Nature – Kaizen – Reengineering

Couple days ago I was reading an article on Reengineering and the corporate obsession for it. The article sprung a thought in my mind about human evolution. It is believed that we have taken us over 5000 years to get to where we are today.

Although it feels like we have accelerated the process in the past couple years, is it just a relative. Ever realized how slow an airplane seems to move in the sky? Anyway the point being we have a sudden obsession with speed and change?

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy on continuous improvement, through process improvement. The belief is many small process improvements will deliver breakthrough overall results eventually. After the Second World War, Japanese corporations focused efforts on productivity improvements on a war footing. Kaizen has been responsible for increase in productivity in many Japanese corporations. Unlike other Japanese philosophies, Kaizen failed to again a strong acceptance in the US management style.

Kaizen failed where Reengineering succeeded. Kaizen’s focus on process where bottom line is never the motivation. Kaizen thus delays dramatic breakthrough that may come about from new technology, on the exact other end Reengineering focuses on disruptive and radical change.

Often Japanese corporations are family run and managed conglomerates and legacy is a big deal. US corporations are vey myopic in that regard. It is about the tenure and not legacy! It is so fascinating to hear us managers to talk about legacy especially when you think of CEOs who receive huge severance even when the company is falling in a debt trap or underperforming compared to its peers.

I am reminded of a quote from an old scripture the Gita where Lord Krishna preaches his brother in-law Arjun at the time of war. Arjun is hesitant to fight evil that has taken the form of his own cousin brother. “Don’t think of the end, do your duty, put in your best and you will succeed”.