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#Management

Constraint theory at work. Systematic approach to improving the efficiency of the company (Management Dilemmas: The Theory of Constraints Approach to Problem Identification and Solutions)

#Management #Leadership #Processes #Project #ProductManagement #ToC

Eli Schragenheim’s book is devoted to the theory of limitations and contains a lot of practice. The author offers his readers descriptions of practical cases, gives an opportunity to think over them themselves using standard approaches: the tree of current reality, diagrams of conflict resolution, the tree of future reality, "drum - buffer - rope", etc. And then he shows his analysis of the situation, the conclusions and options for approaching the goals of the company. The book consists of 13 heads

  1. Basics of System Limitation Theory and Principles of Management Situation Analysis - here the author tells the basics of the theory of limitations that I mentioned above.
  2. Why change if everything is so good? Case about online sale of office products (ala comus). The author shows here. 2 The development plan, one from the past CEO and the other from the current, further analyzes the problems and proposes specific actions.
  3. Let there be light! - a story about the creation of customized lamps, which would like to do faster, in small batches and often change the model range. Interesting story:)
  4. Repair of military communications equipment A canonical story about a step-by-step value creation process involving several types of professionals. The efficiency of the process is low and we need to find the “killer of efficiency” – the search is carried out in a standard way, but it does not become less interesting.
  5. We need this unit. A story about a hospital where a sponsor threw money for a new department, but the hospital staff opposed it. Next, Eli spins the story to understand the disadvantages of this decision and what can be done with these disadvantages.
  6. Acting in a situation of uncertainty - a shopping story. It is interesting to see here that it is important to understand the consequences of both excess and insufficient stocks. And then you can focus on the cost of production downtime, if materials are not enough, as well as the cost of excess products that may lie in stock.
  7. Effects of a single reorganization An interesting story about the reorganization and the issue of individual KPIs and the calculation of individual PnLs. And what can it lead to if you do it crooked.
  8. Nice surprise - a story about how to add to the current underutilized capacity can improve financial results. The main thing is that these are not the capacities that are already a bottleneck for the company.
  9. Failure of a brilliant project A story about a project with high uncertainty, where management poorly performed the contract and did not work well with risks. This led to financial failures in the RnD project, which otherwise would have been a great success or simply would not have started.
  10. Information that has not become useful information Analysis of competitors and the market as a whole. The main conclusion, if you look in the wrong direction, you will learn a lot of information, but it will not be about what is important to you:)
  11. Plans for next season and information systems The story about travel and tour planning is not next season. Here it is interesting to see how different cost accounting options can affect the preparation of plans.
  12. Crisis at The Small News - a case about a small company, where the goals of the co-founders diverge and it is difficult to determine the purpose of the company and build further action from it.
  13. The rich cry too. - a case about the organizational culture of the company, which can interfere with business development. Interestingly, in the story itself, the psychologist involved in solving problems is:)

P.S. Other books on the subject that I have already talked about

#Management #Leadership #Processes #Project #ProductManagement #ToC