ABSTRACT
The discussion in this chapter is aimed toward getting readers acquainted with non-technical aspects of managing a large-scale improvement project. One of the key approaches to note in all the three cases discussed in this book is a structure-based problem-solving approach. All cases begin with an understanding of the problem faced by the company. This is a key step but can often lead to incorrect interpretation if the problem is not understood completely. Every change management effort is a project. In most organizations, there will be a collection of projects that needs to be synchronized to achieve the result. The project leader needs to identify the bottlenecks and schedule other work based on the schedule of the bottleneck. The leadership traits that were common among the project sponsors in all three companies were communication of urgency and vision for change. Once the goal and scope of the project were identified, they all made sure to communicate the reason for initiating the project and reiterated the challenges that the company was facing. It is also important to learn to deal with changes while doing the project. The project scope sometimes changes few weeks into the project, which could delay the progress. But there is little that one can do in such a situation and the only way out is to work harder to catch up. In addition to data analysis, it is equally important to listen to the workers and managers on the shop floor. However, using just one of these two approaches could lead to incorrect conclusions. A good check to verify conclusion as one is working on the project is to ensure that insights gathered from analysis of different types of data are in sync with each other. Several times during the projects, it is possible to get into the pitfalls of accepting rough estimates for the analysis. In a short-length interview, the response of a person is often affected by his/her emotional thinking. A better approach is to ask the interviewee for specific data which supports his/her statement. An effective interview is often based on a thorough discussion of the data. Lastly, it is also important to maintain a high-level view during any project. Responding with a specific recommendation to an issue is one thing and grouping all the recommendations together and making them work effectively is another.
