Free Essay

The Review of the Goal

In: Business and Management

Submitted By mctotoro
Words 1230
Pages 5
The Goal was the first manufacturing management book I read in English. There is no theoretical framework in the book, so it is both interesting and easy to understand. This book was written by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox, tells a fictional story about Alex Rogo, a manufacturing plant manager who struggled with situation that his plant faced with losses and shut, with the help of Jonah and through the efforts of the team, Rogo finally found out the way to save the plant and increase production efficiency, compress production time and reduce the production cost. It ultimately changed the entire plant as well as the situation of the company as a whole. It gave me a different insight into an upper level of management achieving a purpose.
For the factories, chaotic production system, higher production costs and longer lead times are common problems. The theory of Constraints which was introduced in the book is a good tool to help us solve these problems. Besides this, what I learned in the book is far more than the application of the theory itself.
First, find the goal. When Rogo sought a solution of factory predicament from Jonah, the first question this physicist asked him was what is the goal of the factory? This seems like a simple question. But soon Rogo found that this question is not simple, he realized that the "goal" is the starting point and the final destination of the managers, what he did before was just specious stereotypes in guiding decision-making. In fact, people do need a goal for doing anything, we can only know the direction of doing things with the goal, and then we will think how to do things. And we also need to refer to the goal so as not to deviate from the direction. What is the goal of the enterprise? In a nutshell it is the word "money." If we use a precise definition: the present and the future goal must continue to obtain profits.
Second, make the goal into the day-to-day work of the enterprise. Every one of us knows that companies must make money, only by making money can companies develop. But how to let everyone know that the things they do is to help enterprises make money? The goal takes a careful look at this analysis: to measure the ability of the company of making money, we can use three indicators to measure:
1. Throughput;
2. Inventory;
3. Operational expenses.
The throughput is the money we received, the inventory is currently a backlog of money in the system, and the operating expense allows the throughput can occur which is the money we have to pay. An indicator used to measure received the money coming in, an indicator to measure the internal backlog of funds, another indicator to measure the money to pay to go. So if companies want to make money, they have to improve throughput, reduce inventory and operating expenses
Thirdly, smart managers need to deal with conflicts. There is a situation that Peach and Rogo had a problem of shot staff, Peach told Rogo to prove to him that he can effectively use of existing workers firstly, otherwise do not cry to him. This is a good practice; managers should allow others to reflect on themselves whether there is a management problem of them rather than just seek for support. Fourthly, managers need always to reflect on themselves. Keep a clear head, stop and think. Rogo’s factory was in a hurry production every day, rushing delivery. Every batch of their goods delayed, and which goods to produce depend on the urging of leaders. Rogo ran in the field for production every day, in accordance with the instructions from his superiors to supervise his workers. Day after day, month after month, and year after year. Until the Peach gave him a time limit - three months, if he could not turn around, it is necessary to turn off the plant. Then he stopped to think carefully about exactly how to solve the problem. He should have thought about it. In particular, there is nothing to make him feel the advent of the crisis than plant closings. Think about it, we usually often encounter this kind of thing. Fortunately, Rogo had three months to change. Actually, a lot of times you are eliminated out when you have not found the problem. Therefore, we have to keep a sober mind in peacetime, to stop and think.
Fifthly, change the way in thinking. The book mentions different concepts of cost. The author says that only the products produced, and handed over to the customers, money is made. For the production of the bottleneck at the delay of one hour delay, that is, an hour delay in the whole production system. At this time, the actual cost of the bottleneck should be the entire system of total operating expenses divided by the bottleneck production hours, rather than calculate the cost of production of a single process by the method of accounting. Why is there a difference? It is simple, "customer first" principle for the marketing and sales departments does not apply in the production system, because the production system only to pursue the production scale to reduce the cost of a single product. Modern manufactures must change concepts, that is, in the process of increasing customer value, also reduce production costs. The author has also mentioned a better solution, that is, batch production, partial shipment. Thus, it reduces the inventory of raw materials and semi-finished inventory of their own businesses, shorten non-value-added time. And partial shipment to the customer's raw materials inventory is a win-win mode.
Also, learn to communicate. The way that Jonah direct Rogo to solve problem is not just told him the answer, instead, he kept asking Rogo thinking and let Rogo found the result by himself. This is called Socrates guidance method in the book: ask questions, not provide answers, think by themselves, to explore, to assume, to find out the answer. Moreover, communication seems simply, in fact, it is very complex. Most times, different people have different interpretations of the same word. In this case, it is very important for people to learn how to communicate effectively with others.
Finally, I appreciate the interpersonal relationships and communication in the novel. Rogo and his wife's marriage were in the ups and downs along with the fate of the factory. In the beginning, due to the difficulty of his plant, Rogo spent his most time in the work, ignoring the family. His wife could not stand and ran away from the home to stay at her parents’ home. In this case, Rogo did not get angry, on the contrary, he reflected on his own behavior, and sincerely apologized to his wife. I appreciate the way of communication, and mutual respect between family members. In addition, Rogo and his subordinates get along well in the factory. He knew his own strength is limited; he needed to use the power of the team to make profit of the factory.
Overall, The Goal is a valuable book. What I learned is not limited to the above points. I still need to explore more in this book. I believe, when I enter the workplace, what I learned in The Goal will help me more.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Goal Book Review

