Professional Documents
Culture Documents
626 1915 1 PB PDF
626 1915 1 PB PDF
com
vol.2, No. 3(s), pp. 1094-1103 ISSN 1805-3602
Abstract Introduction
Astonishing progress of Japan has made every- In case we intend to consider the manager’s
one think over policy, theme of work culture and responsibilities, we find a long list that most of its
management systems of these hard-working people. items are located in sortable frames. Accordingly,
In the last analysis, improvement creation in field of scientists of management sciences have created
cost quality and planning (rate of productivity and some hypotheses that their most significant usage
delivery time) is converted to a key and major factor. is to categorize or sort these duties. One of the ap-
Kaizen is strategy of improvement based on needs proved hypotheses is Fayol hypothesis that considers
and demands of the customers. Kaizen believes that the main duties of the managers are as follow:
employees of an organization should uninterrupted- Directing and leadership, organizing, planning,
ly think over improving and maintaining improve- controlling and monitor and coordination
ment achievements in their own organization but Although there are other hypotheses in this field,
how much is their share in this movement? There but Fayol hypothesis has been accepted as far as one of
are two different approaches to achieve progress: a the most valid principles in management sciences and
gradual improvement (Kaizen) and improvement fields of the managers’ duties considering mentioning
based on the great leap (innovation). Overall, Japa- and principal criticism of Tylor views. Since we accept
nese companies prefer gradual improvement and Fayol principles as the most important duties of the
the western companies believe in innovation. Now, managers regardless other existing views in this field,
in this article, we seek to answer this question: which we want to review these principles from Kaizen view.
of this view is implementable in Iran? Improvement According to Kaizen, management duties are divided
means Kaizen and innovation; each company or into two main categories that are improvement and
organization use both Kaizen and innovation for its maintaining improvement. It is necessary to remind
survival, growth and progress. Continuous improve- that the manager doesn’t only mean official and or-
ment refers to the operation, process of achieving ganizational position that he meant and everyone who
better productions and cost reduction in production has a responsibility in the organization is assumed the
and sales operation and as a strategic goal, it con- manager or manger of that job. Today’s organizational
tains certain categories of total quality control, effi- world is full of competition and challenges. High speed
ciency increase, effectiveness surplus, improvement of changes and volatility of the environment put or-
promotion, cost reduction and elimination of de- ganization’s life at risk and menace. Among all these,
fective items (wastes) from the productive process. they want to guarantee their long stay and they think
Similarly, the managers will get involved in the base over their improvement in the market so that they have
of the job and they will truly develop partnerships’ no way but choosing modern approaches.
level and solve problems using accurate view. In recent years, the movement of productivity and
excellence has spread to Iranian organizations as well.
Keywords: Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Various motivations as competition, show, matching
innovation, management, competition, cost re- with the public, show-off, obligation and finally real
duction evolution have resulted in different movements (Paki,
Corresponding author: Ziba Rahmatinejad, Qom University, Qom, Iran. E-mail: rahmani_2003@
yahoo.com
Copyright © Fariba Rahmanian, Ziba Rahmatinejad, 2013
European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences; vol.2, No. 3(s), pp. 1094-1103
1094
Social science section
2001). Considering the aforesaid issues, most of the suc- not understand even having it. In Japan, Prof. Deming
cessful organizations and companies in the world owe submit the Deming Cycle which is considered as one
their productivity and organizational dynamics to using of the main tools for quality control to gain continues
improvement systems (Masaki, 2001). One of these im- improvement and it is famous as PDCA (Do-check-
provement systems is Kaizen which is defined as con- Act-Plan)meaning design (to make action for con-
tinuous improvement in organizational workplace and a trolling results about what we had predicted and finally
view based on common sense in modern management. modifying action to remove all defects and errors).
