Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
How can technology help improve the environment? Are we promoting a more singular existence, where individualism is the force that is driving us along? We are now living in a world that is in an accelerated mode of change and innovation. Is this rate of change detrimental to our existence? Think about this for a moment. On the one hand we have improvements in all areas of our lives some are greater than others. On the other hand we are looking at the effects of the harmful destruction of our planet earth.
The first computers started to emerge around the 1940’s, now we have computer processors in a lot of the electronic equipment we use every day. We even have computers that can fit in your hand that have more power than the first computers.The first Television and television transmission appeared in 1925 and now we are watching gigantic flat screens, some as big as buildings and others screens as small as wrist watches. In the past 80 years the medical field has also grown in leaps and bounds in the areas of IVF, genetic research, cloning, stem cell research, along with the progress in the prevention, cure and management of various diseases. Other fields such as astronomy, environmental science, weapons/warfare and engineering have also had their fair share of extraordinary development achievements.
Looking at the issues of Global warming and human environment interaction we are currently facing within our natural environment. Should we really be in a race to ruin the land where we live? We cannot keep up with the current technology, just look at all the equipment you have taken to the recycle tip in just the last 12-24 months. Consider how many Televisions, Videos, DVD players, Computers, Laptops, Hi-fi’s and Home entertainment systems you have changed or bought recently, the list is endless. When an improvement is made to a product it can sometimes make the original product obsolete. Satellite Navigation equipment a new and easily available product for everyone. Even if you only use it once a year it is believed to be a must have product. Mobile phones is another product every man and his dog has one these days. How often do you change your mobile phone for the latest model? Can you ever imagine being without a mobile phone? How did we ever cope without them? The raw materials used to make a phone cannot be recycled easily.
I believe as we get to understand one part(s) of our lives we seem to lose sight of others parts that are equally as important. What can be done to slow down the rate of change or how do we as a nation become more aware of the effects of the rate of change has on our environment.
If we could not have a new television or other new product until the old one had been recycled properly we would help the environment tremendously. Today if we implemented this many products or versions of products would be missed because of the speed at which technology changes. Like the latest flat screen with super clear picture quality. It seem that every other week we get the next new and improved product. Just look at washing power or washing up liquid advertisements.
Just some food for thought more to come soon.
Although Six Sigma has its roots in manufacturing, it works just
as effectively in service industries. It’s no secret that
service environments, such as financial organizations,
healthcare providers, retail companies, and hospitality
organizations have a harder time applying Six Sigma principles.
However, the core principles of Six Sigma allow it to
cost-effectively translate manufacturing-oriented Six Sigma
tools into the service delivery process.
Service organizations have different root causes of problems and
a unique set of processes and metrics. Thus, the tools and
methodology required to achieve the improvements of Six Sigma
are significantly different. While problems in the manufacturing
setting may lie within a process, the issue in a service
environment often is the process itself. Service industries are
full of waste–and ripe for the benefits of Six Sigma. It is
easy to apply relatively simple statistical and lean tools that
will reduce costs and achieve greater speed with less waste in
service processes. There are numerous case studies that
demonstrate how Six Sigma can be used in service organizations
just as effectively as in manufacturing-and with even faster
results.
In a service organization, the critical factors in quality and
efficiency are flow of information and interaction between
people, especially interactions with customers. Transforming the
process of these flows will yield quality results. At the heart
of every service business are the opinions, behaviors and
decisions made by people. Analyzing and modifying human
performance in service environments is as complex as any
manufacturing situation. Six Sigma achieves documented
bottom-line strategic business results by initiating an
organization-wide culture shift. Until a process focus-rather
than a task focus-is developed, the scope and endurance of
improvements will be limited. Analyzing and modifying human
performance in these environments is complex, but Six Sigma
provides the tools and methodology required to achieve
significant long-term improvements.
Service managers trained in Six Sigma become skilled at advanced
process analysis and problem solving techniques relevant to the
“real world” of service environments. They learn to identify and
eliminate poor decision-making processes, standardize practices,
reduce cycle times and manage the risk of the extensive changes
required for breakthrough process improvement in people-oriented
transactional processes. Successful Six Sigma services projects
will lead to improved customer satisfaction, increased profit
margins, reduced costs, and lower turnover. Six Sigma tools can
be used in many service environments, even service areas within
a non-service industry. Areas such as procurement, call centers,
surgical suites, government offices, R&D, and many more will all
receive benefits from implementing Six Sigma process improvement.
Six Sigma will help a service environment become a
customer-centered organization, gain control over process
complexity, and improve response time on signature services.
Peter Peterka is President of
Six Sigma us. For additional information on Six Sigma
Green Belt or other Six Sigma
Certification programs contact Peter Peterka.
We know a lot about what a great working environment is.
In a great working environment the mission is being accomplished and morale is high. It’s the “user” side of the two key leadership objectives: accomplish the mission and care for your people.
Most people know exactly what I mean by a great working environment. They may not be able to list characteristics, or point to research, but they’ve usually experienced one. So have you.
Think about a time in your life when it was great to come to work. If you’re lucky there are lots of them. If you’re really lucky, now is one of those times.
