Tag: The Future of XXXX

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – December 2021

Welcome to December 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Our topic for the discussion for the month is – The Future Sustainability – with a view to present a broader picture of the issue that has been gaining higher priority everywhere.

It is now well accepted that:  Sustainability is meeting our own (present) needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is also well accepted that sustainability is not just environmental-ism. Sustainability rests on dynamic balance of three dimensions economic development, social equity, and environment conservation, not necessarily in that order.

The UN’s adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in the year 2015, has laid the concrete foundation for the roadmap for a sustainable future.

The UN’s aspirational SDGs were “a great gift to humanity” when they were adopted, but much work is still needed to develop science-based pathways to show how they can be effectively and equitably implemented, said Nebojsa “Naki” Nakicenovic, professor emeritus at the Vienna University of Technology and former deputy director general of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The World in 2050 (TWI2050) seeks to make the aspirational SDGs more practical and equitable.

The Science of Sustainability is a science-based view that provides cross-sector collaboration between environment conservation and growing human needs across traditionally disconnected sectors, and on a near unprecedented scale.

Six emerging sustainability trends are identified for the present decade[1]:

  1. Sustainability as a way of doing business
  2. Embracing accountability and importance of being transparent
  3. Education is the key in building awareness
  4. Collaboration between the public and private
  5. Innovation is imperative
  6. Rise of the circular economy.

Further readings:

  1. Our Common Future: The Brundtland Commission report
  2. The SDGs explained for business
  3. The World in 2050 Pursues Paths to a Sustainable Future
  4. The Science of Sustainability

I plan to devote the entire next year’s Xth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs to this subject of Sustainability.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on–

  • SR Offers Opportunities for Quality Professionals – “Sustainability is the goal,” says Andrea Hoffmeier in this ASQTV interview. Hoffmeier, explains how quality professionals can play a role in helping their organizations and clients reach the goal of sustainability through social responsibility. She also discusses how DMAIC can be adapted for the SR audiences.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems :

  • The Future – A single action, taken now, can have significant consequences far into the future…..Time has a way of magnifying whatever we do. So even in the smallest matters, we should strive to do what is the right thing to do. The direction and purpose of each effort we take are much more important than the size of the effort….. We need to point all our actions, large and small, important, and seemingly insignificant, in the direction we wish to see our life move. ,,,,, We are shaped by our thoughts, and we become what we think.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

  • Assessing the Quality Situation: The Importance of Knowing Your Surroundings – Knowing the environment, or being aware of your surroundings, is key to many a task. It’s at least one of the ways we express the importance of having all the information we need in order to reach a goal…. The importance of knowing our surroundings also extends to less controllable environments….. Here is what was very widely told incident during the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Careful consideration of the environment of outer space and its effect on the technology and tools of a mission to space led the U.S. to invest substantially in developing a pen that would write in the zero-gravity of space. And the punchline…the Russian cosmonauts used a pencil.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of The Sustainability during 2022..

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

 

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs wishes everyone the year 2022 to provide the most powerful springboard to sustained success and happiness.

 

 

Please click the hyper link to read /download January 2021 to December 2021 articles of IXth Volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs

[1] What is the future of sustainability as we welcome the next decade?

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – November 2021

Welcome to November 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Our topic for the discussion for the month is – The Future of Climate Change – with a view to present a broader picture of the issue that has been gaining higher priority at the strategy planning meetings of every (responsible) business.

Climate Change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly.[1]

A view of the high Norwegian Arctic in 2015. There is alarming evidence that important tipping points, leading to irreversible changes in major ecosystems and the planetary climate system, may already have been reached or passed. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

The Tipping Point | Climate Change: The Facts | BBC Earth

A tipping point is where even a slight amount of warming can move the climate into an irreversible state.

Source: Otto, I.M. (4 February 2020). “Social tipping elements for stabilizing climate by 2050”

Depending on global economic trends, technological progress, geopolitical developments, and most important, how aggressively we act to reduce carbon emissions, the world at the end of the 21st century could turn out to be radically different. Or not….Five future climate scenarios underpin the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report tell radically different stories about humanity’s future.Sup<[2]

The November edition of the Goal of the Month editorial looks at Goal 13 (Climate Action) of the Global Goals

Additional reading:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about World Quality Day (the second Thursday of November) –

Note: This year’s theme is “Sustainability: Improving Our Products, People, and Planet.” The emphasis will be on the importance of quality in sustainability and its influence on environmental, social, and governance (ESG).

