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A Guide to Implementing the Theory of
Constraints (TOC) |
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Dakota
tribal wisdom says that when you discover you’re riding a dead horse, the
best strategy is to dismount. However
in business we often try other strategies with dead horses, including the
following; Buy a
stronger whip. Change
riders. Threaten
the horse with termination. Say
things like, “This is the way we have always ridden this horse.” Appoint
a committee to study the horse. Arrange
to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses. Lower
the standards so that dead horses can be included. Appoint
a tiger team to revive the dead horse. Ride
the dead horse “outside the box.” Buy a
commercial off-the-shelf dead horse. Create
a training session to increase our riding ability. Reclassify
the dead horse as “living-impaired.” Compare
the state of dead horses in today’s environment. Change
the autopsy report to declare that “This horse is not dead.” Kill
all the other horses, so this one will look the same. Name
the dead horse “Paradigm Shift” and keep riding it. Ride
the dead horse “smarter” not harder. Hire
outside contractors to ride the dead horse. Harness
several dead horses together for increased speed. Do a
time management study to see if the lighter riders would improve
productivity. Declare
that “No horse is too dead to beat.” Call
the dead horse a “joint venture” and let others ride it. Provide
additional funding to increase the horse’s performance. Do a cost
analysis study to see if contractors can ride it cheaper. Purchase
an aftermarket product to make dead horses run faster. Declare
the horse is “better, faster, and cheaper” dead. Form a
quality circle to find uses for dead horses. Declare
that “This horse was procured with cost as an independent variable.” Get
the horse a Web site. Promote
the horse to a supervisory position. Time
for a question. Did any of these seem
vaguely familiar to you? A few I
suspect. So, now that you have read
about all the things that you shouldn’t do and already know, please go to the
beginning of this website and check out all the things that you haven’t read
about that you should do and don’t know! The
dead horse strategies were reproduced with the permission of Bill Dettmer. From Appendix F, Strategic Navigation. ASQ Press (2003). |