Benefits of Empowerment

Numerous positive behaviors may be observed among the members of empowered teams.They often:

1-Focus to satisfy the organization's purpose such as satisfying the customer and achieving financial objectives rather than trying to satisfy the supervisors.They talk about customer and business needs and the team's performance toward meeting those needs.They will question management when reasons for objectives are not clear.They want to know the why as well as the what.They will not afraid to question or offer suggestions to management because they work for the interests of the business and their customers.

2-Behave more as owners of the organization.Often employees do task which are not in the job description.They eagerly monitor performance indicators because doing so make them achieve their target and aims.Experienced member teach new employee proactively by sharing their ideas and suggestions to ensure everybody give their full strength to achieve team performance. Behaviors of this sort are evidence that team members feel responsible for the success of the organization,and prefer to take responsibility rather than abdicating that responsibility to the boss.

3-More Entrepreneurial and innovative.If they see a problem,they will energetically try to solve it.They freely seek to implement their ideas,and are willing to try new techniques which may yield improvements.Members are often observed constructively building on ideas from each other in search of solutions to problems.

4-Communicate well within the team as well as outside the team.Open communications are key in all of the above examples.

Freedom from Fear

Ideas and feedback from employees are essential.These can only come when employees feel they can give their comments without exposure to blame,reprisals,or other consequences administered by a management.Employees feared their ideas might be ridiculed or cause others to view them as troublemakers.

Fear that management will view any negative comment as adverse is a powerful disincentive for employees to provide suggestions,challenge the status quo,or to offer accurate and honest feedback.

This sort of fear prevent people from making improvements suggestions,employees fear that their suggestions will be viewed as criticism of managerial practices.

Fear also cause people distance away from working to improve efficiency,they may believe that such activities will cause job elimination.

Fear of reprisal to an employee who makes a mistake may caused employee to cover up their mistake and make them deliver low quality product to customers.

It has been estimated that more than 80% of quality problems are caused by management action,whereby less than 20% caused by worker error.More than 80% problem causes rooted from managerial control-the systems,procedures,policies,equipment,etc.

It requires substantial effort and cultural change to replace this fear with open communication.

There are too many new skill to learn and to many old habits to overcome.

Plant Management

The plant
The factory
The place where products are made

The business strategy
The location
Dedication: The focused factory
Operations
Products
Processes
Communication

The Focused Factory

Product focused: production is organized around the type of product/service being produced, i.e. assembly line.
Process focused: production is grouped according to type of processes, i.e. batch production.

Alignment with Business strategy

Focus:
Low manufacturing cost through automation and technological superiority
High flexibility through lean operations
High volume through mass manufacturing

Alignment with Location
Location, Location, Location.
Location is strategic important to ensure low cost in shipping and transportation and logistics

Alignment with Strategic Partners
Proximity and communication with suppliers and strategic partners

Operations Management

The business activity that transforms inputs into outputs of greater value.
(Russell, 2002)
The business activity that involves the design, development, and maintenance of systems and processes that transform resources, such as raw materials, technology, and labor into goods and services that meet customers’ needs.
(Raturi, 2005)

Operations Management

The product
Tangible goods
It defines strategic objectives and decisions, customers, market and, of course, profit to an organization.
An effective product development approach offers 3 key benefits:
Market position
Resource utilization
Organization renewal and enhancement

The process
A set of activities that is arranged in sequence and taken together to produce a result of value to the customer.
It constitutes what can an organization do better than the rest of other players in the industry.
It defines the organization’s capability and the way it chooses to be in the marketplace.

Current Issues
Effectively consolidating the operations resulting from mergers
Developing flexible supply chains to enable mass customization of products and services
Managing global supplier, production and distribution networks
Increased “commoditization” of suppliers
Achieving the “Service Factory”
Enhancing value added services
Making efficient use of Internet technology
Achieving good service from service firms

Expectation
Excellent performance in:
Personnel safety
Process safety
Environmental
Product Quality
Reliability
Energy and other variable cost efficiency
Fixed cost
Staffing levels