Kaizen:
The month-long strike at Samsung’s manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu has brought to the spotlight the stressful working conditions in these factories shaped and determined by their management philosophy, which draws inspiration from the Japanese production method called Kaizen.
- Kaizen is a compound of two Japanese words that together translate as “good change” or “improvement.”
- Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy that encourages continuous improvement involving employees at all levels of a company.
- The concept of kaizen encompasses a wide range of ideas.
- Those include making the work environment more efficient by creating a team atmosphere, improving processes and procedures, ensuring employee engagement, and making jobs more fulfilling, less tiring, and safer.
- The goal of Kaizen is to make small changes over a period of time to drive continuous improvement within a company.
- The Kaizen process recognizes that small changes now can add up to huge impacts in the future.
- Ultimately, that can mean better quality control, more efficient processes, and the elimination of waste, among other benefits.
- Under Kaizen, improvements can be initiated by any employee at any time.
- The philosophy is that everyone has a stake in the company’s success, and everyone should strive, at all times, to help make the business better.