...| The Goal | Global Supply Chain | The Goal happens to be one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time .It’s a story about how Alex Rogo saves his plant using operations management techniques. It simplifies each concept very easily that everyone can understand. Plus it’s a very aspirational book about how to survive in a crisis situation. There are a few aspects of the book which stood out in my mind 1) bottleneck concept 2) Balance your personal and work life 3) Communication with all employees and making every process simple and easy for all to understanding finally 4) the blessing of having a good experienced staff . Even though I've read about bottleneck in my operations management class but still the concept of was never clear to me. But this book gave a very clear idea to me about what does this term means, especially with the help of real life problems included. How should you manage all the equipment’s process time in such a manner that you don't waste alot of time. Inventory problem is also very common issue in almost all types of organizations, ideally inventory should be kept to a minimum. The reason for that is it wastes money. As we see the same problem happening in the book. Goal of a company is not only to improve one measure in isolation. The goal is to reduce the operational expense and reduce inventory while simultaneously increase the throughput. My dad runs a book trading business and he always likes keeping a lot of inventory in...

Words: 1046 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Chapter Review of the Goal

...This chapter gives insight to Alex’s home life. Since moving back to his hometown six months ago, it seems adjustment isn’t going well for his family. It’s great for Alex, but it’s a big change from the city life that his wife is used to. You also experience Mr. Rogo’s background through his reflections back on his travels to eventually find himself back where he started. "He’s now 38 years old and a crummy plant manager". By the way, the order #41427 does get shipped, but not very efficiently. All hands in the plant are working on one order with forbidden overtime to boot. Chapter Three Mr. Peach calls a meeting at headquarters for all plant managers and his staff. At the meeting everybody finds out how bad things are and are given goals to achieve for the next quarter. Through the grapevine Mr. Rogo finds out perhaps why Mr. Peach has been acting so erratic lately, the Division has one year to improve or it’s going to be sold, along with Mr. Peach. Chapter Four While at this meeting, Alex thinks back on a recent business trip where he ran into an old physics professor, Jonah, at the airport. Jonah puzzles Alex with how well he knows how Alex’s plant is doing. Jonah has no knowledge of where Alex is employed. Johan predicts the problems of high inventories and not meeting shipping dates. He also...

Words: 3283 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Critical Thinking Review of the Goal: a Process of Ongoing Improvement

...A Critical Thinking Review of The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement Introduction: The Goal is a well-written novel that illustrates a model for systems and operation management. Reading through this book gave me an insight to the amount of effort that goes into managing a plant with all employees as well as keeping your home together. The main character, Alex Rogo who is the plant manager, is found in a dire situation with his plant on the verge of being closed down. He is given 3 months to turn the plant around and make it profitable. Alex comes into contact with an old professor, Jonah, who helps him along the way by teaching him successful methods of running a production plant. Meeting Number One * Initial state: Alex is a manager of a manufacturing plant when he happens to bump into Jonah, a Physics Professor, in the airport. Alex is trying to get Jonah to remember him while Jonah is attempting to catch his plane. As Jonah is heading to his terminal, him and Alex are conversing about the plant and how great Alex believes that his machines are. * Advice: During this whole conversation Jonah is asking Alex, is his plant making any money from the machines and are they being truly efficient? At the time Alex did not get what Jonah was referring too. * Actions taken: At this point Alex did not realize how dire his plant was performing. * Results: Jonah had to catch his flight and the two went their separate ways at that point. Alex continued...

Words: 1594 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

What Can You Do to Improve on the Competencies Needed for Your Career Goal? Review the Competency Development Tips for Assistance with Improving Competencies.

...|2/12/14 |2/13/14 |2/14/14 |2/15/14 |2/16/14 | |GEN 105 | |DQ 1 | |DQ 2 |Career Plan: Work Culture Preference | |University Library Research | |Week 5 |Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3 |Day 4 |Day 5 |Day 6 |Day 7 | | |2/17/14 |2/18/14 |2/19/14 |2/20/14 |2/21/14 |2/22/14 |2/23/14 | |GEN 105 | |DQ 1 | |DQ 2 |Detecting Plagiarism | |Academic Honesty Articles Worksheet | |Week 6 |Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3 |Day 4 |Day 5 |Day 6 |Day 7 | | |2/24/14 |2/25/14 |2/26/14 |2/27/14 |2/28/14 |3/1/14 |3/2/14 | |GEN 105 | |DQ 1 | |DQ 2 | | |Career Plan: Reasoning Abilities and Timeline | |Week 7 |Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3 |Day 4 |Day 5 |Day 6 |Day 7 | | |3/3/14 |3/4/14 |3/5/14 |3/6/14 |3/7/14 |3/8/14 |3/9/14 | |GEN 105 | |DQ 1 | |DQ2 |Time Management | |Career Plan: Timeline Review | |Week 8 |Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3 |Day 4 |Day 5 |Day 6 |Day 7 | | |3/10/14 |3/11/14 |3/12/14 |3/13/14 |3/14/14 |3/15/14 |3/16/14 | |GEN 105 | |DQ 1 | |DQ 2 |SQ3R Method | |Reading and Comprehension | |Week 9 |Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3 |Day 4 |Day 5 |Day 6 |Day 7 | | |3/17/14 |3/18/14 |3/19/14 |3/20/14 |3/21/14 |3/22/14 |3/23/14 | |GEN 105...

Words: 472 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Privacy vs. National Security

...Staff Goal & Performance Review Checklist 2015-2016 (due January 29, 2016) To better assist with the dialogue regarding job performance between staff member and supervisor, we are instituting several changes to this revised Staff Goal & Performance Review Checklist (SGPRC) as follows: * Staff members will meet with their supervisor as a department and individually to review the past year’s goals and to set goals for the new fiscal year. Both the supervisor and staff member must agree upon the goals set keeping in mind the department’s objectives as set forth in the Strategic Plan. In order to encourage more communication between staff member and supervisor, this new goal setting procedure and review will allow for more staff input and supervisor feedback and will occur annually at the beginning of the fiscal year. * The annual Staff Goal & Performance Reviews will occur mid- fiscal year in January which will allow the staff member and supervisor the opportunity to assess the status of goal objectives as well as completing the Performance Review checklist. By conducting the annual review earlier, the staff member and supervisor will be able to assess goal and performance achievements and recommend any adjustments or plans of action sooner than under the present review schedule. At the beginning of the next fiscal year, supervisor and staff member will engage in a discussion as a department and/or individually and review the past year’s goals and proceed...

Words: 2059 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Individual Performance Review

...ndIvIdual Performance revIew (IPr) Guidelines for Supervisors and employees September 2011 Human Resources IndIvIdual Performance revIew (IPr) 2 Table of conTenTS Individual Performance Review (IPR) Guidelines Definition of Terms CHaPTeR 1: Goals How it works CHaPTeR 2: RevIew How it works n Preparing for the meeting n In the meeting n after the meeting CHaPTeR 3: aPPRaIsal (YeaR-enD aPPRaIsal) How it works n Preparing for the meeting n In the meeting n after the meeting CHaPTeR 4: PeRfoRmanCe RankInG How it works n Preparing for the ranking panel n ranking panel session CHaPTeR 5: ouTComes How it works n Preparing for the discussion n discussion n Performance share nomination n Pay outcomes appendix - factors affecting Performance Ranking 3 4 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 11 within the objectives of simplifying and standardising Hr processes across the Shell Group, these global guidelines are distributed for adoption by Shell Group companies. any resulting changes to current practices may require, in some locations, compliance checks with local legislation and/or consultation with employee representative bodies. no rights can be derived from this guide and the process described within is not contractually binding in relation to terms and conditions of employment or agreements with Trade unions or Staff councils. This guide is intended for managers and employees of the Shell Group and is consequently for internal Shell use only...

Words: 2535 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

Br Paper

...or Background Information Specification 1.1. Treatment Plan Goal Rating Module C. Ad Hoc Reporting Reporting Examples Data Dictionary D. Customer Communication E. Traceability Requirements to Specification  Stakeholders / Team The following people are stakeholders or part of the team. Stakeholder Function Christy Winters Director of CQI for Families First Steve Walton Information Systems Coordinator Brent Blane Project Manager, QSI Doug King Business Analyst, QSI Document History Version Release Date Author, Reviewers Release Notes V1 Author: Doug King Reviewers: BA Team Approval Form Treatment Plan Rating Feature Specification Families First Project Information Client Families First Project Families First Version V1 Families First Qualifacts Systems Inc. 200 2nd Avenue South Nashville, TN 37201 By: By: Printed: Printed: Title: Title: Date: Date: Introduction Purpose This document details the business requirements and functional specifications for the following Feature. Group Description ECR Adding the treatment plan goal rating to a service document in the ECR Referenced Documents The following documents were referenced during the Analysis and Design of this feature. Document Description This is the document used to design the Treatment Plan Goal Rating as well as other Families First Enhancements Requirements ...

Words: 865 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Revitalization

... Once short term goals are established, long term goals and plans can then be executed. Only after a thorough review of operations can reorganization occur. All departments of an organization will have to be brought on board to maintain consistency and growth. The key to positive growth and over all welfare of this company will be found in training. This training must be realistic and challenging in order to promote team work and confidence. As with any change to an organization, there will be numerous challenges. The first step before executing any short or long term goals must be to gain a deep understanding of each division of Toyota's Quality Control Department. With that goal in mind during the first quarter approximately one week will be spent with each department. During this time a deep review of operations will be conducted. This review will include an open form for questions and answers between management and employee. This sensing session will open a path of communication and allow employees a forum to express concerns and issues with Toyota. In addition to a review of each department, daily synchronization meets will be held between the department heads and myself. These meeting will be approximately 30 minutes but no longer than an hour. The intent is to insure everyone is on the same page and knows what each department is focusing on that day. In addition to daily meetings one weekly meeting will be held Thursday afternoon to insure goals and deadlines are...

Words: 1171 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Mba General Management

...Seminar/Constructive Action: Intra & Entrepreneurship/Business Planning Course Code: FLD 521 PCA Course Description Students create an intra or entrepreneurial plan for the development and growth of a beneficial and profitable venture incorporating the necessary marketing, financial, legal, organizational and administrative components. Course Objectives After completing the course, the student will be able to: 1. Apply acquired business skills (finance, accounting, marketing, management, negotiation, human relations, legal, and administrative) to create an intra or entrepreneurial business plan for the development and growth of a beneficial and profitable venture. 2. Improve on key business skills including writing, oral communications, goal-setting, and organizational leadership and planning. 3. Produce a business planning document that will enable you to successfully implement your Purpose III Constructive Action project. Course Relevance to CA The course introduces the students to business management: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling that are applicable to managing entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial ventures. This course prepares the students for real life business operations and teaches them practical application of theoretical learning. Course Prerequisite Purpose I Constructive Action Required Textbook: Stutely, R. (2007). The definitive business plan: the fast-track to intelligent business planning for executives and entrepreneurs...

Words: 1753 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Dissertation

...Performance Review Documents: Checklists and forms to help employers conduct effective employee performance appraisals www.BusinessManagementDaily.com © 2012 Business Management Daily, a division of Capitol Information Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Substantial duplication of this report is prohibited. However, we encourage you to excerpt from this report as long as you include a hyperlink back to http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/PerformanceReviewDocuments. The hyperlink must be included on every usage of the report title. Alternatively, you may simply link to the aforementioned page on our site. Any reproduction in print form requires advance permission by contacting the publisher at (800) 543-2055 or customer@BusinessManagementDaily.com. Any violation is subject to legal action. This content is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information regarding the subject matter covered. It is provided with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal service. If you require legal advice, please seek the services of an attorney. Preparing for Performance Reviews • Recording Employee Performance Checklist • Anticipating the Review Checklist Recording Employee Performance Relying on memory to make informed performance reviews can lead to inaccurate, incomplete assessments. Instead, establish a tracking system that captures relevant information throughout the...

Words: 935 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Hrmt215-1302b

...obtain organizational goals, performance management is a structured process of ensuring that a company’s employee’s personal work load and performance is being put forth to achieve productivity and benefit the company to uphold toward meeting the organizational goals and challenges. Strategic measures can be set to achieve the goals of the organization and to set alignment with what the organization is striving to achieve such as setting self achievable goals, the corporate goals, as well as department goals. (Roberts, A.) There is also an administrative standpoint, which relates performance appraisals from the outcome of the performance overview with supporting information which eventually determines the salary increases to be set forth, or benefits and recognition programs such as incentives or cash pay outs for a job well done. After the performance overview is completed there is a final step, which includes areas of improvement to benefit the company through future training and development in which areas the employee lacks. Within my current company, we refer to our performance management system as a Performance Management Process (PMP). Each quarter, our management sits down with all his/ her employees to engage with them on their personal performance being put forth. The first quarter is basically an overview of what organizational goals and personal goals management would like to see their employees incorporate within their work for future success. Goal setting is very important...

