Clasificación de saldos en corrientes y no corrientes

In order to successfully transfer kaizen from a Japanese factory to a Dutch subsidiary, it is critical to understand kaizen. However, due to the ambiguous

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definition of the concept (See Chapter 4), it was found that practitioners have different interpretations. This research suggests that kaizen is simply a philosophy of continuous improvement which is influenced by personal-initiative.

Develop a suitable environment

Dutch subsidiaries need to be arranged according to a certain structure and culture to effectively promote personal-initiative. This research found that organic organisation structure and trust and group orientated organisation culture promoted personal-initiative. Therefore, it is recommended that the Japanese manufacturing companies develop a culture of trust and group orientation together with organic organisation structure in their Dutch subsidiaries.

Trust and group orientated organisational culture: The impetus for suggesting and implementing improvements sometimes involves risk that it may result in making other employees trouble or generate extra efforts and costs. In order to make employees feel secure to suggest improvement ideas, it is necessary for the organisation to have trust and team work culture. For that reason, trust and group oriented organisational culture can promote kaizen. Companies are recommended to take the following points into consideration in order to develop the trust and group oriented culture. Clan organisational culture context is shown in Table 7.1.

Table 7.1 – Clan organisational culture context (Adapted from Quinn & Spreitzer) Characteristics Company should be a very personal place. It was like an

extended family. People seemed to share a lot of themselves.

Leader The head of company generally considered to be a mentor, a sage, or a father or mother figure.

‗Glue‘ or Holding Agent

Company was held together by loyalty and tradition.

Commitment to this company runs high.

Emphasis Company needed to emphasise human resources. High cohesion and morale in the company were important.

Organic organisational structure: Chapter 4 discussed that organisational structure can broadly be divided into organic and mechanistic structure. In order to promote kaizen, organisational structure needs to be an organic organisational structure. Table 7.2 shows the organic organisation context.

Table 7.2 – Organic organisation context (Adapted from Burns & Stalker, 1961) 1. Managers‘ operating styles allowed to range freely from the very formal to the very informal

2. Open channels of communication with important financial and operating information flowing quite freely throughout the business unit

3. A strong tendency to let the expert in a given situation have the most say in decision making even if this means even temporary bypassing of formal line authority

4. A strong emphasis on adapting freely to changing circumstances without too much concern for past practice

5. A strong emphasis on getting things done even if it means disregarding formal procedures

6. Loose, informal control; heavy dependence on informal relationships and the norm of cooperation for getting things done

7. A strong tendency to let the requirements of the situation and the individual‘s personality define proper on-job behaviour

Managing the process of international kaizen transfer

When Japanese manufacturers are transferring kaizen to the Netherlands, it is recommended that they use the following guidelines:

Stage 1: Pre-investment

1-1 Feasibility study and need assessment: A feasibility study and need assessment needs to be conducted in this stage. A feasibility study can examine the transfer processes of kaizen to determine the likelihood of success. It helps a company to decide whether a transfer is financially, economically, and physically feasible. In this stage, it is critical to determine whether there is a human resource person who is experienced, committed to kaizen with sufficient local language and communication skills. Needs assessment helps to identify what the possible challenges are for the kaizen transfer. Company can develop a strategy to get organised to deal with challenges.

When the company finds it necessary to transfer kaizen from their company to an overseas subsidiary, it is recommended that the process starts with selecting suitable countries where people have characteristics that are aligned with kaizen capabilities (i.e., where people possess eagerness and discipline). For instance,

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countries that fit these criteria include Scandinavian countries. Eastern Europe countries, such as Poland, are also suitable because people have high eagerness and moderate discipline. Germany was found suitable since people have high discipline but companies need to expect that Germans have lower levels of eagerness and flexibility. Similarly, East Asian countries such as Korea, Thailand and Vietnam were found suitable since people have a high degree of eagerness.

Stage 2: Preparation

2-1 Initial hiring: It is recommended for companies to hire young students directly from schools. They tend to be not only eager to learn but also open-minded for accepting concepts introduced by the Japanese because they do not have preconceived ideas about working methods in other countries. Additionally, they have a higher level of commitment to the work because most of them do not have family obligations. Highly educated operators are recommended. They tend to use their ability to do jobs that exceed their responsibility.

2-2 Training: Training can be done in two ways. One is to send a number of newly hired operators to the Japanese factory for several months training. An advantage of this approach is that while they are in Japan, they can learn both operation techniques and the supportive organisational culture. When they are back they convey techniques and culture to other local operators who are remain in the overseas subsidiary. Disadvantages of this approach are that Dutch operators are away from their social life for several months. Thus, training is restricted only to operators who do not have social obligation. Moreover, this approach requires a lot of resources for the company to set up an infrastructure to invite local operators from the overseas subsidiary. The other approach is to invite experienced and committed kaizen experts from the Japanese factory and provide training to local operators onsite. Although it is less expensive with this approach compared to sending operators to the Japanese factory, it was found that it may results in communication issues and problems due to cultural differences between Japanese trainers and Dutch employees. One of the effective approaches is to hire local kaizen consultants who can train operators without communication and cultural issues.

Stage 3: Implementation

3-1 Creating sense of urgency: It is recommended to start implementing kaizen from increasing awareness. One of the effective ways to do this is through

creating a sense of urgency among employees. Sense of urgency can be effectively conveyed to employees by using photos and figures (visualisation of sense of urgency) instead of just explaining it. Spending one whole day to clean up, sort and organise the shop floor and offices (one day 5S) and conducting a brainstorming session involving all relevant employees are also effective approaches to increasing the awareness among employees that organisational changes are going to take place.

3-2 Execution: It is recommended that committees follow the five steps of kaizen execution.

1) Determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) – for example, quality, cost, and delivery time.

2) Set measurable targets using those key performance indicators.

3) Select a main area of improvement based on the voice of customers and use it as a motivation driver for kaizen. For instance, if there are complaints mainly regarding quality from customers, the area of improvement can be quality improvement.

4) Organise small group activities to tackle the problems mainly related to the selected area of improvement. The small group activities are organised along with the PDCA cycle, namely:

It is recommended that companies start solving small problems. Starting from difficult and complicated problems often takes a long time and requires experience and skills. Employees may lose their motivation for kaizen if they are not able to solve those big problems.

5) Finally, when the target which was set in the second step was achieved, then a new area of improvement needs to be introduced. If the target was either too

- Form team - Describe problem - Containment - Identify root cause - Verify corrective action - Implement Corrective action - Prevent Reoccurrence

- Congratulate team and celebrate the success

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high or low, it needs to be adjusted based on the motivation level of employees.

The cycle of kaizen in the execution stage is illustrated in Figure 7.2.

Figure 7.2 – Cycle of kaizen

While the cycles are running, extensive use of visual aids can help employees to maintain high motivation for kaizen. When the operators at the shop floor developed the capabilities of kaizen, the transfer of kaizen is considered completed.