A Critical Review of the Book It's Not Luck by Em Goldratt An extensive use of Goldratt's thinking process is applied in the various businesses as part of the problem solving. "It's not luck" emphasizes the importance of using the thinking processes in business and in your personal life. The thinking processes refer to a logical, graphical, general and practical method of problem solving methodology and basically comprised of 3 steps. These steps as described by Goldratt are: 1. What to change? 2. To what to change? 3. How to cause the change? It is very clear that the problems experienced in the companies are not lone standing but in most of the cases they are dependent on each other and there are strong bonds or relationships with regards to the cause and effects between them. It is therefore important to form or establish a strong cause and affect between them. It is important to identify the unresolved conflict that exists. The process can be illustrated through a conflict resolution diagram or evaporating cloud, Goldratt (1994). As a first step a "current reality tree" is used extensively to portray and depict the cause and effect that join all the problems proceeding in a specific situation. After this, one will realize that you don't have to deal with multiple problems because normally there are only one or two reasons or causes. The thinking processes give you a step by step procedure how to do this. This is where the undesirable effects (UDE's) come in. This brings us to what to change. If the undesirable effects lead to the root cause, then the root cause must lead to the undesirable effects, therefore "brought on by the root cause itself", Taylor (2003). The resultant current reality tree brings us to the proces... ... middle of paper ... ...rop their inventory levels. Throughout the text of "It's not luck" it is clearly evident the great and significant importance detailed and accurate information plays in making informative business decisions. The information positively contribute to clear and logical decision making as well as analysis which further assist in reaching the desired goal and targets. The book It's not luck" with its three company examples clearly illustrates that when a constraint is removed accomplishments move forward. Through this even the normally stretch targets can be met and achieved and goals will be realized. References: Goldratt, E.M. (1994). It's Not Luck. North River Press Publishing Corporation, Great Barrington, MA. Taylor, J. and Ortega, D. The Application of Goldratt's Thinking Processes to problem Solving. Allied Academic international Conference. Las Vegas. 2003
Compare and Contrast the Army Problem Solving Model (Process) with the Rapid Decision making and Synchronization Process. (C100)
“We’d like to bury the idea that there’s a right way and a wrong way, smart way and foolish way, a red way and a blue way”(Levitt & Dubner). There is not always just one correct answer to find a solution or one right way to think about a problem. In Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J Dubner’s Think Like A Freak, shows different ways to problem solve through different situations and issues. Think Like A Freak offers opportunity and insight on how to problem solve, it also takes you out of your normal mindset and Think Like A Freak.
The major issues facing the company comprises of there being multiple businesses with different demands. There are separate levels of performance and success as well as growth chances for each of the sector and the firm needs to tackle with issues in each of these divisions (Dube, J.P., 2004).
The main problems that are affecting the company were the high level of labour turnover, below target production rates, high levels of scrap, the employees had little input in the decision making, therefore resulting in low motivation and job satisfaction, and didn't have enough feedback on there performance. Added to this was the conflict between the supervisors and employees in the production and packing areas, and the grading and payment levels wasn't satisfactory to the employees.
Staying a headed of these issues allows for companies to be efficient, profitable and remain
Newell, A., Shaw, J. C., & Simon, H. (1958). Elements of a theory of problem solving. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259.
"Luck" is a short story by the brilliant American novelist Mark Twain. In this story, readers learn about the life of Scoresby, a military hero, through the depiction of a clergyman who was once an instructor in a military academy. This was actually a story within another story. As a matter of fact, an unnamed narrator retells the story he once heard from the clergyman. This story is told in the first person point of view. In the first person point of view, the narrator participates in the
With the development of human society, we have stepped in to the information age, leading the cost of decision-making significant increased. This special age has focused attention on good thinking as an important element of life success (Huitt, 1995; Thomas & Smoot, 1994). This report will provide an overall description of what critical thinking is, and explain what it means for students to do critical thinking.
Critical thinking is associated with various methods and the definition will vary. A business student will look at critical thinking differently from a psychology student. The definition has changed quite a bit over the years; it can be simple and direct, as looking at a situation and asking specific questions and coming up with a conclusion. Educator Diane Halpern’s definition, “Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a positive outcome.” Critical thinking is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and is goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in problem solving, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions. Critical thinking also involves evaluating the thinking process - the reasoning and factors considered before making a decision. Critical thinking is sometimes called directed thinking because it focuses on a desired outcome (Petress, 2004, p. 463).
Choices: we all make them daily. Every decision that we make and every action we take has a consequence. At times, our expected consequences and the actual outcome of our decision can differ, from minimal to the extreme. Thomas Nagel wrote on the moral aspects of assigning blame or praise on the actions or consequence of an agent, even if the agent was not in full control over the action or consequence. This theory is known as moral luck. Nagel attempts to assign luck into some objects in determining the outcomes of actions. I disagree with his interjection of luck into the discussion, as I do not believe in chance.
This paper will define the meaning of critical thinking. I will provide an example of a personal experience when critical thinking had to be used. This paper will also examin the benefits and importance of using critical thinking during the decision-making process.
As previously mentioned, potential problem analysis or potential opportunity analysis was developed and introduced by Charles H. Kepner and Benjamin B. Tregoe as part of their initiatives to identify a suitable approach for problem-solving initiatives. Their work culminated in the publication of a book containing the problem-solving approach they had created, which included the
The relationship between employer and employees plays a pivotal role in the performance of the organization. Employers and employees have certain responsibilities towards each other which facilitate a fair and productive workplace. Positive work relationships create a cooperative climate with effort towards the same goals. Conflict, on the other hand, is likely to divert attention away from organizational performance.
PO learned problem-solving technique that include defining the problem; examining obstacles; acting on the choice; learning from the results. PO was engaged well in the small group exercise. PO appears to understand that effective problem solving is an important life skill, and was able to map out how he would solve his problem of “getting a different job”. PO’s behavior and participation are consistent with the contemplation stage of change.
Problem-solving approaches presented by Takahashi, Adler et al. and Ruffolo et al. have six similar steps. They all include steps of identifying the problem, analyzing the problem, coming up with some solutions, evaluating the solutions, implementing the solution in action, and evaluating the outcome of the solution. Three approaches all give a useful procedure to solve a problem in group.