Freedom from Command and Control: Rethinking Management for Lean Service shows how the Toyota Production System must be transformed for application in service organizations.
The book explains how the traditional command-and-control management paradigm of top-down decision making has created high costs and poor service quality. Under such scenarios, managers are detached from employees and remote from operations.
Seddon recommends a change in management thinking. By moving away from decision making based on activity-based measures (such as budgets, standards, and targets) toward purpose-related measures (such as putting customers first and improving services), managers can reconnect with operations, see the waste in current organization design, and exploit opportunities for improvement.
The book uses extensive case material to explain the difference between command and control and systems thinking. It illustrates how the latter leads to improved service, better revenues, and higher staff morale. Freedom from Command and Control: Rethinking Management for Lean Service is published
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