Note: I plan to take up THE FUTURE part of this video for discussion in our next episode of December 2021.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month:

  • Overcome Your Inner Critic – Beware of the inner critic, which can be a super villain preventing creativity – In the modern world, fear has become insidious; it is quiet but pervasively accepted as existing. One of the most common forms is what might be referred to as the inner critic…Like all faces of fear, the inner critic is a part of each of us that is designed to keep us safe. …If we can overcome our inner critic, new ideas begin to flow freely, and new possibilities emerge…. Successful people discover what matters most to them. Once that becomes clear, they work to replace their inner critic with an inner support mechanism to nurture their efforts.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

  • Go-To, There When We Need It – The meaning of the imperative go to, four centuries ago, as used in William Shakespeare drama ‘Macbeth’, was “beat it,” now “geddoutahere”….. And in our time, go-to has come to be defined as “a person or thing that may be relied on or is regularly sought out in a particular situation.” It’s not difficult to see how the term came about—the person or thing you “go to” when you need it…. And the term is not limited to people. We may have a go-to tool to get the job done, or even a go-to food when we are feeling blue or want to celebrate.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

[1] Global Issues: Climate Change

[2] 5 possible climate futures—from the optimistic to the strange  – Madeleine Stone

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – October 2021

Welcome to October 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Our topic for the discussion for the month is – The Profiles of Future – The World without Distance

Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible by  Arthur C. Clarke –  originally appeared in 1962, is an anthology of essays written by Arthur C Clarke during the period 1959 – 1961. Since it was concerned with ultimate possibilities, It has under gone two revisions, in 1971 and 1999. As such the latest 1999 revision does not contain several portions of the original text.

I plan to take up a more detailed look at the book in some time next year. For the purpose of our present episode, we will briefly take a look at some of the predictions Arthur C Clarke has to make about the Future of Work (in 2050) and a few representative current views. –

Arthur C. Clarke Predicted the Future of Remote and Flexible Work in 1964 By Jennifer Parris – With regards to remote working, Arthur Clarke believed that almost any skill, from executive or administrative, to even physical skills, would be possible to perform remotely, regardless of distance. This sentiment shows that Clarke already envisioned the workplace to be a mobile one, not one reliant upon people being together in an office to perform their jobs.

For a more comprehensive look at how working from home came to be (starting with the hunter-gatherers as the earliest at-home workers!), read FlexJobs post on’ “The Complete History of Working from Home.”

Here are some more additional readings on the subject:

BBC Horizon is a widely acclaimed TV show of BBC, One of the episodes of that show, in 1964, presented Artur C Clarke’s predictions of the future. Here is that episode:

BBC Horizon (1964) with Arthur C. Clarke –

(Part 1 of 2)

Part 2 of 2

[Note: BBC Horizon Collection – 512 Episodes – can be accessed at https://archive.org/details/BBCHorizonCollection512Episodes

The big debate about the future of work, explained

3 myths about the future of work (and why they’re not true) | Daniel Susskind

New Profiles of the Future: The World in 2050 and beyond, with Lord Martin Rees

How do we find dignity at work? – Roy Bahat and Bryn Freedman | Ted Salon” Zebra Technologies

Roy Bahat wondered, what was AI doing to the people whose jobs might change, go away or become less fulfilling? The question sent him on a two-year research odyssey to discover what motivates people, and why we work. In this conversation with curator Bryn Freedman, he shares what he learned, including some surprising insights that will shape the conversation about the future of our jobs.

How will we earn money in future without jobs? – Martin Ford | TED 2017

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month

Productive Failures – Failure can provide the seeds for success.- In a productive failure, you do not achieve your objective, but you come away with new knowledge that will increase your chances of future success. A non-productive success occurs when you achieve your objective, but you are not sure what you did right. You can build on productive failures. You can’t build on non-productive failures….The more productive failures experienced, the more you’ll learn….When bad things happen, first think, “Darn, that is really disappointing.” Then quickly think, “How can I turn this into something useful?”

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

  • Serendipity, A Meaningful Connection? – Serendipity is “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” – a happy coincidence or more like a “meaningful connection.” ….. It is something like listening a song for the first time and catching that meaningful lyric, or the emotion of a melody, that spoke to you in that very moment….. Quality hopes to provide with that same sense of serendipity…………….

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – September 2021

Welcome to September 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Our topic for the discussion for the month is – The Future of Work.

How the World of Work is Changing – The workplace of today looks dramatically different to the workplace of yesteryear. Besides obvious technological changes – computers replacing typewriters and machines replacing people – social change has ushered more women into what used to be predominantly a man’s world.

To review the full study please visit – https://www.nextgeneration.ie/blog/2016/04/how-the-world-of-work-is-changing and also view the infographic presented there.

The 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Work – Jacob Morgan – Everything we know about the future of work is being shaped by five trends: globalization, technology, changing demographics, new behaviors, and mobility. For the first time these five trends are coming together to force organizations to change the way they think about how work gets done.

The big debate about the future of work, explains why economists and futurists disagree about the future of the labor market.

The future of work: is your job safe? | The Economist – This is the workforce of the future. Technology is transforming the world of work beyond all recognition creating groundbreaking opportunities. But it’s also eroding the rights of workers. Some even fear a dystopian jobless future. But are these anxieties overblown? How we react to this brave new world of work today will shape societies for generations to come. What are the forces shaping how people live and work and how power is wielded in the modern age? NOW AND NEXT reveals the pressures, the plans and the likely tipping points for enduring global change.

