Four Practical Revolutions in Management : Systems for Creating Unique Organizational Capability

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Firstly, the first review of this book on this page is by Goodloe Suttler who is actually acknowleged in the book so should have mentioned this in his review, unless this is a stunning coincidence.

However, his review is correct. This book extends the previous version (A New American TQM) and adds valuable new material. I found A New American TQM was in my top 5 Quality Books list - an excellent read. Four Practical Revolutions takes its place.

Highly recommended for its practical advice and comprehensive coverage of all aspects of quality improvement.

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Book of Improvement Management
Review: I have read many hundreds of book on management, on quality improvement, and on other more specific business-related topics. But I have never read a business book as comprehensive & thorough as the new Shiba/Walden edition. The authors have amply demonstrated what improvement is all about by taking their original book and seamlessly integrating 10 years of their active learning on related and new topics. This masterful work will be of particular importance to senior and middle managers who need quick access to the definitive reference manual for improvement thinking and practical, proven methods. This book towers above all others in the field ..... a 'must-have' for anyone who is serious about improvement work.

Rating:
Summary: Very Usefull for everyday work
Review: In my past role work in manufacturing operations and in my current role as a sofware product manager, I can honestly say that the techniques and ideas in these books are invaluable and can be put to practicle use everyday on the job.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book on quality leadership
Review: The success or failure of the design process depends on the organization within which it is embedded. An individual or group may bear the title "designer," but design responsibility is located in a team. Design teams include managers whose responsibilities cut across and link the comprehensive range of functions in an organization. These range from sourcing, supply, engineering, and operations, to logistics, marketing, and customer service. They may even include finance or advertising. Successful designers participate in a managerial process and understanding the flow of work through an industrial organization is the key to successful design.

This book offers a structured overview of a total design process. The process identifies and solves problems to create or improve goods and services. The total design process incorporates and transcends the limited process of designing a functional artifact or service. Shiba and Walden address the challenge of shaping organizational knowledge, skill, and behavior to account for the total design process. This necessarily includes designing the systems that implement design. This is a managerial task, and this book addresses design process from a managerial and engineering perspective.

The book is divided into five parts. The first considers the evolution of business and the way that organizations today must work to meet social needs. The next four sections address the four practical revolutions that make this possible. These are customer focus, continuous improvement, total participation, and societal networking. The authors operationalize the four revolutions through specific tools and useful approaches. They give careful, effective descriptions of dozens of methods for management, problem solving, and skills development.

Specific tools and approaches described here include the 7-step reactive approach to problem solving, the 9-step project planning method, and the Hoshin Management system, along with strategies and tactics for specific applications. The approach is methodically pluralist and action-oriented, supported by a rich series of case studies and a 315-item bibliography.

This book is highly recommended. It should be in every design school library.

Shoji Shiba is a professor of business administration at Tsukuba University in Japan and at the Sloan School at MIT. David Walden is editor of the Center for Quality of Management Journal.

Book review published in Design Research News, Volume 6, Number 7, Jul 2001 ISSN 1473-3862