Conceptualización del clima laboral

Here follows a quick summary of the tools provided by ToC and how they were used throughout the case study.

The first tooll is the Current Reality Tree which is a map over the exist- ing system. Its task is to find the root problem that causes the Undesirable Effects but it also work excellent as a mapping tool. When the observations where made to get an understanding of the system the CRT was the start- ing point which provided a rich base when planning for the observations.

When the observations where made and all data needed to understand the different flows and working routines in the warehouse were collected. One CRT for each flow and activity were establish. Some activities ap- peared in all or some of the different CRTs and by these activities all trees were connected. By connecting all trees some problems that appeared to be root problems disappeared because it was clear that something else caused that problem and the number of root problems decreased until it were a reasonable number. This root causes where later investigated to get the un- derstanding of which that actually were core problems and which that were not. From the tree it was possible to establish what problem that had the highest impact of the Undesirable Effects. The problems with the highest impact were defined as core problems and were the ones to be exploit and solved throughout the case study.

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To determine how to exploit and solve the constraints the Evaporat- ing Cloud was employed which is a powerful problem solving tool in any situation, as long as the problem can be viewed as a conflict between two arguments that both strives towards the same result. In the case study the cloud were constructed as the following. The conflicting action where between one constraint and the opposite to the constraint and they both strived to a desirable effect, an effect that the future system want to have. As the warehouse system is today the constraint and the opposite cannot co-exist. The Evaporating Cloud have one middle step, one for each argu- ment, between the conflict and the desirable effect. When the cloud were developed different solution were brainstormed to find the ones with poten- tial to satisfy both argument to coexist and at the same time achieve the desirable effect. A number of solution that could work were identified but by deeper analysis it were cleared that for each cloud there were only one solution that really solved the problem and could be backed up theoretically. The Evaporating Cloud were a good tool to employ and were used to to- tally different activities as well throughout the thesis work, such as planning. Theory of Constraints aim to develop a new stronger system and when solutions to solve the current constraints is establish it is time to develop a Future Reality Tree to visualize how the system should look and work when the work is finished. The Future Reality Tree were develop for the ware- house while basing it on the CRT and the solutions developed from the EC. By introducing the solutions in the FRT and analyze it the solutions could be evaluated if they would work and bring value to the system. There were two main benefits of creating the FRT, except to evaluate the solution and get a picture of the future. The first one were that it provided knowledge about what would happen by implementing the changes. The second one were that FRT could be understood by anyone. Both these benefits were valuable while discussing the changes to prevent resistance.

From the resistance, questions occurred about how the changes would be implemented and if they would not affect activities and flows that were not supposed to be affected. To show them how the changes only would bring benefits the Prerequisite Tree were establish where potential obstacles where stated and how these obstacles were overcome in an appropriate way. By the PRT it was possible to prove that breaking the employees routines were not an attack on how they operated today but an upgrade from a good system to more effective and efficient system by providing them with the chances to learn about these things through workshops and seminars. The Prerequisite Tree straighten out all question marks that had occurred when the new solutions and system were presented. Most obstacles were identi-

64 Case Study

fied as the employees not willing to change as this process were identified to be more complex than the physical changes in the warehouse.

When management and employees had accepted the changes and were looking forward to be apart of the future system the last question arose, how do we get from the current system to the future system. When up- dating the system by employing ToC the core problems are changed and this means that a lot of actives will be affected. To facilitate and ensure a smooth change process the Transition Tree were employed. The TT is a tool used when developing implementation plans it is a sufficient cause digram that take a bottom-up approach and reveals all the action that need to be undertaken to get to the future system. It is important to follow the steps of the process and that the goal of the TT is decided in advanced. By employing the TT both the management and employees understood what they needed to do and that the new system could not be implemented just by one part. The employees have to install the new physical equipment and the management need to provide the employees with seminars to change the routines to effective strategies. This proves that TT can be used both for hard and soft implementations in a warehouse.