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 […]
Design Without Boundaries: the Power of a Thinking Process Tool
This week, Intelligent Management is delighted to begin a workshop with the Institute Without Boundaries in Toronto. Over the course of 9 months, a group of post-graduate students from diverse backgrounds will co-create an interdisciplinary design strategy under the guidance of a faculty of professional designers and architects. This year, the focus is on sustainable […]
Quality with Kindness: a Health Care Experience
This blog post by Intelligent Management Co-Founder Angela Montgomery takes an unusually personal slant, but sometimes it can be useful to look at a system from an individual’s point of view, as the design of the system is what creates our experiences. I recently underwent my second surgery at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, […]
Transforming Industry with a Systemic Approach – Dr. Domenico Lepore
Dr. Domenico Lepore From exile to freedom: splitting the Red Sea Stupidity, as Dr. Deming has reminded us, is a choice. We are not talking about a low IQ but the refusal to use the mental capacity we have. We do not lack the knowledge needed to build and operate a truly systemic company guided […]
Building A Systemic Enterprise: The Learning Center
How do we practically go about the “reinvention” of work and workers foreshadowed by a new, systemic covenant with labour? The answer is a Centre where everyone in the company can learn how to be and act in this new organization. A Centre for Learning is not a training centre, it is not a management school, […]
Managing Projects the Systemic Way: Critical Chain
In his 1997 novel called Critical Chain Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt tackles the issue of project management. Goldratt provides a unique and revolutionary insight into this very underdeveloped part of managerial literature. The book ‘Critical Chain’ The main tenets of Goldratt’s book ‘Critical Chain’ the book are the following: Wrong behaviours and mind habits […]