Masaki entered term of “Kaizen” for the first time in This cycle is repeated and the product is always
the management contexts and defined it as an improve- improving. However, this cycle principally moves
ment strategy that involves and activates all senior man- upward around a cylinder because the product
agers of the organizations and operational employees. which has passed this cycle is qualitatively higher in
Using Kaizen pattern in the various organizations in ranking and all its defects have been removed.
the whole world resulted in extremely high savings in After World War II, most Japanese companies
costs of these organizations. Kaizen method is one of were forced to work almost to start from scratch. Man-
the fundamental plans to improve productivity and op- agers and employees were challenging new problems
timism of administrative, producing ad service systems every day and they would get new improvements every
(Zareh, 2005). And instead of huge investments, it re- day. In short, continuum of such companies depends
quires attempt, commitment and leadership which lead on their endless progress, so that Kaizen became a life
to customer-orientation, their more faithfulness, hav- style for the Japanese. The Japanese were lucky at that
ing productive and satisfied workforce, higher income time that various methods and tools could help flour-
and lower costs that result in customer-orientation and ishing Kaizen concept in Japan and it was announced
more faithfulness, having efficient and satisfied work- in the late 1950 and in the early 1960by certain experts
force, higher income, lower costs and more profit. Mr. as Deming and Jouran. Nevertheless, most of these
Honda from Honda Motors Co. says:” as far as the cus- systems concepts and new instruments which are be-
tomer is concerned, quality is something that one prod- ing used widely today in Japan, were developed by the
uct has it or not and there is no moderate way in this Japanese and it led to quantitative improvement, sta-
matter”. He also believed that role of management is to tistic quality control and total quality control in 1960.
attempt continuously to produce better products with
lower prices. Kaizen strategy can provide a systematic Review of literature
view to fulfill this objective. The Japanese managers are
continuously looking for finding ways of improving sys- Kaizen is a successful improvement pattern which
tems and internal processes and Kaizen is used in some has been conducted in various countries along with
fields as relations of workforce, marketing management having successful results due to its fame. Therefore, it
and relationships of goods distributors. should be noted that Kaizen implementation requires
Middle managers, workgroup’s supervisors and being localized as any other strange pattern, so that
workers actively participate in Kaizen. Japanese en- it has been attempted in such local experiences to
gineers are constantly reminded that if things do not implement and submit this pattern as well as possible.
follow the same process, no progress will be made.
Kaizen is a Japanese term which consists of two words: History of Kaizen in Iran
Kai means change; Zen means a good mode. So that, In 2000, coordinating with National Iranian
Kaizen can be defined: a change toward being better. Productivity Organization and Asia Productivity
This change has the following four main features: Organization, a five-day course on workshop of
1. Continuous and inexhaustible practical Kaizen was held for a couple of industrial
2. Regular and gradual units of Yazd. Nobody could assume that this work-
3. Typically economical and based on minor shop would be an advent of introducing a pattern for
modifications. improving and producing in the country. Instruc-
4. It’s based on public participation (Pour Khor- tor and counselor of this workshop was ShwitchiY-
sand, 2002) oushida, Kaizen counselor and former deputy of
Kaizen philosophy is based on our life style as Nissan Motors Co. This five-day workshop in which
work, society and family focusing on achieving con- some parts of working processes of industrial units
tinuous improvement (Masaki, 2001). This concept is of the participant were selected and reengineered as
ordinary and clear for most Japanese so that they do a sample was effective on changing employees’ view
about peripheral issues, so that National Iranian Statement of problem and significance of the
Productivity Organization immediately put imple- research
mentation of subsequent projects in other provinces
on its agenda to be followed. In 2002, National Ira- Kaizen philosophy stays on this principle that hu-
nian Productivity Organization started Kaizen im- man life including working life, social life and family
proving movement by implementing Management life should be improved continuously and constantly.
and Productivity Cycle project in five governmen- Kaizen culture and its interaction among the layers
tal organizations in Kerman and Kaizen was sent and various social organizations in Japan caused that
to the field of service and especially governmental factories are converted to universities and vice-versa,
organizations. Now, the movement of continuous worker learns from manager and the manager takes
improvement (Kaizen) in different industrial and advantages of the workers’ ideas, researcher wears
service parts of Iran started and it continues to find cardigan and comes to scene instead of sitting in Ivo-
its real position in improving productivity and the ry tower and activists of production scenes think over
country’s development. improving their jobs and refer to the research.
