Restricts of the Business Manager - Book Report/Review Example

?One of the most pressing realities that restricts the business manager/business leader within the current era is with regards to how to continue to remain relevant, profitable, and indeed solvent. The past several years have indicated that the first aspects that any firm seeks to cut as a means of leveraging a further degree of survival and profitability is with regards to personnel (Bradley 77). Although this is a useful tactic that can be taken, it is not the only approach which should be engaged. One of the most salient and useful descriptions of how a business leader, and a business in general for that matter, can seek to remain relevant within the current model was put forward within James Bradley’s Improving Business Performance with Lean. Ultimately, the text is concentric upon putting forward a unique and actionable approach by which the business manager/leader can seek to maximize profitability and efficiency through the elimination of waste in each and every aspects of the way in which the firm/business operates. As a means of drawing a further level of inference upon Bradley’s key findings, the following analysis will be concentric upon summarizing the book within the first section and analyzing in the second section of this paper whether or not this particular approach that Bradley puts forward is one that is ultimately useful or should be discarded. Section 1: Rather than representing something of a can be acronym that far too many business processes have fallen prey to within the recent past, Bradley’s particular approach with regards to the fundamentals of “lean” is to focus upon the creation and delivery of value to the end consumer, maintaining flow, improving value stream, respecting and engaging stakeholders, and striving for perfection. In such a way, the reader and analysts can come to the appreciation that Bradley’s approach does not focus upon maximizing profitability alone in the short term as its primary objective. Rather, “lean” is a process that is both intended for positive benefits within the short and the long term. As has been discussed briefly within the introduction, far too many business managers/leaders within the past several decades of focus merely on slashing personnel costs and forcing the few individual employees that remain to redouble their work efforts as a means of promoting further profitability within the firm. However, as Bradley notes, such an approach is ultimately fruitless due to the fact that the individual firm/business entity can only survive such a tactic for a brief period of time. Unless this is engaged as part of an effective restructuring campaign, the individual stakeholders who have been so giving of their time, energy, and efforts, will become disenchanted and ultimately the culture of the firm will be affected to the extent that it will likely not be able to compete within the market any further. Comparatively, with “lean”, a level of focus is paid with regards to maximizing efficiency while at the same time ensuring that individuals are dealt with in an equitable and fair manner. This serves not only to provide for the immediate influx of efficiency within the business or entity in question, it also provides for a level of continued growth potential with regards to the fact that the business leader/manager who is implementing it is keenly aware of the linkage between interpersonal relationships and further business development in the future. Moreover, Bradley focuses upon the means by which the firm must step outside of what may be a rigid culture in order to determine what is the value and what is waste. In such a way, before delving directly into the means by which a business can maintain profitability and continue to compete within the current environment, Bradley emphasizes the impacts that outside advice can have with regards to the definition of value waste. Although this may seem as nothing special in and of itself, the fact of the matter is that many firms become so entrenched an understanding of what their product should be that they lose sight of the fact that listening to the consumer in determining what is of value to them is the first step in defining what can be termed as waste. In this way, Bradley lays out something of a brief rubric with regards to determining what is value and by extension determining what must necessarily be waste. Although it may seem as rather formulaic to the reader/analyst, the fact of the matter is that such a tool kit must necessarily be utilized within each and every entity that engages in “lean” as a function of forcing the culture to engage with the relevant and pertinent issues at hand. Section 2: A host of business process improvement plans have been evidenced over the past several decades. To some extent, each and every one of these have been useful. However, it is the understanding of this particular student that the method and toolkits that Bradley places before the business leader/manager are of vital importance. Rather than choosing to approach the issue of surely a profit driven standpoint or approaching it from a touchy-feely personnel standpoint, Bradley has chosen to engage elements of both as a means of deriving further longevity and continued survival/profitability for a firm that engages with “lean”. With regards to an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses that this particular approach engenders, it is the understanding of belief of the student that the core strength is with regards to forcing the business listing in question to step outside of its culture and engage key stakeholders in determining what can be deemed as waste what be deemed as value. Only within such an understanding can affirm ultimately hope to continue to present value and minimize waste within the business process. Not only does this help the firm to continue to promote a level of profitability, it also helps to satisfy the end consumer to a higher level; thereby effectively increasing the competitive edge that the firm is able to generate. Although it is difficult to define a strong and overarching weakness that Bradley’s understanding of “lean” necessarily entails, it is the belief of this author that if one can be found it all it is with regards to the fact that “lean” is a process that must be engaged over a relatively long period of time in order to achieve success. Accordingly, as most individuals who are keenly aware of the business buyer but that pervades the current system, time is a commodity that fuel business leaders are able to engage in order to experience a change in pace or change in overall profitability. This is of course due to the fact that more and more firms within the current business environment are operating at the very age of their abilities. In such a way, it could be understood that Bradley’s explanation of “lean” is not an effective enunciation of the realities of the current system. Due to the fact that just in time fulfillment as well as many other time sensitive aspects define the way in which firms do business, engaging in a broad and overarching time intensive process is most likely an activity that fuel firms can afford. However, it is not the fault of “lean” that the current model is exhibited in the way that it is. Instead, the reader/analyst would do well to understand that “lean” is a process that can and should be engaged in the very beginning. In such a way, the students of the current era, as well is managers and business leaders who take up the text, can seek to implement key aspects of lean within the companies and departments that are under their purview. Works Cited Bradley, James R. Improving business performance with lean. New York, N.Y. (222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017: Business Expert Press, 2012. Print. Read More