The Future of Work – A CQI Quality Futures Report talks about the effects of digitalisation in the workplace, helping every working person and the organisation to proactively address these issues in the relevant management strategies.

The downloadable copy of this report is available @ https://www.quality.org/future-of-work

Transitioning to the future of work and the workplace – A Deloitte survey (sponsored by Facebook) asked C-suite executives for their perspectives on the future of work. Their responses reveal six themes about the future workplace—and six lessons to help leaders ease the transition.

1: Pay attention to culture; help ensure leaders actively participate in its development and dissemination.

2: Companies should be proactive in creating greater transparency in communications and new systems, and policies and reinterpreting their corporate culture around digital in the workplace, or they risk losing employees, productivity, and, potentially, customers.

3: To keep Millennials, companies should place greater emphasis on nurturing and developing their people, creating interesting and purposeful work, and building an environment with career flexibility and tools that enable employees to collaborate and exchange ideas transparently.

4: Business benefits are real—this is about getting things done

5: Start the shift to new collaboration tools but help ensure workplace practices and employee expectations are aligned with the new capabilities that are available.

6: Leaders can often underestimate the benefits of social tools at work8 and need to be educated in how to use collaboration and business social tools for improved communication, collaboration, and connectivity.

The downloadable copy of the report is available @ https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/HumanCapital/gx-hc-us-cons-transitioning-to-the-future-of-work-and-the-workplace.pdf

Some more videos: for further study:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

  • Readying Yourself for Digital Transformation Initiatives – Richard Uphoff, Manager & Registered Principal Responsible (RPR), Vanguard, discusses skills needed for digital transformation, lessons learned from 25 years of challenging initiatives, and the need to learn how to learn.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month

  • Enhancing Effectiveness – If you do not feel very effective or productive while at work, it can lead to a downward spiral. Chances are you can work far more effectively than you are now and put yourself into an upward trend.

One way is to take control of your time and manage it as well as possible. Try keeping a log for a week or two and track every minute of your day at work, then analyze it. Next, develop strategies for eliminating time traps and time wasters that are pulling you away from achieving your goals

Another good opportunity is to stay current with the technical innovations in your business or industry by reading latest books, periodicals, etc.

A third suggestion is to expand the network of people who can stimulate and support you.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have-

  • Answers & Questions – We’ve all seen movies where the leader inspires his or her team with a moving speech and a call to action. But one characteristic is usually absent.

“Have you ever seen them ask any questions? They just know what to do,”

And that is important for all involved—leaders, followers, associates, suppliers, stakeholders. Asking questions and searching for feedback provides the confidence of knowing everyone is on the same page.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – August 2021

Welcome to August 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Our topic for the discussion for the month is – The Future of Quality – Management – Profession.

Past is rear-view of the driving a vehicle, present the dashboard and future is the windshield. For safe and effective driving all the three views have their own role to play.

The paper, Quality: past, present and future, published by Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), essentially, addresses the concepts and approaches the way the quality profession worked and that have inspired its thinking, as well the trends that can be observed currently to look at the future where man and technology can work together. The focus of quality is set to expand to include quality of life, which is best reflected in what Edward de Bono said, “the quality of our thinking will determine the quality of our future”.

The concept of “quality” has evolved to mean far more than the integrity of a manufactured product. Quality now represents a philosophy, a system of methodologies and practices, and an ongoing commitment to business excellence that encompasses all issues – and engages all individuals – within an organization…..The challenge for quality managers moving into the future is largely about allowing for change in a field that relies on constants. While so much attention today is paid to the bottom line, quality has a profound impact on the top line as well –remaining fluid to recognize, respond to and anticipate customer wants and needs to drive satisfaction and loyalty – a focus that grounds the future firmly in the concepts taught by the original quality leaders over 60 years ago.[1]

The five research themes of the Quality 2030 agenda together with the positive core of QM[2]
The focus of quality will have to shift from the quality tools to the overall business success…. to lead organizational change from the macro level…with the help of business models free of foreseeable risk and committed to business excellence at all levels.[3]

Further reading:

We will now turn to our regular sections:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

Mentioned in this episode:

Principles of the Quality of Cost

Executive Guide to Applying Cost of Quality

SSF Cost of Quality Calculator

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month

  • The Career Path to Success May Not be Linear – Our mental models for how we comprehend the world of business matter shape how we think and what is possible. However, the vertical corporate ladder is becoming an artifact, as the world and how we work continues to evolve…The book, “The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work,” by Cathy Benko and Molly Anderson. authors outline the changing world of work and introduces what they called the corporate lattice. Unlike the linear ladder, the multi-dimensional lattice is more adaptive and replaces the vertical, one-directional model with one that can be described as a “zig zag” or multi-directional career path….The enlightened (lattice) organizations support rewarding professional experiences, providing better career-life fit for employees, and results in greater agility….While it may not necessarily be immediately financially rewarding, employees, and not just those viewed as high potential, gain experience and position themselves to move up when the opportunity presents itself.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have Ego or Progress? –  The three American billionaires’ trips into the outer space have been frequently dubbed nothing more than the competition between, and placation of, the massive egos of these three billionaires… However, over a longer time span and a broader perspective, the idea of technology that starts out benefitting one industry or sector and finding its way to being useful in another is not uncommon, and not uncommon to the quality sector.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