Kaizen characteristics and innovation of these two cases (Kaizen or Innovation) consid-
ering economic situation, organizational objec-
Each organization after being established tives, type of production, quality of production
should commence a constant attempt to maintain and the existing social environmental situations
its existing situation. It is possible to suggest one in the organization.
Figure 1. Impression of Japanese Management from Figure 2. Job functions based on innovation
job functions (maintenance, innovation, Kaizen)
(Imani, 1995). The most basic concepts of Kaizen
It was the first time that quality control was ucative program to quality control.In1960, the first
studied after general management. In 1956, radio of month of national quality control was held. At the
short-wavelength of Japan allocated a part of its ed- same year, signs and flags of quality were officially
Continuous
Improvemen
t
Quality policies
Management Planning
Review
Review and
corrective action Implementation
and operation
Twenty principles of management in Kaizen 6- In order to find out problem’s root, ask five
1- Never say why. Think how to do it. times “ why” ?
2- Don’t be worried about the problem and just 7- Gemba is real place of error occurrence.
take action to fix it. Do not try to solve environmental problems at the
3- Don’t be satisfied from the existing situation. workplace.
Believe that there is always a better way. 8- Use always little and modern information
4- If you make a mistake, immediately try to fix it. and data in order to solve the problem.
5- Don’t look for perfection to fulfill your ob- 9- To solve problems, do not spend a lot of money.
jectives. If you are 60% sure about fulfilling the ob- In case you cannot find a wise solution, you should
jectives, take an action. ask your colleagues and use common wisdom.
10- Never forget the details and fine points. lateral relationship with lower layers of the organization.
Most problem stem from such fine points. 16- Human has a variety of abilities. Use multi-
11- Senior management support is not limited skill patterns and job make wealth to flourish them.
to words and promises. Management must have 17- Make merely the activities which brings
both tangible and evident presence. added value for your organization.
12- Do not hesitate to assign authority to subor- 18- Don’t forget that 5t is base and foundation
dinates wherever is possible. of creating high-quality productions.
13- Never look for guilty. Don’t judge hastily. 19- To solve problems of your workplace based
14- Visual management and information transmis- on workgroup’s patterns.
sion are the best tools collectively to solve problems. 20- Muda removal is an endless process. Don’t
15- One-way communication command makes ever get tired of it.
organizational problems more complicated from top to - Hierarchical structure of decision making in
the bottom. The senior management should have a bi- organizations:
Unit …
Commercial
department
Senior
Manufacturing unit management
Quality unit
Middle
Administrative and management
Financial Unit
Supervisions
Employees
Planning unit
Tylor can make an organization manageable ferent departments and various management layers. In
through a systematic method by dividing duties and these organizations, there are various stations that some
specializing activities of an organization in competi- of them convert to bottleneck themselves. Everyone is
tive situation of today’s world that customers express responsible for their own job and they have no informa-
the first word in determining type and quality of the tion about activities of their own colleagues. Circulation
aforesaid services and the world cannot fulfill them. of information and documents are proceeding slowly in
Today, customers of organizations which produce the organization. Similarly, the required information for
public services have other expectations. They seek decision-making in various layers of the organization
other services which have three features: get late to the hand of the managers and they don’t have
• Cheaper than private providers accuracy due to prudential sublimations. At the best
• In a period of time quicker than private sector situation, information is not updated and they have the
• With a desirable quality for him least possible value for decision-making.
• In such circumstances, merely organizations What should we do to meet needs of our cus-
that are familiar with modern methods of manage- tomers in the organization? Is it possible to deform
ment and organization can meet customers’ need hierarchical structures and create new structures
and doing suitable changes compatible with fluctua- quickly? Experience of implementing changing tech-
tions of the market. niques from the top and at once implementation in
Customers have normally no choosing right in the whole organization prove opposite of this issue.
