RE: On Management by Objectives . . . an Hoshin Kanri

["Alan Meekings" <alan@landmarkconsulting.co.uk>]

Further to Doug's recent message on MBO, in which he says: 

"The failures [in MBO] are do in part to executive failure to see the
importance of structuring an organization in a way that aligns outcomes
including deliverables, decision-making, personnel interactions, risk
taking, and behaviors with the company aim."

I wonder if any subscribers have personal experience of working in an
organisation that use the concept of Hoshin Kanri (policy deployment,
otherwise known as 'catch-ball planning') in the way described in Japanese
text books on the subject.

The Hoshin Kanri concept of customer-focused, outwards-in, end-to-end,
top-to-bottom, and bottom-to-top discussion of, and then commitment to,
shared objectives would seem, at least conceptually, to have a lot going for
it.

Never having worked in Japanese firm myself, I'm left wondering if the hype
matches the reality. 

If so, it would be interesting to discuss how to make Hoshin Kanri work
across differing cultures.

Regards as ever,
 
Alan
 
Email: alan@landmarkconsulting.co.uk
Mobile: 07785 258 741