[1] Quality Management: Then, Now and Toward the Future

[2] Quality 2030: quality management for the future

[3] The Future of Quality Management is Business Management by Tom Taormina

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – July 2021

Welcome to July 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Our topic for the discussion for the month is – The Future of Manufacturing.

  • The Industry 4.0 technologies are changing the comparative advantages that drive competitiveness.
  • While technology is boosting productivity in today’s manufacturing hubs and largely offsetting rising wages, it is also reducing the cost of capital and slowing the need to offshore production toward lower-wage countries. Moreover, other factors such as proximity to consumers, the supply of skilled labor, and ecosystem synergies are playing a role as drivers of reshoring.
  • The rising value-added of pre- and post-production activities can reduce the relative importance of the mid-value-chain production stages.
  • The skill bias of technological progress and the increased capital intensity of production will continue to reduce demand for less skilled workers, polarize the job market, and contribute to rising income inequality….If history is a guide, new demand for labor and unforeseen occupations will emerge in the future.
  • The opportunities for the manufacturing in the developing countries will be on account of:
    • A rising middle class in the developing world could lead manufacturers to locate closer to fast-growing consumer markets.
    • The recent research has identified a set of industries outside of manufacturing – “industries without smokestacks” include horticulture, agro-processing, tourism, and some ICT-based services, among others-  that share the tradability and higher productivity features of manufacturing and have great scope to generate growth and employment.[1]

Manufacturing is no longer simply about making physical products…The changing economics of production and distribution, along with shifts in consumer demand and the emergence of “smart” products, are pushing manufacturers to explore radically new ways of creating and capturing value…. given the emergence of more complex ecosystems of fragmented and concentrated players across a growing array of manufacturing value chains, businesses that understand emerging “influence points” will have a significant strategic advantage. As the manufacturing landscape evolves and competitive pressure mounts, driven by the needs of ever more demanding customers, position will matter more than ever.[2]

Manufacturing the future: The next era of global growth and innovation, a major report from the McKinsey Global Institute, presents a clear view of how manufacturing contributes to the global economy today and how it will probably evolve over the coming decade. Our findings include the following points:[3]

The Future of Manufacturing- The World Economic Forum’s Future of Manufacturing project tracks how the global manufacturing ecosystem is evolving. This five-minute investigation explores the future of industry and asks does manufacturing really matter? The Future of Manufacturing project identifies what companies and countries must do to win in a rapidly changing world.

Manufacturers must create a succinct list of priorities that will ensure financial resilience.

  • Focus On Aspects That Can Be Controlled to identify opportunities to improve operational resilience and put processes in place that enable adaptability.
  • Diversify Concentrated Supply Chains by re-examining supply chains and their weak points to reduce the risk of disruptions as much as possible.
  • Balance Risk Mitigation With Capacity Management so as to minimize risks by focusing on specific solutions and production processes, and by broadening offerings.
  • Think Differently About Upskilling and Labor Sourcing with help of remote work force technologies and digital transformation to create a work environment that can attract workforce talent.
  • Time for Leadership to think of better long-term solutions that support adaptability and resilience to take leadership with the future of manufacturing and do things differently. .[4]

Two key priorities that emerge for  both governments and businesses are education and the development of skills. Companies have to build their R&D capabilities, as well as expertise in data analytics and product design. They will need qualified, computer-savvy factory workers and agile managers for complex global supply chains. In addition to supporting ongoing efforts to improve public education—particularly the teaching of math and analytical skills—policy makers must work with industry and educational institutions to ensure that skills learned in school fit the needs of employers.

In all the decisions about where and how to play in this new environment, there is no master playbook—and no single path to success. But by understanding these shifts, roles, and influence points, both incumbents and new entrants can give themselves the tools to successfully navigate the new landscape of manufacturing.

Further reading:

We will now turn to our regular sections:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

Performance Excellence Models and Leadership – Paul Grizzell, co-author, Insights in Performance Excellence, discusses why performance excellence models don’t take hold and what leaders need to do to guarantee a successful initiative launch.

In this episode: Paul Grizzell’s full Interview

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month:

Boredom – generally, any experience that is predictable and repetitive can result in boredom.

It is an attitude, rather than a condition. And since attitudes are learned, they can be unlearned and replaced with more productive attitudes.

