after that. It is really exciting how I have been able able to research on organizational capabilities and develop a whole new model on the basis for which I will be judging an organizational capability. For me the whole process of making this criteria has been overwhelming. It is like a small baby for me. Before coming here I imagined to look at all the aspects of organization and with my research I think I have learnt a lot. But there is only one thing which is left. To implement this criteria I think I need to have a practical experience in the application of it. This will give me a strong understanding of the practical implementation.

I am thinking now of making various steps and layers in my criteria. This will help to build foundation and get in quick wins. I can also put in the basic elemnts of each step in each level in the strategy. It is important to understand what these organizations want and what they wanna achieve. My basic role will be to coach them on the various issues. For now I know that they are keen on having good system, develop world class quality and have a strong market hold. My strategy should be such that it can holistically target these priority issues. I liked this phrase, "the art of possible" said by paul. It shows quick wins and keeps the people interested in the growth project. It is about taking one step at a time and understanding what is critical to their business. i think I know the absolute critical areas. I just need to formulate them. For instance, on the critical front if I can make my strategic growth plan in such a way that their scrap reduces within 6 months of implementation then I will be showing them the art of possible. It will all come with experience.

For this I can use the basic quality tools such as the Flow chart, histograms, checksheets, run chart, cause effect and pareto, and the 5S. The basic quality tools will help me to make major impact. I have believed in continuous improvement this model will be a a self evolving medel. i have to keep on updating it. i have approached CII on their SMe projects. I am sensing that they are not doing anything for the unorganized sector. My work has to be something which does not need government support. If i get it is good. But i have to make an impact anyways without relying on government. i have to show people the benefit of the work. i am passionate about making it happen. I hope that I keep my energy up in the future. The process and the journey will be really good I feel. Looking forward to develop the strategic growth plan for waveriders.

Saurabh Kukreja : 29 May 2019 22:05 |  Tags: Change Efqm Management Mbe Sme |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

NECESSITIES TO CHANGE

Managing change is a very complex process. There are some important things that I learnt during the module. During change, people will be confused and would ask questions and suggest their own solutions. If you have a strong vision and finding it difficult to convince people to follow what is necessary for change, then the first thing that needs to be done is that we have to stop convincing them. Be critical and ask them the questions that you think are necessary for change. The overall approach to this process should be to find a solution to the problem, not suggesting your own solutions to the problem. If you are not able to answer questions about the reasons for change it means that the manager is not clear about why he wants to change the organisation. There might be different reasons for change in the SSIs. It might be linked to increasing the efficiency, managing the expectations of customers, Job enrichment or improving the job security of each person (making predictable sales, sales forecasting). Force field Analysis is another important tool that can be used in the process. Strategy is always about where we are and where we want to be? It is important to know the current scenario so that the changes can be made. There are several questions that need to be asked in order to drive it. What and Who needs to change? In order to encourage them to change it is important to buy them into the organisational vision. Appreciation of the future state of the organisations acts as a catalyst to change.

People's emotions are always at the forefront and cause hinderance for a leader. When you ask people to give up their traditional ways of working they start to resist it. It is necessary to keep in mind the change curve and be prepared for the emotions such as Anger, Depression, resistance. It is necessary to not take these things personally and guide the workforce through the whole emotional journey to instill a positive mindset. Continuous Improvement is a mindset that every employee in the organisation should follow. The reflective exercises will help to start the culture in the organisation.

Setting the organisational culture is important as a foundation. Things just build up on that. As people, who have operated in a traditional structure, the concept of changing the whole culture demands big changes. To build a resilient organisation, I need to develop a deeply rooted values and vision as a whole. The analogy of linking organisation with martial arts is very interesting. Just like a fighter you need to have strong base (deeply rooted values) and be agile in your response (believing in quick failures and learning from mistakes and standing up). Always looking into the opponents eyes (scanning the external environment) and making a counter strategy for the next move. Predictability is an important term that I came across. How predictable is the supply chain, sales, production capacitity, leadership, employee turn over. I would rate all of them low in the current scenario. The unpredictability makes the task of making change even more tough. It is a feature of the unorganised industries. Once I have predictable systems into actions, I can start calculating stable cycle time, give sales forecast. knowing procurement needs.

It is very imporatnt for me to start understanding what people are thinking. To manage change it is necessary to ask them the question of "why are they thinking what they are thinking?" Challenge their idea and generate solutions. As a traditional organisation, it is necessary to give the workforce the skills to change and transform themselves. This is how the change process will transform from the shop floor.