this organization. In short, these organizations face The organization culture dominating most of the
some problems as below: current organizations doesn’t allow any fundamental
Hierarchical organizations practically construct in- changes happening. In the other word, management
visible walls among their own employees by creating dif- course is short in our organization and the managers
expect to find tangible results at a rational time. What search evaluates establishment of functional
should we do? Secret of success should be searched Kaizen in a producing company before after in-
in improvement approaches which have pointed to. tervention (Kaizen)and its evaluation has been
done by SPSS software and all utilized variables
Method of Implementation are as below:
All variables are numeric and rating rank is from
This project intends to achieve the aforementioned 1 to 5
objectives relying on the previous experiences by the aim
of improving productivity, costs reduction, processes Variable’s name Variable’s name
analyses, wastes elimination, optimization of workplace Age Former innovation
and submission of required trainings to the employees. Gender Former results
1) To study the existing situation ( at zero situation) Background Subsequent quality
2) General conference on Kaizen introduction Education Subsequent quantity
3) To form kaizen team Former quality Subsequent cooperation
4) To hold workshop of adornment system Former quantity Previous quantity
5) To implement the first step of adornment system Former cooperation Previous cooperation
6) To implement the second step of adornment Former knowledge Previous knowledge
Former trust Previous time
system
Former time Previous time
7) To prepare comprehensive map of processing
8) To modify process
It is an experiment over quality management
Functional aspects of Research Project
and the sampling was done randomly. This re-
Figure 9. Evaluation of mean of seven functional aspects in employees prior and after Kaizen implementation
processed general expressions in the existing situation organizations and factories due to lack of ability of this
innovations through huge investment in technology or pattern in reducing costs and improving productivity.
equipment. After determination of higher standards,
the management is responsible for monitoring new References
standards. Continuous improvement is possible merely
through monitoring higher standards on behalf of the Alaghmand,A. (1991). Education Management prem-
employees. So that, maintenance and improvement has ises, 1st ed.. Tehran, Payam Noor Publication.
been turned to two inseparable components for major- Alvani, S.M. (1988). General Management, 1st ed.
ity of Japanese managers. Kaizen with innovation: one Tehran, Ney Publication.
of the striking features of Kaizen is lack of absolute need Battens, J. (1981). Possibilities and Expectation.
to complicated technology or the ultimate technologic Published By The Aadisionwesley, P. Company.
achievements. In order to fulfill Kaizen, “Common Imani, Makasaei. (1995). Kaizen key to Japanese
Sense” is all which is needed. In contrast, innovation competitive success, Trans. Salimi, M.H, Amirk-
mostly needs much technology and a huge investment. abir University,Tehran.
All innovations can reflect a change, whereas all chang- Katz, D., & Kahn L. (1978). The Social Psychology
es are not innovation. A change is result of creativity of Organizations, Wiley, NewYork.
and innovation process. Moreover, general view at the Larson, T.J. (1993).Middle Managers, contribution
beginning of this research was that in the workplace,
to implemented information technology inno-
there are Mudas or wasting cases that by eliminating
vation, Journal of Management Information Sys-
them, costs can be reduced and improvement can be
tem, 10, 155-176.
finally increased. By such critical view, implementation
Madani, D. (1994). Funding and Organization,
of the pattern starts and it was implemented step by step
Journal of Management Studies, 13 and 14.
through certain stages. At the earlier stages, certain costs
Rezaeian, A. (1994). Principles of Management,
as spending time on training were imposed to the com-
SAMT Publication.
pany, but the path will be leveled in the following.
Robins, S. (1990). Organizational Behaviour, Trans.
When the plan approached the final stages and
problematic processes got modified and all costs started Kabiri, Gh.PhD., Center of Islamic Azad Uni-
decreasing. Implementing pattern which has been used versity Press.Tehran.
in this study is an acceptable pattern which accompanies Rosenfeld, R., & Servo, J.C. (1990). Facilitating
employees’ participations. This pattern which has been innovation in large organizations, In M.A.
designed based on the information, local and foreign West and J.L. Farr (EDS) Innovation and
experiments have been localized and they are compat- Creativity at Work: Psychological and Orga-
ible with national culture, so that application of this pat- nization Strategies, John Wiley&Sons, West
tern and its implementation has been proposed in the Susan, pp. 251-264.