Boredom can be a signal that you may be just a step away from going through some real growth. Some experts suggest that boredom can be a ‘call to action.’ It can be a catalyst for change. It can provide an opportunity for thought and reflection.

If you find yourself bored, it is time to look within and initiate meaningful change.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have

Unintended Consequences – It’s the law – Adam Smith said that the individual, even one working purely for his own gain, is “led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention,” and that end is the benefit provided to the public interest or the public good. It is a prime example of what is called a positive unintended consequence.

The ratio of positive to negative unintended consequences is about 3 to 1.

The best, and only, approach to take the Law of Unintended Consequences, is to surround ourselves with the tools and knowledge to reap our vigilante justice.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

[1] The future of global manufacturing – Brahima Sangafowa Coulibaly and Karim Foda

[2] The future of manufacturing

[3] Manufacturing the future: The next era of global growth and innovation – James Manyika, Jeff Sinclair, Richard Dobbs, Gernot Strube, Louis Rassey, Jan Mischke, Jaana Remes, Charles Roxburgh, Katy George, David O’Halloran, and Sreenivas Ramaswamy

[4] The Future Of Manufacturing: What Executives Are Saying – Willem Sundblad

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – June 2021

Welcome to June 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Our topic for he discussion for the month is – The Organization for the Future.

In the then then 1992 classic In Search of Excellence, the authors Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman​, Jr. found a saga of passion in the forty-three great companies that led to enunciation of some of the then them valuable management principles…The idea of passion in large business was a shape-shifter. In those days, managers of large companies were expected to be strategic and financial in their focus. Efficiency was prized. Products were things to be counted and shipped, not loved. If quality was a problem, it was a systemic error and not connected to employee morale[1]

Today most of those companies either have ceased to exist or have been acquired, because basically they were not designed to last… Today, a learning organization[2] should be asking hard questions about the sustainability of its enterprise: what will it take to survive this period of business disruption and technology advancement and what must change in the organization’s design to thrive? …. Designing a robust and sustainable organization begins by asking four questions:

  1. On Process: What are the key processes required to survive and thrive? Even a learning organization can’t change everything at once.
  2. On Structure: What kind of structure will enable changes and the successful implementation of new technologies? We are getting close to the end of the hierarchical, bureaucratic organization.
  3. On Technology, Itself: Who in the organization is accountable for technology innovations and their implementation? Technology has a history of costing a lot and not delivering much value.
  4. And on People: Is our challenge of change a matter of culture, behaviour, or skills? As Drucker wrote in his introduction to the Foundation’s book, “The organization is, above all, social.” Its “purpose must therefore be to make the strength of people effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.”[3]

How will we work in the future? – Most debates so far have focused on how skill requirements and individual jobs will change because of the ongoing technological and demographic transformation. In this talk, Markus Reitzig takes the discussion a step further by reflecting on how current trends such as AI, increasing knowledge complexity, population growth, and rising economic inequality will affect our collaboration more broadly. While we will continue to work in organizations, these will look quite different from the traditional companies of today. Managers will have to re-think how to structure activities to attract and retain future talent.

Professor John P. Kotter sees that the major challenge for business leaders today is staying competitive and growing profitably amid increasing turbulence and disruption. The solution that he proposes is a dual system, that is organized as a network—more like a start-up’s solar system than a mature organization’s Giza pyramid—that can create agility and speed. It powerfully complements rather than overburdens a more mature organization’s hierarchy, thus freeing the latter to do what it’s optimized to do. It makes an enterprise easier to run while accelerating strategic change. This is not a question of “either/or.” It’s “both/and”: two systems that operate in concert. [4]

McKinsey’s research in 2018 identified nine imperatives, highlighted in Exhibit here below, that can possibly separate future-ready organizations from the pack.

The research noted that three of the imperatives proved notable pockets of bold action: taking a stance on purpose (83 percent of companies we studied), establishing ecosystems (83 percent), and creating data-rich tech platforms (73 percent).

Further, when looked across the three categories (“who we are,” “how we operate,” “how we grow”) that together comprise the nine imperatives, it was noted that top-performing companies didn’t concentrate their efforts on any single category but instead tended to act across all three.

Indeed, in an increasingly winner-takes-all economy in which even above-average performance won’t guarantee returns above the cost of capital, we would expect the bar on organizational innovation to only rise.[5]

14 Principles of the Future Organization – Jacob Morgan

Further reading:

We will now turn to our regular sections:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

Charlie Lanktree, Eggland’s Best: Measuring and Inspecting Leads to Consistent Growth – Charles Lanktree, CEO at Eggland’s Best, explains how rigorous inspection and commitment to quality allows the company to continue business growth.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month:

Improve Your System – moving system deficiencies from the “later” pile to the “it’s essential to do this right now” pile.

It would not work if it were done temporarily. Create and fix systems with finality. Identify a class of projects or activities that your team will do instead of you and then never do them again!

Reorganize your data archiving approach and then stick with it.

