The common scenario when a problem arises in an organization is that management find a solution that is localized and focused on solving that specific problem - if your warehouse is failing to deliver on time, you need to address the failure and put it right. However, the problem may re-occur if the management decisions that allowed the difficulty to arise in the first place are not retraced and examined. Systems thinking is a framework that enables managers to exploit the commonsense, intuitive responses they may already follow when getting to the root of problems or inefficiencies in their organizations. By unravelling decision-making processes in a logical, systematic way, managers can address issues central to their organization, creating far-reaching benefits. This text is a practical guide to this method, popularized by Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline". It has a readable style, diagrams and anecdotal case studies that provide and explanation of the benefit and "how to" of systems thinking is a business environment. The text identifies areas of action and a seven-step approaaoch to systematic analysis.

Managing With Systems Thinking: Making Dynamics Work for You in Business Decision Making

Business & Money

Ballé, Michael

Management & Leadership

McGraw-Hill Book Co Ltd

The Gold Mine: a Novel of Lean Turnaround deftly weaves together the technical and human pieces of implementing lean manufacturing in an engaging story that readers will find both compelling and instructive. Authors Freddy and Michael Ballé have produced the first integrated and systematic approach to a set of ideas that have maximized value and minimized waste throughout the world. At the heart of the Gold Mine is Bob Woods, a curmudgeonly sensei coaxed out of retirement by his son Mike to help boyhood friend Phil Jenkinson save his struggling company. Despite terrific products and a backlog of orders, Phil’s company cannot generate enough cash from its operations to pay its bills. And so Mike enlists Bob to help his pal fix this crisis. 
"You’re trying to deal with your mess as if it was a technical problem," Bob tells Phil. "Move this machine here, change this design there, which it is to some extent, but … it’s all about people. You have a leadership problem not just a production or business problem." As Phil begins to tackle the key challenges necessary to improve his company’s operations, he comes to understand the deeper points of lean. Readers will also draw powerful insights from his journey. 
The Gold Mine presents all the key lean principles, ranging from well-known ideas such as pull and flow, to lesser-known yet equally important principles such as jidoka and heijunka. The book also reveals lean as a system—using a realistic story to show how the principles are interrelated and how they lead to useful tools such as kanban or 5S.

The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround

Literature & Fiction

Balle, Freddy

Contemporary

Lean Enterprises Inst Inc

The Lean Strategy: Using Lean to Create Competitive Advantage, Unleash Innovation, and Deliver Sustainable Growth

A groundbreaking and revolutionary book that will transform how lean is understood, practiced, and used within organizations
A lean strategy is about gaining a competitive edge by offering better quality products at competitive prices and making a sustainable profit by eliminating waste through engaging employees in discovering deeper ways to think about their own jobs and smarter ways of working together. In its current form, lean has been radically effective, but its true powers have yet to be harnessed. 
Lean Strategy harnesses that power and delivers a new way of creating value from lean. Leading lean experts address popular misconceptions about the basics of lean/TPS, showing the true purpose of tools, methods, and attitudes that leverage the intelligence of every employee doing the work. You’ll learn how to think―and then act―differently, tapping the power of every person in your organization in a disciplined manner that generates unparalleled, sustainable success that is responsive to today’s most pressing challenges

JONES, Daniel

Chaize, Jacques

Fiume, Orest

McGraw=Hill

Learn to lead with lean by developing people: In a world in which innovation is the name of the game and competition gets fiercer by the day, lean management has become the go-to methodology for organizations committed to providing greater value for their customers. Sadly, the vast majority of lean transformations fail - and more often than not the reason behind this is to be found in a common misinterpretation of what lean actually is. Over the past 25 years, our understanding of lean thinking - a management philosophy inspired by Japanese carmaker Toyota - has changed beyond recognition. From a set of tools and techniques, this unique approach has come to be seen as a system for learning that, if adopted as a business strategy, has the power to transform any organization. Too many business executives still see lean thinking as a set of tools, a "program" that employees are force-fed, or a magic solution to all problems - failing to see that business transformation and leadership transformation are inextricably linked. The only way to succeed is, indeed, to lead with lean. This book will take you through the evolution of lean thinking and practice, as seen through the eyes of one of the Lean Community’s leading experts - Michael Ballé. By collecting some of Michael's best papers – many of which were written with lean gurus like Dan Jones, Jeff Liker and Art Smalley – Lead with Lean will strengthen your understanding of the methodology and encourage you to take it on (if you haven’t already). Michael's unique writing style has the power to inform, inspire, and challenge the reader by providing engaging practical examples that are used to convey deep reflections and lessons learned. This is clearly reflected in the stories of lean transformations contained in the book, which were observed and documented by Michael himself at the "gemba" (Japanese for "the place where the work takes place").

