I heard of a management method while listening to the radio. It was set in a call centre and they called it Lean Management. On a little investigation I find it was derived from Japan and uses several Japanese terms. However, as I looked closer and closer, nothing seemed to me to actually be new. The concept seemed obvious. The methods of working only common sense. But maybe, just maybe common sense is what it is all about. A valuable quality which has yet to be measured by any psychological instrument. Nope, there was nothing in Lean Management which really spoke out as being wonderful and brilliant and new.

It is just a method. A structured method, no more and no less. It has the same quailities as many other structured methods. After A comes B. One follows on from the other. To the point it all becomes weiry. I wouldn't say Lean Management was not interesting, as it is when I first checked it out. Though the Japanese technical terms could be transcribed into other areas. Specifically ergonomics came to mind. Yep, all the Japanese added was jargon. The kind of stuff which is floated in front of the eyes of the rest of the world. In reality the jargon is the Emporer's clothes as is always with these theories.

But it works. OK i've shown sceptism in my comments. The system works when it is used by a fully compliant organization. Unfortunately organizations are groups of people in the Western world. Here in the west people like to be different and individualistic. Here they like their power bases and quite often what is good for the whole is not as important as what is good for the individual. The reasons could be many. For instance organizational culture, now there's a vague term for you. Or simple, heirarchy, or complex mixes of in an out groups fighting for control regardless of an organization's espoused statements.

Sometimes things just don't change.