The Business Book

306

(environmental factors). Solutions to
each of the possible causes of the
problem are evaluated by the circle
using the “five Ws,” which are the
five questions: Why, When, Where,
Who, and What.
Japanese companies do not
tend to give cash bonuses to
workers in return for their ideas. In
order for kaizen to be truly effective,
workers must feel a sense of pride
and fulfillment when contributing
their suggestions. New employees
are told when they start working
with the company that kaizen is an
expectation: an everyday part of
company life. In businesses that
use kaizen successfully, employees’
commitment to contributing ideas
is usually secured via programs of
job enrichment, which tend to
produce high levels of employee
motivation. According to
motivational theorists such as
Frederick Herzberg, workers enjoy
problem solving, decision making,
and the opportunity to advance
and grow psychologically while
at work. Therefore, it follows that
workers should enjoy taking part

in kaizen improvements and,

consequently, financial bonuses

should not be necessary.

Empowerment

One way managers empower their

workers is giving them the authority

to make decisions that affect their

working lives. Empowerment is

more far-reaching than delegation,

which merely involves giving

permission for an employee to

perform a specific task. An

employee who is empowered has

been given the freedom to decide

what to do and how it should be

done. Empowerment is essential to

any kaizen program because it

enables good ideas from the

factory floor to be implemented

immediately. Once the kaizen

philosophy is in place, good ideas

and their subsequent

improvements should keep on

flowing through—the number of

ideas made every week increases

because workers are able to observe

the effects of their own solutions.

To work effectively, kaizen requires

a business culture where trust,

KAIZEN

loyalty, and mutual respect exists

between the management and the

work force. This avoids a potential

downside to the philosophy: the

fact that in a market where sales

are flat, employee ideas that lead to

an increase in productivity could

represent a threat to jobs. Workers

are hardly likely to discuss labor-

saving or cost-cutting measures if

they are talking themselves out of

a job. In many Japanese companies

the kaizen culture used to

incorporate a promise from the

A fish-bone diagram has

the problem to be solved on the

right-hand side. An arrow, like

a spine, leads to it. The causes of

the problem are split up

between the six

categories.

A company will

get nowhere

if all the thinking is

left to management.

Akio Morita

Japanese founder of Sony (1921–99)

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