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Refraining the 'Do More with Less' Mentality
The primary, almost reflexive, response to a decrease in demand for
your business is the elimination of resources, downsizing.
Unfortunately, in most cases this process is carried out with very
little forethought and planning. Those that go are thrown to the
wolves, but so are those that remain. Little or no preparation takes
place for the conditions under which the show must go on. Product
and services must continue without disruption. The survivors must do
more with less. This situation is particularly hard on supervisors
and managers. Under these conditions it is ever so more important to
deliberately plan and document a systematic approach incorporating
leadership and information. This situation is actually a tremendous
opportunity to break out of the old way of doing things and be
creative and innovative in redesigning your jobs.
All members of the organization must fundamentally alter the day to
day operation of the business. Its the only way to survive in the
long run. It also trains us to be proactive in change by
anticipating demand fluctuations. Doing more with less must be
approached with creativity not impoverishment. It can be an exciting
time rather than demoralizing; it all depends on the vision of the
leadership and their ability to communicate that vision.
The "Do More With Less Mentality" must be reframed both for the
workforce and management. Workers must see DMWL as an opportunity to
be creative. Management must use DMWL to empower the workforce by
offering more opportunity and expecting more responsibility. DMWL
must be used to drive efficiency through creativity; we must find
answers to questions that have not yet been asked. We must question
those answers which do not produce desired outcomes. We must do
things differently. Yes! that's right. Change. "Solutions today for
the problems of tomorrow" is a shibboleth of proactivity.
In the Integrated Enterprise, the leadership must champion change;
change that will promote growth and create jobs. For although the
goal of manufacturing is productivity, the goal of capitalism is
full employment.
The Emergent Paradigm
Most importantly, the leader must assume new roles in the management
of the Integrated Enterprise. The primary focus of the leader in the
Integrated Enterprise has now become "Process" or "Relationship"
oriented. The skills of observation, listening, system thinking,
data collection, problem solving, planning and communicating must be
used to facilitate the transformation of the organization. The
leader must relate to and work with all internal as well as external
functions.
To be Continued
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