The Three Legged Stool

At the end of the day, what the customer wants is value.  I define value as the combination of and interaction between quality and cost (price).  Everyone knows that they can buy a really high quality performance automobile or very well tailored and durable clothing, but few can afford it.  Conversely, everyone in the market place grows weary when prices are too low and begins careful scrutiny for defects or some sort of trick.

An effective organization (commercial or non-commercial)  is one that consistently produces good value for its customers.

It is my view that organizational effectiveness is a three legged stool.

The first leg is creation of an organizational culture or milieu. Without the organizational mindset of striving for continual improvement,  and the strong commitment to producing value for the customer, not much happens. Merely mastering the tools and techniques of improvement is fruitless without management driven commitment to value.  Such a commitment must remain steadfast over the long run.  Short term thinking is ruinous.

The next leg of the stool is the collection of tools and techniques of improvement. These are divided into two basic groups. There are tools associated with achieving quality objectives and exceeding requirements (exceeding specifications).   There are also tools associated with lean operations and the elimination of waste. As Wlliman Conway once said, “The best way to improve productivity is to eliminate work.”  Naturally these two groups of techniques overlap to some extent.

The last leg of the stool is recruiting and hiring the right people and then developing them and melding them with the work so that the organization has the right person doing the right job using the right method with the right materials, equipment and machines to produce ever improving outcomes throughout the organization all the time. The importance of this cannot be overstated.  

From time to time I’ve heard managers differentiate between engineering problems and ‘people problems’. And, I’ve heard the systems that work with people called the ‘soft’ part of the business.  With a little thinking one can easily see that all the problems of any organization involve people.  The problems of technology and innovation are problems that are tackled by people  and their needs are crucial to them.  they need to feel secure, affiliated, appreciated and motivated.  Organizations that understand these needs and meet them will be more effective in the long run than those that don’t