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Dichotomies, trichotomies and confusion

Aled Laugharne 03 Jan 2012
Posted by Aled Laugharne

"Shall we go on holiday to Spain or Portugal this year, Dear?" It's often that we naturally bisect or trisect our options or ways of thinking to try and make things easier for ourselves. This might seem to be the best way of coming to a conclusion, but we are often immediately limiting our options to one or other before we can decide on the best solution.

This phenomenon often comes to light when trying to apply various work philosophies to an organisation in a practical manner. Since mass industrialisation, many philosophies have come, gone, and been developed and combined. In the world of Continuous Improvement, I’ve noticed that Lean, Six-Sigma, and to some extent Agile, if not consciously, have subconsciously formed a trichotomy.

The truth is, although theory might dictate that there is some sort of di/trichotomy in place, in practice, very seldom are there situations where one of these theories can be applied in isolation. And indeed, applying one Continuous Improvement philosophy with rigour in a new environment can often lead to comments such as, "Lean (or Six-Sigma, or Agile, or TQM etc.) isn't working for us.", as the programme hasn't been tailored to suit (this assumes that other aspects of Change have been well managed).

So how do you avoid the dichotomy phenomenon and confusion over which philosophy to select when it comes to rolling out a Continuous Improvement programme in your organisation? You could start by talking to a professional services provider like Chaucer, that doesn't have a particular affiliation to one philosophy. This way, a solution can be provided that pragmatically combines ideas from the various schools of thought and can be tailored to your organisation.

Comments

17 January 2012 15:14 Derek Hill says

I think this article raises many relevant points that will be familiar to anyone involved in C.I. execution and deployment.

To refer back to Aled's example, it doesn't have to be either Spain or Portugal, it can quite easily be both, though we tend to dismiss such hybrid approaches out of hand - such is human nature.

In my experience, business leaders tend to look for a "magic bullet" methodology that will instantly transform their business. This creates a demand that the market is only too happy to fill. We end up with myriad methodologies that have to brand themselves differently in order to appear unique. This may give comfort to the customer that they are buying something special and innovative however this is rarely the case. Actually by selling a rigid methodology you end up putting the cart before the horse and the tools you promote can dictate the projects that you choose. Far better to let the business critical projects drive the choice of approach, whatever that may be.

And in truth there are very few truly new tools and concepts in the C.I. and Operational Excellence field and the more mature view is to consider that area as one large, ever-evolving toolbag that the experienced consultant has at their disposal. The real value is in having a consultant that can mix, match and adapt those tools to any given situation.

This is why at Chaucer we are far more concerned with being practical, pragmatic, adaptable and customer focussed. We want to uncover the true voice of the customer. That helps prioritise the improvement projects and those in turn dictate the approach to be taken, with the best option rarely being a pure version of any single methodology.

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