ABSTRACT
This chapter points out on a number of occasions how important it was to have the key executives and managers sponsoring and being actively involved in any change initiative. Typically, in most organizations, someone steps up to the plate and assumes the role of the specific improvement champion. Considering management's responsibilities, it is obvious that first we must execute these responsibilities in a superior manner if we hope to succeed in the activity. A good production worker consistently performs at the parts-per-million error level. Most managers perform at the errors-per-hundred level: Missed schedules. Management talks participation and empowerment, but in today's environment with organizational flattening, more and more, instead of less and less, decisions are being made by higher and higher levels of management. The improvement efforts going on in Western countries have hit management extremely hard. Most organizations are trying to flatten their organizational structures by eliminating middle managers.