Saurabh Kukreja : 23 Mar 2019 15:14 |  Tags: Change Management Mbe |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

DRIVING CHANGE

I have also felt that the questions are more important than solutions at this point of time while I am in university. Although there are questions that I am trying to fing answers to. The question of , "How to drive change" always makes me curious. In order to change the current situation of the SSIs, I wouls like to apply the strategic change dimensions for driving it. First of all I need to ask my organisation the question of Why do I need to change? For this I need to measure the current capabilities and the compettencies of my organisation and compare it with the outside environment. I am still figuring a way out in order to find a way to measure the organisational capabilities. This will also help me to move one step ahead in my dissertation. This step is followed by asking what and how to change? Whether I need to change the organisational culture or something else? The how question is the phrase that will guide me to the right place. Kolb's reflective cycle is one other way in which I can grow. Th ereflection cycle can be useful in making a culture of organisational learning philosophy. What if all the employees in my organisation can follow this reflective cycle? Deming's PDSA cycle also comes into picture here. I fing a lot of similarities between these two cycles. The major difference is that PDSA is a process based cycle where you plan and learn whereas reflective cycle you don't plan any thing.

In the simulation exercise in the MOC module there was a lack of communication in the organisation in the Day 2 of the exercise.This was a major reason where the organisation was not able to learn. Once you don't talk to each other there is no learning. Learning comes with sharing. I would want my organisation to communicate well and be transparent in the operations. reflection will lead to fast failure. Fail and learn fast and move ahead. The employees did not know what the R&D department was doing nor did people know about the sales. This is because of the lack of communication. Once people are not communicating there are not able to understand what is their interdependent relationship. This becomes necessary for all the departments to run together. The end of day 2 was a bit disappointing because of the underperformance of the team. There was a need for better communication within the team. As a leader my role was very important in such a scenario. It is not always going to be easy to manage people to change. If I apply this change model in SSis, these difficulties of people not listening and resisting, miscommunicating, misunderstanding will always occur. It is my responsibility as a leader to implement change.

Today's day started with the tools and techniques to implementing change. The whole process has been made into a mindmap. There were some important questions that always came up into my head. We always talk about Continuous improvement culture. But how can I do it? How do I measure the CI or the organisational capabilities? ISO certificate can be an evidence of the capabilities but it still does not convince me. Also while looking at the problems I learnt that the way you ask the problem influences the solutions of the problem. For example for SSis, "How to make more money?" will have different solutions than" How to develop organisational capabilities?" Both problems are intended by the manager to help the business grow but the solutions given by the organisational capability problem does give a more holistic approach for orgsanisational development. The answer of the question "How?" is not very easy but at the same time very interesting.

Saurabh Kukreja : 21 Mar 2019 00:13 |  Tags: Change Dimensions Strategic |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

CHANGE SIMULATION

I am on a very interesting module cuurently named as Management of Change. Change leads to competitive advantage. I have seen the unorganised manufacturing sector where there is a lot of resistance to change. The need to survival forces them to develop their capabilities. Today I was put into a simulation where I was made as the finance manager of a company whose functioning I could relate to the organisations that I have experienced.There were a lot of similarities. I would take them one by one. We as a team were leading an organisation that had no direction. The people in all departments were busy with daily work without having a mission and a sense of direction. The main motive was to make profits and achieve a target but employees were clueless. There was a lack of strategic thinking in the organisation. We kept on producing the low profit margin product and no one thought about innovating the product. Easily we could have understood our manufacturing capabilities and produced a fine product. The lead times were too long, and the supply chain was not responding to the needs of the organisation. The possible ways to look at would be to be more customer consciouss and make products after researching the needs of the customer applying QFD in order to gain competitive advantage. Then it is very important for the R&D to introduce new products in the market. The current situation was such that the existing product could can easily loose its importance in the market due to the product life cycle. The introduction of new products is necessary. There was no transparency in the organisation as to the orders that came in and ones which got cancelled. this leads to delays and confusion within the organisation. A tarnsparent system can be of great benefit where the current order processing is fairly visible. The traditional organisations face fair amount of redundant paperwork, there is also a need to double check the processes causing duplicacy. There was further lack of communication within the organisation where the shop-floor workers were not able to communicate the difficulties in the production process with the top level management. These all are the problems that are face in the unorganised sector. To lead the market and change growth strategies are necessary to overcome these challenges. Hoping to enjoy next couple of days in the simulation.

Saurabh Kukreja : 18 Mar 2019 22:37 |  Tags: Change Efqm Management Of |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem