In a recent article by Dawn Cranfield in The Guardian Express entitled A Mining Company with a Heart of Gold – Comstock Mining, Inc., the author draws attention to what makes Comstock a very different kind of mining company: “Comstock Mining, Inc. had their first pour of gold and silver doré, unrefined gold bullion, on […]
Archives for 2012
Management and Control: a New Perspective
The traditional model for control is the hierarchical model, and the reason for its existence is because personal capacity for control is limited, and adding hierarchical levels increases personal capacity of control. On the other hand, if we want to increase the capacity to listen to the customers and the suppliers, in order to satisfy […]
Intelligent Emotions the Statistical Way
All processes, human and non, whether we are aware of it or not, are affected by variation. If we want to be able to predict the outcome of our processes, i.e. manage them, we need to understand, measure and manage the variation in those processes. The alternative is to manage by the seat of our […]
CEO Explains Systemic Methodology Behind Responsible Mining Success
How did a mining company succeed where others had failed in reviving mining responsibly in a historic mining district? Comstock Mining CEO explains in an interview how Intelligent Management’s systemic Decalogue methodology has brought his company to mine successfully and in a responsible manner. This is an extract from an interview with Corrado De Gasperis […]
When 1 + 1 Doesn’t Equal 2: Understanding How Combined Efforts Affect Overall Performance
What happens when more than one person or more than one entity work together in the same direction? Is the result just the simple sum of their efforts? What happens when more than one person or more than one entity work together in the same direction? Is the result just the simple sum of their […]
Why Management Decisions Must Consider Variation
What is the guiding rule that should inspire any managerial decision? The job of Management is to work on the system and create a predictable environment; as Dr. Deming reminds us “the job of managers is to reduce variation”. Management and predictability A company is a complex system ruled by non-linear interactions that make it difficult […]
Variation and Processes
Everything we do in an organization can be considered as a process, and, whether we realize it or not, every process is affected by variation. We need to understand and manage this phenomenon of variation if we want to achieve the best results. Let’s look at the process of sales In our last post […]
Managing Variation: Why Entropy Matters
No management effort can ignore the existence of entropy and variation. What do we need to do about them? What is variation? It is beyond the scope of any blog to teach the fundamentals of Statistical Process Control; Don Wheeler and other experts have already done that majestically. The goal here is to examine […]
Mining: A Network of Human and Environmental Interactions
An unprecedented breakthrough in mining in the historical gold mining district of the Comstock in Nevada is happening through a systems-based approach to management. This post is by Travis Higgins, Director of Quality for Comstock Mining Inc. who is in charge of the implementation of the Decalogue Management Methodology within the company. Travis is an […]
Why a Software Can Never Manage a Company
A client embarking on a pattern of transformation through systemic management recently asked ‘How soon will I be able to use the software to manage the company?’ It’s tempting to think that by buying and ‘installing’ the right software, a company can magically acquire a whole new way of operating that will lead to more […]