Build a system for lifelong learning and then maintain the commitment.

The simple adjustment in your workday commitment (redirecting or avoiding the things that have been holding you back) might be the single most effective work you do all year.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have

Why Adopt Risk-Based Thinking? – Organizations should adopt risk-based thinking to make better decisions, particularly when they must contend with challenging, fast-paced or otherwise uncertain environments…., because it prompts organizations to invest time and resources toward planning for the unknown…… Addressing risk also helps companies long term. The time colleagues spend contemplating, finding, and dealing with risks also helps them understand organizational processes — a shared learning progression that strengthens culture and business results. …. The organizations that adopt risk-based thinking can reduce the frequency, likelihood, and impact of losses, while also reduce the response time to unexpected events. The process fosters better communication across the organization, which makes for new opportunities for growth and improvement.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images

[1] About the Book: In Search of Excellence – Rich Karlgaard

[2] 5 Disciplines of a Learning Organization: Peter Senge – Tanmay Vora

[3] The Organization of the Future – What Will It Look Like? – Jim Champy

[4] The Organization of the Future: A New Model for a Faster-Moving World

[5] Organizing for the future: Nine keys to becoming a future-ready company

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – May 2021

Welcome to May 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

We base our discussion on the subject for the present episode on A TED talk, Back to the future (1994), from the playlist The history of the future. In the talk, Danny Hillis outlines an intriguing theory of how and why technological change seems to be accelerating, by linking it to the very evolution of life itself. The presentation techniques he uses may look dated, but the ideas are as relevant as ever…. In essence, the talk has this to state on its key theme of accelerating changes –

The humanity has started abstracting out. We’re going through the same levels that multi-cellular organisms have gone through — abstracting out our methods of recording, presenting, processing information….In the process, we have speeded up time scales. The process is feeding on itself and becoming autocatalytic. The more it changes, the faster it changes.

There is an equally strong school of thought that thinks otherwise.

‘If the pace of change really were unprecedented, then conventional wisdom holds we’d better darn well slow it down, so no one gets hurt.  Either way, the commentators warn, “buckle up.” Here is one, by Alvin Toffler in 1970.:

‘ “It has become a cliché to say that what we are now living through is a “second industrial revolution.” This phrase is supposed to impress us with the speed and profundity of the change around us. But in addition to being platitudinous, it is misleading. For what is occurring now is, in all likelihood, bigger, deeper, and more important than the industrial revolution. Indeed, a growing body of reputable opinion asserts that the present movement represents nothing less than the second great divide in human history, comparable in magnitude only with that first great break in historic continuity, the shift from barbarism to civilization”.

‘Why have people long believed that their eras were unprecedented when it came to the rate of change? There are two reasons. First, at least today, it is hard to get attention if you say that “there’s nothing new here, at least in terms of the pace of change.” Second, it’s simply human nature. Most of us overestimate change in a few things around our lives and ignore most of the rest that changes very slowly, if at all.

‘None of this is to say that technology-driven change isn’t happening. Of course it is—and it’s making our lives much better. But the pace of change appears to be no faster than in prior eras, and just as economies did fine despite Luddite impulses then, ours will do fine now. So, let’s all take a deep breath and say together: “Technological change is not accelerating, but it would sure be nice if it would.” ‘[1]

Scott Brinker has formulated Martec’s Law, which states, Technology changes exponentially, organizations change logarithmically…..there have been hundreds of best-selling books written on the difficulties of personal and organizational change. Empirically, the limit of change for humans is less than linear. In other words, it’s not feasible for an organization to change faster than that. But it’s certainly possible for an organization to change more slowly — or not at all. In fact, in the absence of good leadership, stagnation seems like the default outcome. But even with great leadership, an organization can’t win by outracing technology. It needs a more nuanced strategy….In A.G. Lafley’s book, Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, he drives home the point that strategy is choice. It’s decisively choosing to do certain things and to not do others….That is the crux of technology management. We can’t adopt all technological changes, but we can consciously choose some. Great technology management is choosing which changes to absorb — ideally those that are best aligned with the organization’s overall strategy….In the graph, it’s intentionally deciding what’s in (the red shaded area) and what’s out (the blue shaded area)….. To succeed, technology management must explicitly address how those technologies will be absorbed into the operations and the culture of the organization.

A successful tech-enabled transformation requires organizations to make progress on several paths simultaneously. … Only by following a structured, comprehensive playbook can companies translate their transformation priorities from strategy to action. A two-step methodology supported by several enablers can provide companies with the direction, priorities, and organizational capabilities to maximize the value of such investments. Indeed, companies that took a comprehensive approach to their transformation generated more than twice as much value as organizations focused solely on technology improvements. [2]

Charlie Feld, in his article, Change Management: Leading Through Technology Changes, states: There are three major competencies that great IT leaders need in order to get the lay of the changing landscape: pattern recognition, technical savvy and street smarts.

