Monthly Archives: September 2007

CEO’s Given Lottery Sized Payouts

Comment on: Fun With Statistics, CEO Life Edition In the US, CEO’s tend to be fairly interchangeable these days and it is rare for their tenure to exceed five years. There are some notable exceptions such as chain-saw Al and … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Seven Fatal Flaws of Performance Measurement

The Seven Fatal Flaws of Performance Measurement by Joseph F. Castellano, Saul Young, and Harper A. Roehm Performance measurement systems are used to establish specific goals, align employee behavior, and increase accountability. Organizations often use these systems to set targets … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Statistics, Systems thinking | Comments Off on Seven Fatal Flaws of Performance Measurement

Danaher Expands Lean Thinking One Acquisition at a Time

Sybron Focuses on Operations Nearly 18 months into becoming part of Danaher Corp., life is different at Sybron Dental Specialties Inc. “Sybron was really a sales and marketing focused organization … and operations (were) part of supporting that,” said Don … Continue reading

Posted in Investing, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing | Comments Off on Danaher Expands Lean Thinking One Acquisition at a Time

This Too is a Kanban

This Too is a Kanban by Jon Miller: The orthodox description of a kanban is a rectangular card in a plastic sleeve used to reorder materials from a supplier or an upstream process, or a triangular metal plate used to … Continue reading

Posted in Management | Comments Off on This Too is a Kanban

Search Share Data – Checking the ACSI

Last month, in a long post criticizing the ACSI I took issue with, among other things, the implications being drawn from an ACSI rating. The ACSI rating of Yahoo was higher than that of Google (though statistically insignificantly so). Anyway, … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Google, Statistics | 4 Comments

Kaizen – Yahoo Mail Style

Yahoo Mail Innovates, Gmail Stagnates Yahoo Mail has begun rolling out of beta after releasing an onslaught of innovative feature improvements along the way. On the other hand, a whopping three years into their beta release, Gmail remains one of … Continue reading

Posted in Google, Innovation, IT, Management, Software Development | 1 Comment

Employees That Telecommute are the Most Loyal

In Loyal Employees Stay Home, quotes from the Wall Street Journal (behind a iron curtain still in this day and age – oh well): “When companies allow employees to work remotely or from home, they are explicitly communicating to them … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, IT, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | 3 Comments

Keeping Older Workers

We’re Not Finnished With You Yet Abloy and many other Finnish companies are suddenly treating older employees like a precious resource. Instead of nudging them into early retirement, they’re coaxing gray-hairs to work longer with better health benefits, extra weeks … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #19

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Why Does Bad Management Thrive So Much? by David Maister – “My question is: why hasn’t this egregiously bad management been driven out competitively? How do … Continue reading

Posted in Carnival, Management | Comments Off on Management Improvement Carnival #19

Deming on being Destroyed by Best Efforts

Best efforts are essential. Unfortunately, best efforts, people charging this way and that way without guidance of principles, can do a lot of damage. Think of the chaos that would come if everyone did his best, not knowing what to … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Systems thinking | 5 Comments