Lead with Lean: On Lean Leadership and Practice

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

In their new business novel Lead With Respect, authors Michael and Freddy Ballé reveal the true power of lean: developing people through a rigorous application of proven tools and methods. And, in the process, creating the only sustainable source of competitive advantage—a culture of continuous improvement. In this engaging and insightful story, CEO Jane Delaney of Southcape Software discovers from her sensei Andy Ward that learning to lead with respect enables her to help people improve every day. "For us, lean is all about challenging yourself and each other to find the right problems, and working hard every day to engage people in solving them," he says. Lead With Respect's timely message brings a new understanding of lean. While lean has become essential for companies to compete in today's global economy, most practitioners see it as a rigorous focus on process to produce higher quality goods and services-a limited understanding that fails to realize the true power of this approach. This new novel by the Ballés, the third in a series that includes Shingo Research Award-winners The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager, breaks new ground by sharing huge amounts of practical information on the most important yet least understood aspect of lean management: how to develop people through a rigorous application of lean tools. You'll learn: How to apply Lead With Respect attitudes to the lean tools you are using now so that you develop a truly sustainable lean culture. What specific steps to follow to make lean leadership behaviors daily habits. How to manage with respect through the emotion, conflict, tension, and self-doubt that you'll face during a lean transformation.

Lead With Respect: A Novel of Lean Practice

What is a lean sensei and what exactly do they do? 
 That is the key question at the heart of this important new book sharing the secret of Lean thinking, which Dan Jones calls “the alternative business model for our age.” Jones explains that “behind all the tools for operational excellence and the different management system needed to support their use, lies a much deeper challenge: to develop the human potential of everyone to create a culture of accelerating continuous improvement to meet today’s changing circumstances. Learning is at the heart of lean.”
The Lean Sensei provides both a conceptual and hands-on toolkit for developing lean leaders—and becoming one yourself. It will challenge you to reflect on how you coach; share mindful questions that improve your awareness of what to look for; and keep both you and your students focused on the signs, symptoms, and syndromes that can slow your lean success. This book, written by six lean pioneers who have experienced and followed the path of the Sensei, shares a radical vision of how to flourish with this approach. They argue that Lean is a system of gaining competitiveness by continuously developing people, and as such, sensei play a vital role in helping others deepen their thinking every day. To be effective in transforming processes and the people who operate within them, any sensei “must first learn to transform yourself,” they write. 
"No one can do lean for you. It is up to you. But you will also need a Sensei to help you discover new ways of seeing and acting, and to help everyone learn to adapt to a rapidly changing world. These lean pioneers discovered what Senseis really do. Learn from them before you search for your own Sensei.”
- Daniel T. Jones, co-author of The Machine That Changed The World, Lean Thinking, Lean Solutions and The Lean Strategy

The Lean Sensei

Chartier, Nicolas

Coignet, Pascale

Olivencia, Sandrine

Powell, Daryl

Reke, Eivind

Lean Enterprise Institute, Incorporated

McGraw-Hill Education on Brilliance Audio

”Live the journey of a tech start-up grown to a hypergrowth company through the eyes of its founders as they learn that “the magic of digital is the magic of the Wizard of Oz: there is machinery behind the curtain.” To deliver on the promise to customers of a seamless purchase of new and preowned cars, they turn to lean and develop the problem-solving capability of each team member.” — Jeffrey K. Liker, author of The Toyota Way series. 
From zero to 1 billion! See how Aramis Group founders integrated lean and digital to fuel rapid growth by developing employees. 
This blow-by-blow account of learning at the workplace reveals how relentless focus on solving customers’ problems, encouraging teamwork across silos, and using lean principles and tools to visualize learning opportunities paved a path to enduring success. 
With lean thinking, the authors created a game plan to turn the many unavoidable crises of growth into occasions for personal and collective progress and to establish the company as a circular-economy pioneer with the large-scale refurbishment and resale of preowned cars. 
Raise the Bar shares the authors’ lean journey and how daily problem-solving revealed that rigid processes are the problem and people the solution, and how this led them to radically change their management model: From command and control to orient and support From managing by the numbers to teamwork From demanding compliance to setting up a chain of help From local optimization to wall-to-wall lead-time improvement 
This inspiring journey will show you new ways to think about combining digital, brick-and-mortar, and lean for stability, agility, rapid growth, and sustainability.

Raise the Bar: Zero to 1 Billion: Combining Lean and Digital for People-Centric, Sustainable Growth

Paoli, Guillaume

Medina, Régis

Keenly Press

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Books by Ballé, Michael