One may tend to conclude that one should consciously map the change and act in accordance with the organization’s long-term strategy of maintain its competitive advantage.

We will now turn to our regular sections:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

The Quality Professional’s Changing Workplace – This episode investigates how the global pandemic and digital transformation are changing the quality professional’s workplace.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month:

Commit to Improvement – Most continuous improvement programs are treated as the latest management fad; therefore, people look at it as just another “program of the month” being pushed by management. …This is not the way the organization conducts its other business. In fact, the continuous improvement effort is often at odds with the existing processes and metrics, so it is destined to limp along on its way to mediocrity and eventual failure…. Continuous improvement is more about rigor and discipline than it is about technique.

‘From the Editor (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have

Rules: Good or Bad? – English actor and author Alan Bennett once said, “We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn’t obey the rules.” … We equate rules with the difference between order and chaos. We often, quite negatively, associate rules as being an obstacle to success. …Depending on your perspective, those seen breaking the rules are either bad people or trailblazers and pioneers…These quotes express more accurately captures the essence— “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” (Pablo Picasso ) or “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.” (the Dalai Lama)…. Although much has changed in the last year and the near future can look a little daunting, understanding the rules of before, what is happening now, and how it may affect us moving forward is always good practice.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

[1] Technology Feels Like It’s Accelerating—Because You’ve Been Watching Too Many TED Talks – Robert D. Atkinson

[2] Accelerating the impact from a tech-enabled transformation By Venkat Atluri, Aamer Baig, and Satya Rao

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – April 2021

Welcome to April 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

I have picked up two articles relating to Future of Industry. Here too I have avoided going into details that relate to impact of digital technologies but have chosen to focus on the issues that should concern the management in general.

Note: This subject has no correlation to Industries of Future.

The future of industries: Bringing down the walls – As the boundaries between suppliers, producers and consumers and, in some cases, between whole industries shift, the separating walls are being brought down.…. It is expected that all industries will be transformed by the technology shockwave, lowering cost bases, and improving operational efficiency as well as demanding greater integration with customers and suppliers.

Five big issues for companies –

1. Have you got an outcomes’ focus or are you still stuck in a physical product mindset?

2. What are you doing to avoid commoditisation of your business?

3. Are you building a platform presence?

4. Are you leading with or being left behind by advanced technology?

5. Have you got your timing, right?

The ‘Future of Industries’ report discusses these and a number of other questions. Download it to find out more and join in the discussion with PwC.

Industry Of The Future: We Need To Talk – Mike Hughes – The industrial world still inhabits an environment of proprietary systems and vendor lock-in long since abandoned by the IT sector. This is throttling innovation and progress.

Credit: Getty Images

Many organizations recognize that next-generation industrial automation must be interoperable and break free from the locked-in model we currently accept. Interoperable and portable application software is a must for next-generation industries…… The factories and industries of the future, will have machines, operations and IT systems integrated and understand each other, talk and collaborate—where agility, sustainability, and productively are just a matter of choosing the best-in-class solution for your operation.

The Future of Industry | Accenture sums up succinctly the challenges as it states – The world is changing, and all industries are facing a tectonic shift. Let’s embrace the new, together…..

We will now turn to our regular sections:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

Shared Meanings from Top to Bottom – Charlie Barton, President, Barton Consulting LLC, discusses the importance of shared meanings of words for organizations, and the negative business implications that could occur without that common knowledge.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month:

Organizational Culture – Workplace culture takes work but delivers value – Peter F. Drucker, the famed educator and management consultant, said, “There is nothing as useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” …. Maybe more important for effectiveness and efficiency is workplace culture. As times change so must the culture. …We must learn to be aware of one another from a cultural background before we can learn to work together effectively. We need to realize it is not so much what we say as much as the manner in which we express ourselves that can adversely affect mutual understanding…. A lack of understanding and sensitivity can be injurious to the environment. There must be balance in the workforce just as there is in any other situation. We must learn to appreciate the differences between generations and learn to adapt. 

‘From the Editor (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have

Truth or Fallacy – Depends on how you look at it. – Sunk costs are defined as costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Proponents of the sunk cost fallacy argue that since it is a cost paid in the past and unrecoverable, it should be removed from any future decision making. But that does not stop sunk costs from being a part of our psyche…The sunk cost fallacy, in a way, is not just forgetting the time, money, and effort that went into producing something, but not allowing it to blind us to what we truly want or need. … “The sunk cost fallacy means making a choice not based on what outcome you think is going to be the best moving forward, but instead based on a desire to not see your past investment go to waste,” said Julia Galef, president of the Center for Applied Rationality.[1]

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

[1] Julia Galef: The Sunk Costs Fallacy | Big Think

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – March, 2021

Welcome to March 2021 edition of the IXth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We recapitulate that the 2021 theme for the IXth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Presently, we will first take up A future direction for quality management standards, not for what it notes what is in the store for the next revisions of ISO standards. I have picked up the article for the basis of these revisions, which indicates the new way of looking at the fundamentals of the thinking in the times to come. As such, the edited excerpts show only what is relevant, in general.

