16) Confusion of Management system
What is the original meaning of ‘management system’?
Some Japanese might understand ‘management’ as a synonym for ‘control’, but that’s not quite right.
This kind of misunderstanding is rooted in a Japanese ,’ kanri’ or control.
What image do you have of ‘kanri-sha’ or controller?
- A person who gives instructions to subordinates and looks at their performance
- A supervisor
- Someone devotes most of his time to desk work
- In an emergency, he is impatiently ‘waiting’ for a call from staff on site
…..These descriptions might be exaggerated a bit, but most of you have similar images of them, don’t you?
According to a Japanese traditional way of forming an organization structure, management is in charge of personnel reshuffle and allocates ‘kanrisha’ or controller as a part of top-down decision. On the other hand, there are some people who take up career ladder from scratch with hands-on experience in action.
When you introduce ISO at work and form a section, you might face these similar difficulties. You might hear a lot of complains from colleagues about ISO, such as;
ISO is quite time-consuming.
ISO requires annoying paper work.
ISO doesn’t clarify who’s responsible for what.
Quality management principles of ISO define as “These principles can be used by senior management as a framework to guide their organizations towards improved performance.”
A person who already has put ISO in practice on site or a person who knows very well about ISO, both of them can steer ISO as a leader and carry on PDCA cycle.
That’s because they are hands-on.
Truly necessary ‘P’ plans can be designed by them and then develop towards D, C and A.
Then, what is the ‘truly necessary’ attitude?
Please wait until next issue.
to be continued…