Words: 898 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Performance Appraisals: Motivating Employees

...interaction between a manager and their direct report can be a powerful motivator and should not be underestimated (Karimi, Malik & Hussain, 2011, p. 247). Government contracting organizations work on some of the country’s most sensitive and unique missions, so it may be surprising to learn just how relaxed one such organization is when reviewing its employees. As a member of the Human Resources team at one of the top 5 Government Contracting (GC) companies I have the luxury of having direct line of sight to how and when reviews take place. I was disappointingly aware of the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of our current performance appraisal process prior to completing this research. However, after a formal interview with one of our leaders I now understand that I am not alone and it will take difficult but critical changes to reverse the current perception. At the beginning of each year employees are required to establish measurable goals they will work towards over the next 12 months. These...

Words: 2298 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Smart Goal Criteria

...Session 1 focuses on the introduction of the exercise, review group, guideline, and goal of the program. Discussion pros and cons of exercise and health related issues, provide the materials for tracking the outcome of this exercise intervention, then start walking exercise. Session 2 focuses on improving fitness (warm-up and cool-down exercise) with activity monitoring. Goal setting discussion along with practice using pedometers to tracking daily activity. Session 3: Setting goals for their own exercise program. Review exercise records, facilitate personal goal setting by using SMART goal criteria. Discussion about safely exercises to avoid injury or pain. Next, start warm-up and cool-down exercises, then introduce and practice the new exercises...

Words: 309 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Acc290 Week 4

...Performance
Review
Form
 
 Name:
 
 Job
Title: 
 Months
in
this
Position:
 
 Date
of
Evaluation: Department: Review
Period: 
 
 
 
 
 PART
I
–
Introduction
 
 Employee
Commitment:
 Our
Company
recognizes
that
it’s
employees
are
a
crucial
ingredient
to
the
quality
 and
success
of
it’s
products
and
services.

It
is
our
commitment
to
support
the
 development
of
our
staff
both
professionally
and
personally
and
in
doing
so
create
 an
organization
with
the
ability
to
exceed
the
expectations
of
the
company,
the
 individual
and
our
clients.
 
 Purposes
of
Performance
Reviews:
 The
primary
purpose
of
a
performance
review
is
to
encourage
staff
development
and
 strengthen
the
departments
overall
effectiveness
by:
 
 1. identify
specific
indicators
of
achievement
 2. pin‐point
areas
of
greatest/least
effectiveness
 3. stimulate
improved
performance
 4. aid
in
promotion,
retention
and
salary
decisions
 5. clearly
define
the
goals
and
objectives
of
the
organization
 6. develop
mutually
established
employee
focused
goals
and
objectives
 7. increase
employer‐employee
communications
 8. evaluate
effectiveness
of
management
 
 Review
Expectations:
 Each
employee
is
entitled
to
a
thoughtful
and
careful
review.

Performance
review
 success
depends
on
both
the
supervisor’s
willingness
to
complete
a
constructive
and
 objective
assessment,
and
on
the
employee’s
willingness
to
respond
to
constructive
 suggestions
for
improvement
and
work
with
the
supervisor
to
identify,
overcome...

Words: 4174 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Performance Management

...Memorandum To Regional Human Resources Director, Lowes Home Centers, Inc. From: Human Resources Manager, Lowes Home Centers, Inc. CC Senior Vice President Store Operations, Lowes Home Centers, Inc. Subject: Proposal for implementation of new Performance Management System in Region 3 with Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc. Thank you for reviewing and accepting my request for research regarding a new Performance Management System for implementation in region three for Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc. Please find my proposal below for implementation of a new Performance Management system to be utilized by Lowe’s Home Centers, specifically the Atlanta, GA region, region three. Performance management in the work place is vital and can ultimately make or break a company. Consistency is one way to ensure that a company is treating each of its employees the same and not signaling out employees to reprimand. Research shows that having a strong and consistent performance management system in place helps companies to grow and develop its employees while maintaining discipline throughout the company for employees who fail to follow company policy and procedures. Consistent performance management can help to develop strong employee morale in its stores and create more profit for the location. Performance Management in the Workplace Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc. Region Three | | Executive Summary Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc., region three, located in Atlanta, Georgia consists of...

Words: 1941 - Pages: 8