What was it like then? I’ll bet you were excited about the work you were doing, and you knew that it was appreciated. You almost certainly felt that you were being treated fairly and that you had some control over what you got to do.
There’s been quite a bit of formal research into the factors that make up a great working environment. Here’s a quick summary of what the research tells us make for a great working environment.
* Interesting and Meaningful Work
* Clear and Reasonable Expectations
* Frequent and Usable Feedback
* Fairness (Consequences = Performance)
* Consistency (Predictability)
* Maximum Control Possible Over Work Life
In my training classes, I often do an exercise where participants identify the times when they were in a great working environment and what that was like. The language is often a bit different from the formal research, but the same things come up over and over again.
Interesting and Meaningful Work
People want to do work that’s interesting and meaningful. They want what they do to be enriching for them and important to others.
Different people define interesting in different ways. For some people, it means that they’re learning a lot, having lots of personal growth. For others, the most important thing is that there are lots of different situations to deal with or lots of different problems to solve.
Sometimes “interesting” is not so much about the work itself as it is about the people you work with. This selffulfillment comes from being part of a team, an elite group, or just a bunch of folks you like working with.
It’s also important for the work to have value to others. The “others” can be the whole world, or just your customers or the people you work with.
Clear and Reasonable Expectations
People like to know what’s expected of them. They like to know the rules of the game.
Expectations need to be clear. At the supervisory level, that may mean laying out detailed, stepbystep procedures. At the management level expectations may come out of discussions with several people. At the leadership level, slogans and other brief statements that people can use as a “test” of their plans or actions are usually the most effective.
Don’t underestimate the values of frequency, simplicity, and memorability when you’re communicating expectations. You have to communicate the important things over and over in memorable terms.
In fact, repeating things is one way of telling people what’s important. Slogans are great for this. So are devices like pocket reminder cards with simple messages or messages in table form.
Use your regular forms of communication, like newsletters, emails, sales bulletins to reinforce your leadership message. Reinforce your written communications of expectations with oral communications. Reinforce your formal communications with informal ones.
Remember that you need to state expectations for the performance you want, but you also need to be clear about the consequences of performance that’s beyond or not quite up to standard.
Frequent and Usable Feedback
People like to know how they’re doing. Feedback is how they find out. To work, the feedback must be frequent (lots of small course corrections) and usable.
How frequent is frequent? The answer, which sounds something like a copout is: “As often as necessary?”
Some people want and need a lot of feedback. Other people prefer to be left alone most of the time to do their work. You have to know who needs what and in what situations.
The idea is to make lots of small course corrections on the way to the clear target you’ve established with your expectations. Lots of small adjustments are almost always easier and more effective then a few giant ones.
Feedback also has to be usable. Time your feedback so it reaches people when it is the most helpful. In most situations, that means you want feedback as close to the performance as possible. If you can set up a system so people can get their own feedback, so much the better.
Work on your communications skills so you deliver feedback in the most effective way possible. Learn about different ways that people process information, and match your communication to their preferred style. Learn about Social Styles and other ways that help you communicate with people in the ways they most like to be communicated with.
Fairness (Consequences = Performance)
People want to know that they (and others) are being fairly rewarded based on their performance. This is one of those words that requires definition. Otherwise, it becomes one of those words that everyone agrees with, but no two people have a common definition for.
For us, fairness means that the consequences of the performance are determined by the quantity and quality of the performance. One of the people in my class put it in almost Biblical terms: “The good shall be rewarded and the underachievers shall be punished in accordance with their results.”
This ties back to reasonable expectations. It depends on regular and usable feedback.
Consistency (Predictability)
Consistency means predictability. Subordinates want to know how their supervisor will react in a given situation. Consistency also relates to predictability in terms of performance.
Your people want to know how to predict your reaction in different situations. If they can’t, they worry about whether or not to trust you.
According to some management studies, consistency (predictability) is the single most effective standard to establish with your own leadership behavior. It’s actually another form of communication. It’s a way of walking the talk.
Leadership by example means that you act out the values and principles that you say you and others stand for. To quote Howell Raines on Bear Bryant: “Coach Bryant had an idea about how a man ought to act and if you watched him, you could figure out what it was.”
Leadership by example means that you consistently pay attention to the important things, consistently reward good performance, consistently see that rewards and punishments are meted out fairly.
Maximum Control Possible over Work Life
People want to have a say about things that affect their life. You can make that happen for them by giving them as much control as possible over issues that affect them at work.
Obviously that varies from person to person and situation to situation. Some people like to be left alone. Others want to see you frequently.
Some people are qualified to make lots of decisions about their work. Others need to develop their skills a bit before they can do the same.
Some people work hard and make an effort to do the job. Others slack off.
It’s probably a good general rule to allow individuals as much control of the basic decisions about their work as they are capable of handling and willing to handle. In today’s flatter organizations, this is easier to do from an organizational standpoint, but it’s hard for many of us from a personal standpoint.
Part of your job as a boss is to create a great working environment for the people who work for you. It’s not easy, but the result can be both high morale and high productivity.