Part of the Lean Tools for Healthcare series, this user-friendly book will help to improve your understanding of kaizen. It describes exactly what a kaizen event is and details all the phases necessary for implementing continuous improvement practices in your healthcare organization. Kaizen Workshops for Lean Healthcare walks you through the steps of conducting an effective kaizen workshop-one that is well planned, well implemented, and well monitored. The information is presented in an easy-to-assimilate format. Numerous illustrations reinforce the text and margin assists call your attention to key terms, healthcare examples, and how-to steps.Throughout the book, you will be asked to reflect on questions that will help you apply the concepts and techniques in your own workplace. Defining the key concepts and elements of the "production" of healthcare services, the text delineates the differences between healthcare processes and the individual cycles of work that those processes link together. It also: Provides foundational information on kaizen and kaizen workshops-defining the key roles for success Explains exactly how to plan and prepare Presents examples of how to present workshop results and how to follow up Includes a concise summary of kaizen workshop steps Supplies a list of additional resources for learning more about the different kinds of improvement methodologies you might want to implement in your kaizen workshops If your healthcare organization fully applies the steps detailed in this book, it will gain much more than the knowledge of how to conduct a workshop. Through kaizen, you will empower your employees to make positive change a reality. And incrementally, kaizen workshops will become more than isolated events-they will become the way all work is done in your organization.

Of the 100 companies named to Fortune magazine's list of the world's largest companies in 1956, only 29 of those companies remain on that list. Many lost their way because they failed to recognize the changes taking place, or were too big to react quickly enough to shifting market conditions. Supplying Lean practitioners with a formal process for keeping up with technological advancements and shifting business requirements, The Future of Lean Sigma Thinking in a Changing Business Environment provides the tools to survive and prosper through the current business environment. It introduces cutting-edge business solutions from the fields of chemical engineering, aircraft production, and business psychology, and explains how to integrate these concepts with proven Lean principles. The book begins by providing a foundation in essential Lean concepts, including Deming and Juran, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, the Toyota Production System, and New Six Sigma. Next, it reports on the latest advances in process understanding. By analyzing changing attitudes within the system, it illustrates how new products are being developed using updated Lean thinking. In addition, it provides examples that demonstrate the impact of e-commerce on Lean production systems. Incorporating the green agenda to Lean thinking, the text supplies the insight to safely navigate your company through a shifting business landscape while reducing your impact on raw materials and the environment. By following the principles discussed in this book, you will not only increase your company's chances of achieving long-term survival but will position your organization to capitalize on the economic upturn on the horizon.

What Works for GE May Not Work for You: Using Human Systems Dynamics to Build a Culture of Process Improvement provides new tools for managing and sustaining process improvement in today's complex non-linear environments and helps readers apply new, relevant theory to their own management practices. With more than 50 combined years of change management and process improvement consulting experience, the authors offer valuable practical insights for creating dynamic organizational change. The first section of the book describes the key bodies of knowledge and process improvement processes (Lean, Six Sigma, and Human Systems Dynamics) used throughout the text. The next two sections focus on the case story of TryinHard Marine. The authors first highlight the dynamics of a typical linear process improvement implementation. They then present ways to combat a range of complex, non-linear, and emergent organizational issues as they arise during the implementation of a Six Sigma initiative. The last part explains how to assess readiness to begin a process improvement initiative, select consultants and internal "Belt" candidates, and choose the appropriate tools for projects. The authors also introduce additional tools and concepts to enable adaptive action at all levels of an organization. This book provides useful information for thinking and behaving in adaptive ways that can be applied to any organization. By using the concepts, models, and tools presented, readers can improve their own business improvement processes. The book has an accompanying website with more information.

Defining and Deploying Software Processes enables you to create efficient and effective processes that let you better manage project schedules and software quality. The author's organized approach details how to deploy processes into your company's culture that are enthusiastically embraced by employees, and explains how to implement a Web-based process architecture that is completely flexible and extensible. Divided into four sections, the book defines the software process architectural model, then explores how this model is implemented. It addresses both the importance of the Web in deploying processes and the importance of a version-controlled repository tool for process management. The third section examines the use of the software process model. The author focuses on classes of process users, metrics collection and presentation, schedule creation and management, earned value, project estimation, time-card charging, subcontract management, and integrated teaming. The final section discusses deployment of the model into an organization, outlining how to rapidly confront pain issues, process group creation and charter, process champion development, pilot and measure the model, and prepare for external model appraisal, e.g., SCAMPI.

As a pioneer in Lean improvement methods, Jim Martin was among the first to suggest that truly successful Lean initiatives are those applied across every facet of an organization, not just on the shop floor. Building on this concept, Martin demonstrates that one of the most effective ways to implement operational improvements across an organization is to approach it through the resource that permeates every facet of a modern organization information technology.

Measuring and Improving Performance: Information Technology Applications in Lean Systems explains how the effective use of Lean project management methodologies can increase the productivity of information system deployment in service and manufacturing organizations. Starting with an overview of Lean and agile project management principles, the author walks readers through the implementation of Lean practices across key aspects of IT systems.

