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America is in trouble, there is no doubt
about it. Here is perhaps the best proof: We are now experiencing
the first generation in our history in which children will
reach adulthood in a poorer economic climate than that enjoyed
by their parents.
There are many theories as to why America's
economic standing is declining, but no one would argue against
the idea that it has something to do with the way we've
grown accustomed to doing business. In a nutshell, we have
fooled ourselves into believing that being the world's best
problem solvers makes us world-class, while all it really
means is that we've had the most practice, because we create
the most problems for ourselves. We are spending all of
our time saying, "I'm sorry, I'll fix it," to
customers who are increasingly sophisticated and understandably
impatient. What we should be doing is developing processes
that will make it unnecessary to ever apologize for inadequacies.
How can we begin to turn things around?
Business Process Improvement offers
a no-nonsense blueprint for restructuring our antiquated
"business-as-usual" approach. It's not about automating
processes that already don't work. It's not about importing
some exotic Japanese management technique that only serves
to further confuse everyone. It's about effecting a major
change in the way we manage our organizations by applying
new approaches to the business community as a whole, particularly
service industries.
This comprehensive volume provides all the
information your organization needs to make the transition
toward improving quality and productivity while reducing
cycle time and cost. Step by step, you'll learn how to:
- Determine customer needs and expectations,
and deliver the level of service that meets them
- Establish which processes drive your
business, which ones are working, and which new ones to
introduce
- Create process improvement teams, train
team leaders, and see to it that appropriate changes are
implemented
- Eliminate layers of bureaucracy, simplify
your processes, and reduce the cycle time and cost of
accomplishing things
- Measure your progress, and provide valuable
feedback to participants
- Benchmark your business processes to
unlock the secret to becoming best-of-breed
- Use the 10 fundamental business process
improvement tools and get familiar with BPIs 10 Sophisticated
Tools
- Ensure that quality improvement is an
ongoing process
America's economy isn't going to turn around
overnight, and there are no quick fixes for what ails the
business community. But Business Process Improvement
contains an array of proven ideas for making sure that
businesses, regardless of their size or nature, don't continue
making the same mistakes that put us into this predicament
in the first place.
H. James Harrington, MBA, PhD, is The
International Quality Advisor for the firm of Ernst &
Young. He is also president of the prestigious International
Academy for Quality, and the honorary advisor to the China
Quality Control Association. He is a much sought-after international
lecturer, and broadcasts his improvement methods regularly
on the CSTN Satellite Television Network.
Dr. Harrington's career in quality has
been long and distinguished, including 40 years with IBM,
where he became a senior engineer and project manager in
Quality Assurance. After leaving IBM, he became president
of Harrington, Hurd & Reiker Corporation. He served
as president and chairman of the board of the American Society
for Quality Control, and as national vice president of the
International Management Council. In 1985, Dr. Harrington
was elected lifetime honorary president of the Asia Pacific
Quality Control Organization. He has been elected honorary
member of six quality associations outside of North America
and was installed in the Singapore Productivity Hall of
Fame.
He is the author of The
Improvement Process (McGraw-Hill,
1996), selected by Library Journal as one of the best business
books of 1986, and has written three other business books
published by the ASQC's Quality Press.
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