The eight future concepts are:

  1. Customer experience is the sum of all perceptions, impressions and reactions that a customer has in a series of activities. It involves everything from initially discovering and researching a product or service, through shopping, purchasing and using the product or service to following up with the brand afterwards.
  2. People aspects are all the factors that impact people’s abilities to perform tasks, their interests (eg motivation and preferences), their differences and relations (individual differences and social behaviour), and how an organisation can enhance performance by getting the best from people.
  3. Change management is identified as a systematic approach to initiate, develop, implement and communicate a transition or transformation in an organisation’s identity elements. These elements include the organisation’s  vision, mission, culture, values, policy, strategy, objectives and/or processes.
  4. Integration – An integrated management system (IMS) integrates many systems and processes into one complete framework, enabling an organisation to work as a single unit with unified objectives. When an organisation integrates management systems it can achieve better alignment between its systems, strategic direction, objectives, and the context of the organisation.
  5. Knowledge management is a discipline focused on ways that organisations create and use knowledge. While this concept itself is not new, there are important aspects that now need to be considered in relation to the use of, for example, big data, machine learning, blockchain, code of ethics, copyrights and intellectual property.
  6. There are several emerging technologies that will impact an organization in the future. The extent of digitisation is constantly growing in organisations. There are many possibilities for companies to use intelligent networking and artificial intelligence (AI) for making decisions based on rapidly changing data.
  7. Ethics and integrity are critical to the organisation’s ability to achieve sustainable success. All company decisions, actions and stakeholder interactions must be aligned with its moral and professional principles of conduct. These principles should support all applicable laws and regulations and are the foundation for the organisation’s culture, values and attitudes.
  8. Organizational culture refers to the collective beliefs, values, attitudes, manners, customs and behaviours that are unique to an organisation. Leadership establishes the organisational identity through the culture it develops and promotes.

These eight future perspectives can be further viewed in the light of Gary Hamel’s seminal work ‘The Future of Management’. The book, co-authored by Bill Green, was published in 2007. His basic tenet is that most of the organizations “by a small coterie of long departed theorists and practitioners who invented the rules and conventions of “modern” management back in the early years of the 20th century. They are the poltergeists who inhabit the musty machinery of management. It is their edicts, echoing across the decades, that invisibly shape the way your company allocates resources, sets budgets, distributes power, rewards people, and makes decisions.

However, “the laws of management are neither foreordained nor eternal”.

“Whiplash change, fleeting advantages, technological disruptions, seditious competitors, fractured markets, omnipotent customers, rebellious shareholders—these 21st century challenges are testing the design limits of organizations around the world and are exposing the limitations of a management model that has failed to keep pace with the times.”

“What ultimately constrains the performance of your organization is not its business model, nor its operating model, but its management model.”

The management innovation has a unique capacity to create a long-term advantage for (the) company, and …. (the management of today) must …. first imagine, and then invent, the future of management.[1]

[Side Note: Management Innovation is defined as “..anything that substantially alters the way in which the work of management is carried out, or significantly modifies customary organizational forms, and, by so doing, advances organizational goals”. ]

In this video, Gary Hamel on the Future of Management, you can view Gary Hamel explaining the concept that he has enunciated in the book.

Additional reading:

The Future of Management Gary Hamel: The Future of Management Dr. Liano Greybe

The Future of Innovation Management: The Next 10 Years from Arthur D. Little)

We will now turn to our regular sections:

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we refresh our viewpoints about–

Skills You Need for the Technical Era

Quality 4.0 is More Than Technology https://asq.realmagnet.land/quality-4pt0-research

Learn About Quality 4.0 https://asq.org/quality-resources/quality-4-0

Quality 4.0 Virtual Summit https://asq.org/conferences/quality-4-0

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month:

Change Perspective – In life not everything goes as planned or expected, even for the most successful people. But some people take failure very personally. It is our perspective that counts in the long run…. If you want to change your life, you need to first change your belief system. …. Anything that was learned – and our beliefs are learned – can be unlearned and relearned. Then, you will continue to act like yourself, but you will see yourself differently, so your behavior will be different. And when you change your behavior, you change the results. … Bhagwant Buddha preached : “What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.” In other words, change your perspective, and you change your life.

‘From the Editor (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have

Speaking the same language – George Carlin once said, “Everybody smiles in the same language.”

In fact, our facial expressions can convey a plethora of information about our emotional state.  .. What is critical is — understanding the communication, whether it is verbal or non-verbal.

March 2021 issue of QualityMag provides insight on moving communication forward in the age of Industry 4.0, in the form of Surface Tools: Speaking the language of Industry 4.0” and “Choosing Your Words Wisely: Help us clear up the confusion of NDT terminology.”

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Future of… as the basis for Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

[1] Gary Hamel : The Future of Management