Created to provide Lean and Six Sigma practitioners with a clear understanding of the important concepts related to the creation and modification of software to support process improvement activities across Lean systems, this reference book:

• Details how to apply Lean principles to IT systems on a global scale
• Explains how to design IT systems capable of meeting evolving customer needs and expectations
• Covers several project management methods including agile project management (APM), agile unified process (AUP), SCRUM, extreme programming (EP)
• Identifies the operational issues that can help project execution and those that can hinder it

Complete with roadmaps and checklists, this book will help busy IT and Lean professionals discover more efficient ways to monitor business activity, gather business intelligence, manage and analyze business processes, and ultimately increase overall operational efficiency.

Transformative Quality: The Emerging Revolution in Health Care Performance shows readers the way forward in the gargantuan task of transforming health care quality in America. Always interesting and informed, national award-winning journalist Mark Hagland demonstrates how pioneering organizations are combining new tools with a new way of thinking to reinvent the way we deliver health care services in this country. Through exceptionally well-documented case studies, this insightful volume - * Puts the current journey towards industry-wide quality transformation into an understandable context for executive, board, and policymaking audiences * Explores how performance improvement methodologies borrowed from other industries, including Six Sigma, Lean management, and the Toyota Production System are transforming care delivery processes and administrative operations nationwide * Examines the strategic role that information technology will play in the transformation of clinical care quality and patient safety The case studies contained in this book document the surprising strides being made by pioneering hospitals and health systems, advances that have the potential to transform the delivery of health care in the United States. Offered in a context that frames the current state of health care quality in this country, they are indispensable reading for anyone working in the trenches to improve that quality.

Although there are countless books available on strategic management, there are few, if any, that supply practical coverage of strategic planning, execution, and measurement-until now. Considering the entire value chain, this book covers the complete process of strategic planning, execution, and measurement. Based on three decades of field-tested experience, Strategic Planning, Execution, and Measurement (SPEM): A Powerful Tool for CEOs provides both a consultant's view and an entrepreneurial approach to strategic planning, execution, and measurement. Walking you through the process, it begins by defining world-class status, visions, missions, business models, and value chains. Next, it discusses the two most important prerequisites of strategic planning and includes a questionnaire to help you evaluate operations, systems, and structure in your organization. The book provides a matrix of 25 parameters for assessing the status of your organization that can help to pinpoint the perceptional gaps between top executives and owners. It includes a strategy bank with 150 generic strategies in the five performance areas of business and identifies methods for monitoring strategy execution that provide early warning signals. It also introduces the Entrepreneurial Score Card, a tool for improving the impact of strategic planning and execution in your organization. Detailing the structure and preparation process for the strategic plan, the book illustrates the financial impact of strategy execution and explains the various financial monitoring parameters used in the performance cards of individual employees. It concludes by describing an entrepreneurial approach to strategic planning and with a comprehensive case study that illustrates the entire strategy formulation process and its conversion into an annual budget. This book is ideal for CEOs, CFOs, COOs, business owners, heads of business verticals, heads of corporate planning or strategy, functional heads, teachers, students, and practicing consultants in the area of strategic planning.

This new work takes quality principles and practices in higher education beyond theory by providing practical examples of what happens when these principles are applied. Freed and Klugman conducted an in-depth study of 10 quality-oriented colleges and universities. The administrators, staff members, and faculty members of these institutions candidly share their successes and failures in this book. The authors address the internal and external forces that are driving change and describe the development and implementation of quality systems that will meet the challenges of today's competitive academic environment. They also discuss the barriers to implementing quality principles as well as ways to remove them.

This new work takes quality principles and practices in higher education beyond theory by providing practical examples of what happens when these principles are applied. Freed and Klugman conducted an in-depth study of 10 quality-oriented colleges and universities. The administrators, staff members, and faculty members of these institutions candidly share their successes and failures in this book. The authors address the internal and external forces that are driving change and describe the development and implementation of quality systems that will meet the challenges of today's competitive academic environment. They also discuss the barriers to implementing quality principles as well as ways to remove them.

Today, from the point of view of the European Social Model, one of the most important challenges regards how to manage globalisation and, in this context, how to guarantee a policy approach capable of reinforcing economic development as well as employment and social policy. One answer seems to lie in the role of "quality. This volume focuses on the role of the quality of work as the European strategic response to the challenges deriving from globalised competition. It shows how an increase in the quality in work can contribute to increasing productivity, improving living standards and fostering sustainable economic growth. This book assembles the most relevant contributions presented at the European Conference organized by the international network "Regional and Local Development of Work and Labour (RLDWL) on « Globalisation, Company Strategies and Quality of Working Life in Europe, which took place in Bologna in June 2003.

Delivering cutting-edge coverage that includes the latest thinking and practices from the field, QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 8e presents the basic principles and tools associated with quality and performance excellence. Packed with relevant, real-world examples, the text thoroughly illustrates how these principles and methods have been put into effect in a variety of organizations. It also highlights the relationship between basic principles and the popular theories and models studied in management courses. The eighth edition reflects the 2015-16 Baldrige criteria and includes new boxed features, experiential exercises, and up-to-date case studies that give you practical experience working with real-world issues. Many cases focus on large and small companies in manufacturing and service industries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. In addition, chapters now open with a "Performance Excellence Profile" highlighting a recent Baldrige recipient.