Critical Chain - Eliyahu M. Goldratt [88]
B.J. is slightly impatient. "This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. And in order to make it work, our program must be special. If we continue to do what we have done, which is what everybody else is doing, we will continue to get the same unsatisfactory results. My question is, how can we make our program special?"
"The key is on the next page," Jim says. "The problem is not with the subjects covered, but with the content and the method of delivery. Look at the next page."
"The knowledge taught does not bring value to the company," B.J. reads the first item.
"How can they say such a thing?" Chris is indignant.
"Easily," B.J. flatly responds. "The question is, can we do something about it?"
"I believe we can," Jim says. "Take, for example, Johnny's new production course. I heard from some of the students that they have already implemented this knowledge and gotten impressive results. In their departments they cut the inventory while improving volume. Or Charlene's course, in accounting, it's fantastic!"
"A fantastic course in accounting?" Chris cannot hold back his astonishment.
"Yes," Jim says. "What she teaches now about investment justification is of great value. I've personally heard stories from our students of how they used this knowledge to save hundreds of thousands of dollars for their companies."
"Hard to believe," Chris murmurs.
Jim pretends he doesn't hear. "Allow me also to say that my systems course, the way I have radically modified it this year, is also bringing value. But the best, no doubt, is Richard Silver's course. You have heard about it?"
"Of course," B.J. responds. "But may I ask what happened? You've all taught these courses for ages. How come now, all of a sudden, they are all so great?"
"It's Johnny Fisher," Jim responds. "He brought the breakthrough from UniCo, and we've all built on it. It had a major impact on what we teach. Almost everything had to be modified. Chris, you heard his colloquium. . . ."
"Only the first fifteen minutes; there was an important meeting I had to attend. But I did hear very good things about it."
Can it be that the dream team I was praying for exists in my university? B.J. wonders incredulously. She reads the second item, "The examples used in class are too artificial."
"That's a real problem," Chris says. "For quite some time I have been pushing for more extensive use of the Harvard Business School case studies. But you know how tough it is to overcome inertia, especially among us professors."
"The Harvard cases are a step forward, but I'm afraid they are not good enough," Jim ventures.
"What do you mean?" Chris is surprised.
"The problem with cases is that they are deterministic," Jim explains. "Either the data is given or not. But reality is not like that. Reality contains many things that are malleable, vague, even debatable."
"True," B.J. agrees, "but there is nothing we can do about that."
"I think there is. Rick has shown us the way."
"Richard Silver?" B.J. checks.
"Yes. In his course, all the problems that they work on are real. They are problems that the students bring from their work. I agree that it's not so easy to use his style of teaching, but one thing is for sure, he is very successful with it."
"Fine. And the last item is, ‘Students do not acquire problemsolving skills.' Well, obviously in Richard's class, they do."
"Correct," says Jim. "But that's not enough. Solving a few problems is not sufficient. We have to teach them how to do it systematically for every subject."
"That's a tall order," Chris comments.
"It is," Jim responds. "But with the thinking processes Johnny brought from UniCo, it's much simpler than one would think. We don't teach enough of it. But now that the rest of us have learned it, we are going to integrate it into all our courses. It will also help us use Rick's teaching method. Not everybody was born with his natural talent." After a second he adds,