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GLOSSARY
6 Sigma - Six Sigma is a business management strategy, originally adapted by Motorola from similar Japanese management concepts called Lean or TQM (Total Quality Management), that today enjoys wide-spread application in many sectors of industry. It seeks to identify and remove the causes of variation responsible for defects in manufacturing and other business processes. It uses a set of quality Management tools, including statistical methods. What is unique in 6 sigma, is that staff across the organisation are being graded according to their 6 Sigma capabilities (e.g."Black Belts" etc.). |
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Balanced Scorecard - The Balanced Score Card (BSC) developed at Analog Devices in 1987 began as a concept to ensure all operational activities of a company are aligned with its overall objectives in terms of vision and strategy. It focuses on financial outcomes as well as human issues and provide a more comprehensive view of a business. As a strategic management system it helps managers focus on performance metrics whilst balancing financial objectives with customer, process and employee perspectives. |
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bottom line - The bottom line is an informal reference to Net income which is typically found on the last line of a company's income statement. The equation for the bottom line in merchandising is:
Bottomline (net income/loss) = Revenue – Cost of goods sold – Discounts – Sales returns and allowances – Expenses – Minority interest – Preferred stock dividend.
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Bullet proofing - In business the term refers to the process of making something capable of stopping or providing complete protection against any distaster, similar to a bullet in the physical world. |
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Business coaching - The practice of providing support, advice and training to an organisation, individual or group in order to help them identify ways in which they can improve the effectiveness of their business. It can be performed on a one-to-one basis, group sessions or large scale seminars. Business coaches are often used to assist management in taking on a new strategy for the business and used by successful organisations or those in dire need, (which probably should have made use of coaches much earlier). |
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Business Health Index - A scientifically designed questionaire of key requirements taking an holistic view of an organisation, revealing blind spots and neglected areas in a company's armament. It identifies key areas requiring attention. |
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competitive edge - This refers to the defining aspect in an organisation's product or service offering that not only distinguishes them from their competitors in the market, but provides them with an unique, sought after advantage and benefit to the client. |
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Critical Chain - Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) developed by Dr Eliyahu Goldratt is a state-of-the -art method of planning and managing projects. It is widely credited with achieving projects up to 50% faster and/or cheaper than the traditional methods (ie. CPM, PERT, Gantt, etc.) and employs a unique method for eliminating the tendency of employees to pad task scheduling, the effects of uncertainty, Students Syndrome, Parkinsons law and Murphy's law. Through a unique allocation of buffers, keeping the resource loading levelled and protecting against resource uncertainties, major improvements and reliability of project timing are achieved.
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Incorporations - Selling the assets of a business to a new legal entity, normally a Pty, with control still effectively under the same owner(s) is known as incorporation. |
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ISO 9001:2000 - Is an international set of management standards developed by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) using both process and systems approaches. It seeks to enhance customer satisfaction through process management by defect prevention and reduction of variation. It embraces a philosophy of continual improvement. |
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ISO/TS 16949: 2002 - Similar to and encompassing all of ISO 9001:2000 but with approx 130+ additional requirements developed specifically for the automotive industry and accepted by all automotive manufacturers. Certified compliance is usually a prerequisite for supplying to an automotive manufacturer, |
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Japanese management techniques - See TQM |
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Kaizen - Is a Japanese concept for incremental continuous improvement usually associated with no or very low cost. |
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Lean - Lean or Lean Management was developed by Toyota (and is held responsible for Toyota's legendary growth). It refers to the optimal way of producing goods through the removal of 7 forms of waste and implementing smooth flow as opposed to batch and queue processing. |
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Poke Yoke - A Japanese term and methodlogy to describe a fool proof method employed to prevent mistakes from being made by eliminating human error. |
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productivity /cost improvements - Improvements to the bottom line of a company through process refinements. |
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project management - Refers to the planning, organising, and managing of resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. Usually the management of such a project is associated with the control of a timing plan listing each task with specific start and completion dates and the sequence of steps towards final completion. |
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Quality Management Systems - Quality Management System refers to an integrated system of activities documented in policies and procedures of the overall management function. It covers the quality policy, objectives, responsibilities and implementation thereof in all business processes from design to final customer delivery and even beyond of a product or service to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency, its performance and improvements for ultimate customer satisfaction. |
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Six Disciplines - Is an integrated set of best practices as published in a book by Gary Harpst under the title Six Disciplines for Excellence, used to foster a performance culture within an organisation to effect the company strategy. It uses a focussed performance measurement system with dialoque across organisational hierarchies. |
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SMEs - An acronym for Small and Medium Enterprises. |
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Strategy - Refers to the long term plans of a company with strategic value towards the achievements of the company's future and success. |
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Strategy Execution - The actioning of strategy (sadly, often the most neglected aspect). |
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sustainable improvement - Improvements that have the characteristics that ensures it or its benefits can be maintained indefinitely vs short term, once off improvements or benefits. |
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Theory of Constraints (TOC) - The Theory of Constraints is an overall management philosophy developed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt in his book The Goal. It uses scientific principles and logic reasoning to guide human-based organisations towards identifying the real constraints preventing an organisation from making the next breakthrough in improvement. These are often outdated policies or management related. |
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TQM - Total Quality Management originates from a strategic Japanese concept that all management and processes require quality awareness. The output or delivery of each process and the wastes both within a process and those that follow on needs systemised control. TQM has been widely used in manufacturing, services, education, medical & government including NASA. |
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Trusts - A trust is a common law legal entity. It is an arrangement whereby assets (including real, tangible and intangible) are managed by a board of trustees for the benefit of others called beneficiaries. A trust is created by a settlor and the trustees owe a fiducial duty to the beneficiaries, who are the "beneficial" owners of the trust assets. |
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Turn around management - Refers to a specialist form of strategic and tactical interventions to restore a company heading for disaster back towards profitability and its original intent. |
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Visual Management - A Japanese methodology (initially developed for manufacturing) of simple instructions and feedback, viewable at a distance to serve workers and management alike to monitor and respond timeously to eventualities in a process. |
