Summary of Management Trends

Organizations nowadays need to keep themselves updated with the latest trends in the business
environment so as to better deal with competition. There have been numerous
developments in the field of management.

·      Just in time and lean production: JIT is a philosophy of continuous improvement, wherein
un-used or waste resources are identified and removed. The technique of JIT was
first used by an American organization called Ford Motor Company during the
1920s. JIT involves different disciplines such as statistics, industrial
engineering, production management and behavioral science. JIT is also
considered to be an inventory management system in which all waste elements
that increase costs are removed. Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy
that is based on eliminating the activities that do not add any value to the
end product and finding efficiencies. In lean manufacturing the approach of
“less is better” is adopted to produce goods on demand only. Production is
based on customer requirements and not on quantity targets, thereby keeping the
inventory to a minimum.

·      Some other important developments in management

a.   5S: It is a waste eliminating technique used in organizations to improve production
efficiency. This technique comprises Japanese words beginning with “S”. These
words are:

Seiri (Sort): It refers to organizing the work area in such a manner
that all the unnecessary items are eliminated.

Seiton (Straighten): It refers to arranging all the required items in an
accessible range for users and substitutes too.

Seiso (Shine): It refers to keeping machines, equipment and tools
clean. Clean items facilitate the use of work area on time.

Seiketsu (Standardize): It refers to standardizing the practices so that they
are similar across all the workstations that indulge in the same type of job.

Shitsuke (Sustain): It refers to continuing the process of improvement.

b.   Six Sigma:  It is a technique that lays emphasis on
measuring the quality to attain perfections. Six Sigma was developed at
Motorola in 1986 for improving processes. It is employed by organizations to
identify and eliminate the causes of defects in the current process and reduce
variations.

C. Kaizen: This is a japanese  term which means “continuous improvement” through small
increments. It is a philosophy or practice that focuses on continuous
improvement of different processes in an organization like manufacturing,
engineering and management.