Kaizen: The Japanese Concept of Management
After the second world war, Japan was completely devastated. Millions of Japanese were killed & their economy was disrupted. But now, the condition was changed. Japan is one of the top economies in the world. How did they overcome the situation? It is through the Kaizen strategy. Kaizen is a combination of two words ‘ Kai’ which means ‘ Change’ and ‘Zen’ which means ‘Good’ together it means ‘Change is for Good’. Kaizen is a strategy of Small/Incremental Improvement. Masaaki Imai is known as the Father of the Kaizen strategy. In Japan, every organization sits together once in week/ month to discuss quality issues. Everyone will give their suggestions and it has to be implemented. After many years these incremental changes make a vast difference in quality. This is what happened in Japan and helps Japanese companies to surpass their competitors. Kaizen encompasses many principles. They are, Strive for continuous improvement Find a solution- not an exc...