Why should management be site-centered?

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Support and services. Starting with the top leadership, they personally practice the principle of \"putting the field first,\" and gradually foster a positive management culture in which managers and employees in support roles pay attention to the field and actively serve the front-line staff. 01、What is “organizational waste”? Lean is a process of continuously eliminating waste. Regarding waste, people often use these two phrases to express it: one is “Work that does not create value is waste.”” ； Another sentence is, “Even in work that creates value, using more resources than the absolute minimum is a waste.” Measured against these two criteria, it has been found that waste is widespread in business management processes. In total, there are eight types of waste, namely waiting waste, handling waste, defects waste, motion waste, processing waste, inventory waste, overproduction (premature production) waste, and management waste. The first seven types of waste were identified by Toyota, while management waste was added later by others. To help managers more clearly recognize the problems within the company’s organization and understand their own responsibilities and mission, it is necessary to specifically identify and consider \"organizational waste\". If we ask, which departments within a company create value? The answer will surely be the three main departments: R&D, production, and sales. These value-creating departments are usually referred to as direct departments. Other departments do not create value directly, which is why they are often referred to as support departments or indirect departments. Based on the aforementioned definition of waste, all these auxiliary departments should be considered waste. This is “organizational waste.” From the perspective of corporate organizational efficiency, it would be ideal to be able to reduce or even eliminate these auxiliary departments, leaving only the three value-creating departments that operate efficiently. The fact is that this ideal organizational structure does not exist in the vast majority of companies. Nevertheless, as a manager with lean thinking, one must always aim for this ideal state and consider issues of organizational efficiency and responsibility from the perspective of (customer) value. If we go further, in these three value-creating areas of R&D, production, and sales, who exactly is creating value? Needless to say, it’s those employees who work on the front lines, such as those responsible for drawing diagrams or developing and designing products, the workers who actually process or assemble the products, and the sales or service staff who interact directly with customers. It is the employees working on the front lines of research and development, production, and sales who are the ones who create value. Those who do not create value directly are those who do not work on the front lines; they generally consist of two groups: one group consists of managers at all levels, and the other group comprises employees who perform clerical tasks in the office, such as those in departments for human resources, administration, finance, procurement, and public relations. No matter how hard these two groups of people work, they cannot directly generate profits for the company. Theoretically, both of these groups of people are also a waste. By saying this, it is not intended to deny the role of managers, support staff, and other employees who are not in front-line positions; rather, it is meant to make managers at all levels within the company as well as employees in indirect departments realize that they cannot create value directly. Their purpose is to provide all the necessary support and services to those front-line employees who do create value. 02、The importance of a site-centered approach It is very important to understand the concepts of \"waste in organizations\" and that \"people who are not on the front line represent waste.\" With these two understandings, we will not go astray in management, be able to appreciate the importance of focusing on the workplace, and thus learn to develop the good habit of consciously paying attention to and serving the workplace. First of all, front-line employees’ time is very valuable, so management should be centered around the workplace. Every second wasted by front-line employees means one less second to earn money. On the contrary, even if managers and employees in support departments take a few days off, it is likely to have little impact on the company’s profits; in fact, the company might even benefit from it. Therefore, it is the responsibility of managers and employees in support departments to carry out tasks such as material procurement, logistics delivery, equipment maintenance, process improvement, power supply assurance, and logistical services as effectively as possible. By doing so, they create all the necessary conditions to ensure that front-line employees can continue working without interruptions or waste, allowing them to use every minute and second to create value. Secondly, the condition of front-line employees is very important, so management should be centered on the workplace. Frontline employees are those who are responsible for designing, producing, and selling products as well as providing services to customers. Their work performance has a direct impact on work efficiency, product quality, order delivery, and customer satisfaction. Therefore, corporate managers and employees in support departments must always keep the frontline in mind, striving to create a pleasant and joyful work environment, both in terms of facilities and atmosphere, for the front-line staff. Striving to keep frontline employees happy and motivated at all times not only improves work efficiency and leads to the creation of better products, but it also provides customers with a positive experience, helping the company save costs while increasing revenue. Third, the wisdom of front-line employees is very important, so management should be centered on the workplace. If problems arise at the site where value is created, such as equipment failures, poor quality in processing, or delays in operations, the process of creating value comes to a halt, which amounts to a waste of money. If frontline staff are unable to resolve on-site issues promptly, those issues must be taken off the site by managers or clerks for resolution later. The longer time that passes after the problem occurs, the more difficult it becomes to analyze the problem and identify its causes, and the more time it will take to resolve it ； Moreover, the further the location where the problem is solved is from the scene, the more likely the solution will deviate from reality. Therefore, a more effective approach than addressing problems after they occur is for managers and staff in supporting departments to focus on the work site, pay attention to the employees, guide and motivate them to proactively identify problems and think of solutions to address them promptly, thereby rapidly improving their awareness and capabilities. In many companies, it is common for managers and employees in support departments (mainly clerks) to believe that they possess more knowledge and greater skills than frontline employees. They even use their control over resources to create obstacles, under the guise of rules, for those departments and frontline employees who actually create value, thereby hindering the creation of value. For example, if an employee wants to make some improvement and needs to purchase a small spare part, the request for it may not be approved after repeated submissions, which greatly undermines the enthusiasm of frontline employees to contribute to improvements... In their view, without their own signature or authorization, frontline employees are unlikely to be able to do anything, and they use this as proof of their own value. This is completely wrong. In these companies, we must emphasize the importance of \"management centered on the workplace,\" and starting with top management, they should personally practice this principle of a workplace-centered approach. This will gradually foster a positive management culture in which managers and employees in support roles pay attention to the workplace and actively serve the front-line staff.