Category Archives: Management

Effective Change Management Strategies and Tactics

Posted on September 18, 2018 by John Hunter

ASQ has asked their Influential Voices to respond to the question: What are some recommended strategies or tactics to help achieve successful change management? See my past blog posts as part of the ASQ Influential Voices program (I have participated … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, change, management, organization as a system, Psychology, quote, respect for people, Systems thinking | 3 Comments

Peter Scholtes on Teams and Viewing the Organization as a System

Posted on August 7, 2018 by John Hunter

In this presentation Peter Scholtes provides an explanation of teams within the context of understanding an organization of a system: We will not improve our ability to achieve our purpose by empowering people or holding people accountable. I know that … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking, webcast | Tagged blame, curiouscat, Customer focus, management, organization as a system, Peter Scholtes, Psychology, respect for people, teams | Comments Off

The Best Form of Fire Fighting is None at All

Posted on July 30, 2018 by John Hunter

The best form of problem solving is to avoid problems altogether. At the point you have a “fire” in your organizaiton you have to fight it. But it is better to create systems that avoid fires taking hold in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged long term thinking, mistake-proofing, organization as a system, problem solving, Systems thinking | Comments Off

Good Project Management Practices

Posted on May 2, 2018 by John Hunter

I find myself working as a project manager, or a program management consultant more frequently in the last few years. As would be expected by those reading the Curious Cat Management Improvement blog, my project management views are based on … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged agile management, curiouscat, long term thinking, management concepts, organization as a system, prioritize, productivity, project management, Psychology, work in process | 3 Comments

Poorly Stratified Data Leads to Mistakes in Analysis

Posted on April 18, 2018 by John Hunter

Stratification can help provide insight into the nature of the real world situation. Determining what is a sensible conclusion to draw and what is not is aided by an understanding of statistics and expert knowledge of the situation the data is drawn from. Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged critical thinking, curiouscat, Data, evidence based management, management, Statistics | 2 Comments

Quality of the Entire Customer Experience

Posted on March 14, 2018 by John Hunter

There is a difference in the way many organizations are managed today and managing with an understanding of your organization as a system aligned toward customer focused continual improvement. The ability to create great customer experiences is much easier with a management system based on customer focused continual improvement principles than one without. Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Psychology | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, Customer focus, management, Psychology, Quality tools, respect for people, Systems thinking, usability | Comments Off

The New Age of Robots and What it Means for Jobs

Posted on January 23, 2018 by John Hunter

I believe we have reached a turning point in the usefulness and effectiveness of industrial robots. For several decades it was pretty easy to predict wholesale adoption of “the robots will save us” mantra would be followed by failure. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management | Tagged Economics, engineering, IT, leadership, management, organization as a system, robots, technology, Toyota | Comments Off

Advice for Managers Who are Just Starting Out

Posted on December 19, 2017 by John Hunter

I was interviewed by Vidal Graupera for his Managers Club blog, excerpts from that interview: What are the biggest challenges you face? Convincing organizations to adopt better management methods. People are very attached to historical ways of managing. While it … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged Career, coaching, interview, John Hunter, management, managers | Comments Off

RSS feed for Management Improvement Blog Posts

Posted on October 17, 2017 by John Hunter

I have created a RSS feed for select blog posts from the start of the Curious Cat Management Improvement blog in 2004 (as well as other posts I have made on management improvement on other blogs). Subscribe to the John Hunter management improvement RSS feed. Doing so will add a post each day to your RSS feed reader from my past blog post. Of course, the normal RSS feed for this blog will continue to provide access to the new blog posts I publish. Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Management | Tagged blogs, John Hunter, management | Comments Off

Looking in the Mirror at Customer Focus

Posted on September 5, 2017 by John Hunter

Most organizations say they are focused on meeting and exceeding customer needs. But, as a customer, this often isn’t what I experience. Delighting customers is critical to long term business success. Satisfied customers will remain your customers until they see … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Innovation, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged culture, Customer focus, customer service, Innovation, Japan, management, strategy | 1 Comment