Disadvantages of lean management

In my last article I wrote about lean management and that this strategy is a great innovation for many reasons, and one of them is time saving. Well of course this is great, I do less and do get more time to do other things. But on the other hand I feel like I am always under pressure.  In the sense of I have more time for other things, so during the day I do a lot more, in the end I am busy the hole day. And I get this uncomfortable feeling- this will never end- which can lead to burn out (read more about this in Jules post).

From this perspective, I began to search for the disadvantages of lean management. For my essay in Work Business & Society I am reading “The Machine that changed the world” is a report that is written by Daniel T. Jones. I found really interesting disadvantages from the Japanese perspective.

“The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife!”

Recycling-one of the may simplest ways to contribute to a better environment. For some it’s cumbersome, for some it’s natural and for some it’s business.

Sustainability within firms has gained more and more interest within the last years. If firms want to differentiate their products from similar brands, they try to do something special, something good, something in the actual customer’s interest.

CSR – from a manager’s point of view

When first being confronted with corporate social responsibility, I thought that a firm’s sustainability approaches restrict their ability to maximize profits. However, I learned that CSR can actually contribute to better innovation and development within a firm as I stated in my last blog post about CSR. Now, I want to have a closer look on that aspect!

• What do managers think about CSR programs?
• Is it in their personal interest?
• Can their firm be profitable while spending enormous amounts of money on CSR strategies?
• Is it solely for a better reputation?

How about some CHANGE?

Last week we discussed in class change management. How important this is in our lives, in our businesses and actually almost everywhere. We had two examples, Soutwest Airlines and 7-Eleven Japan, which showed that change management is very crucial and successful. 

However not just in business change is a fundamental part, also in our lives change is even more necessary than important. For example after school we go to college and therefore we live in a different city, we have a new flat, new surroundings and a new time lapse. All those changes make us more self-consistent and give us more experience and that is why they are necessary. However in the beginning it is probably not easy, actually it is very hard to change.

So we can see that change management is very important in our lives and also in businesses, but I still questioned myself: why? Why is change so important in businesses?