The Goal by Eliyahu M Geldratt - Essay Example

Essay, Marketing Topic: Book review: The Goal by Eliyahu M. Geldratt About the book: Business life and private life can move together like a train that speeds on two parallel tracks and they impact each other for better or worse—this is the message Eliyahu Goldratt articulates in his novel “The Goal.” In a manufacturing plant, if there is problem in one area, it is bound to lead to problems in the other areas as well. The hero of the novel is Alex Rogo who exemplifies the profile of a large number of archetypal people involved in business administration. To some business is mission and for others business means commission! (To earn and maximize profits). This is the story as to how Alex turns the tables from a difficult situation in his production unit, and emerges successful. The wise saying goes, what you do is not important; how you do what you do is important, and Alex sees the truth in this assertion, by changing the strategies in administering the production and attending to the related issues in his plant. Eliyahu Goldratts "The Goal" is an entertaining novel and at the same time it is a thought provoking business book. Alex carries the problems of the plant to home resulting in adverse effects on his married life. The downward spiral at the plant needs to be arrested within the stipulated period of 90 days given to him by the top management. The Plant Manager happens to meet his Professor, Jonah, who diagnoses the problems of managing the plant and he tenders tangible solutions, to stem the rot. Alex begins to fix the issues one by one and realizes that they all have one terminating point. Jonah introduces to him the “Theory of Constraints.” The structure of the manufacturing plant is like the movement of an octopus, whose arms stretch in several directions simultaneously but the movement is set to a pattern ordained by Nature without which it cannot exist. Unintelligent planning is the root cause of malfunctioning in a production unit. The functioning and management of Alex’s plant owns all the negative traits and it is afflicted with loss-generating segments. All efficiency metrics are going red and own unhealthy existence. Alex has orders pending for two months behind the scheduled delivery date, his warehouse has $20 million in unsold finished goods, items that demand urgent delivery are being expedited by paying overtime to the workforce and it needs special handling obviously at extra cost, sales are on the decline due to delivery slippage, material costs have hit the roof, and the most annoying situation is his division is facing the cash crunch. The cumulative effect of all these will hold up the payment of bills and the situation may delay the obligatory payments like payroll of the workforce. The prospectus of the unit being shut down is imminent. All these issues leave adverse effect on his family life. At this juncture, as luck would have it, Jonah, his old physics professor intervenes. Alex is thinking head in hands, whether the lessons learnt in the college would help him! Alex tells him about his problems, though in theory he has everything perfect to take care of the health of the plant, like his firm’s investment in automation and how this development has resulted in increased productivity etc. Jonah explains issues to Alex taking a different line of argument and elaborates about decreasing inventory, reducing expenses and selling more products. Jonah’s elucidation leads to the churning process within Alex, as for the concept of productivity and its importance to a business organization. Now the question before Alex is how productivity can be linked to the accomplishment that leads to a goal and if so what is the goal? After the brainstorming session with Jonah, Alex realizes that something is wrong somewhere, perhaps everywhere, in the production and management of the plant and he must identify the problems with his own wisdom and find the relevant solutions. Jonah has done his job to set Alex to think! Alex concludes that he must address to several issues at the same time, and the important question is how to do that? With constant interaction with Jonah, Alex revises several of his traditional methods of business operations. For example, his observation that a plant in which everyone is working all the time is inefficient is apparently stunning, but by scrutinizing the ground realities in his plant Alex sees the truth ingrained in this golden rule. Alex has an interesting feedback on the issue of bottlenecks and Jonah gives a threadbare analysis about the reasons for their existence and the steps to be taken to avoid them. Though many of the concepts of business operation are the same that one would find in management literature, it is not correct to say Goldratt has provided the old wine in the new bottle. He charters a new path and provokes creative thinking and supports his conclusions with examples, relating to his son, his wife and his mother-in-law! He articulates about the foundation on which solutions are built. For the solutions to be perfect, the foundation needs to be strong. It is important for the businessmen to see the bigger picture behind business, as technological innovations and the internet revolution have created unprecedented situations and fierce competition. External opportunities have triggered off a mind-boggling scene for the businessmen. Everyone in the organization needs to know about the goal and must ask questions. The questions needs to be inquisitive and not arguments for the sake of arguments. Each employee must develop genuine concern for the growth of the organization and must identify his growth with the overall growth of the organization and strive for increased productivity. A business manager has to stop when it is necessary to stop and take a fresh look at the problems. Changing times demand unalike solutions. The goal is identical but there are different paths to reach the goal. My opinion about the book: The problem with the science of management is the avalanche of books on the subject that arrive in the market. Such books are like the popular products and the subject has become the brand. “The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement” by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt, is a sterling book on management with a difference. In any genre of literature, the author’s credentials have something to with the content. Dr. Goldratt is eminently suited to write on the subject as he is an educator, philosopher, scientist and business leader. He makes the reader to think and act. He provides certain guidelines relating to business practices, and they are novel, workable and profit-generating. “The Goal” is about Theory of Constraints. The author develops a non-traditional approach to convey important business information. He does not believe in getting trapped in the modern technological innovations, unless they are of proven merits that help to increase the tempo of production. He is obsessed with the ways and means to increase production and relies on the traditional approach as well. From the point of view of the structure of the novel, he has crafted the plot into a readable story, and that is an interest approach to deal with a technical subject. The book is racy and enjoyable and for an inquisitive management student it is “unputdownable” till the last page. There is something special in the contents of the book to hold the readers on. The author clearly elaborates the principle of finding and then concentrating on one true goal and as such all other subsidiary goals become incidental and they can be sidetracked. When the outlook about the problem becomes different, the solutions also need to be worked out from a different angle. This includes asking sharp and probing questions of yourself and others who may offer crucial information and perceptions. And it requires really listening to what the involved people have to say about different aspects of achieving the goal. The working of the bees in a beehive is a befitting example to describe the working style articulated by Goldratt to obtain optimum efficiency and production in a manufacturing organization. In the beehive every bee has the designated function, and the ultimate objective of many thousands of bees that are part of the beehive is to produce honey of one and the only quality. When the employees in a big organization work with single-pointed determination to achieve a common goal the results are bound to be spectacular. Constant self-questioning and introspection are needed for every employee, as to how to make tomorrow better than today. The author has intelligently weaved this managerial concept in to his family and as such his relationship at home turns ideal and successful. One is twice-blessed to be the part of a happy family and enlightened organization. Achieving higher and higher goals of productivity is the backbone of any manufacturing organization. I warmly appreciate Goldratt for creating a piece of management literature that is truly enlightening in business as well as in family relationships. Conclusion: Though the book is thought provoking from the point of view of a business manager, the solutions provided will not hold good for all organizations for all time to come. Business environment, everyone one knows, molds on the basis of a conglomeration of factors, and politics often scores over principles of business. Another drawback of the book is, the author tries to establish more than required connection between the family life and business life. The author could have written another novel relating to his family life. There are many divorcees who are successful businessmen. Thinking without fear or favor to take appropriate decisions well in time, is one of the important virtues of a successful business manager. Work Cited Goldratt, Eliyahu M (Author) Cox, Jeff (Author) Whitford, David (Contributor).The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. North River Press; 2012; Print Read More