Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [581]
When an individual manager or a small group of managers gets past the first and second hurdles, there is still a major hurdle ahead. Getting all the other managers, executives, and employees in an enterprise to recognize and accept that conventional wisdom is wrong is arguably the highest hurdle of all. This barrier is, however, precisely what creates sustainable competitive advantage for those enterprises that make the leap to TOC.
Managers are not the only group who can and should be persuaded to adopt TOC. There are also the practitioners, partners, and principals in PSTS. It’s not enough for managers to pursue TOC if the people who will be executing the TOC applications aren’t convinced as well.
Students, and the professors who educate them, are another vital constituency. Acquainting the next generation of managers is an obvious way to get more TOC adoption, but that requires acquainting the current generation of professors. Those professors often have dual interests in research as well as teaching. Regardless of group, TOC has a specific method for gaining commitment.
Buy-in
The TOC approach to change is called buy-in. Although it sounds counterintuitive, TOC recognizes that the strongest force for change is initial resistance against change. That is, once someone is convinced the situation will improve, there’s no longer a reason to resist change, and the commitment to change is stronger than it would have been without this flip in perspective.
Buy-in proceeds in these steps, which must be performed strictly in order (Goldratt, 1999):
1. Agree on the problem.
2. Agree on the direction of the solution.
3. Agree that the solution solves the problem.
4. Agree that the solution will not lead to significant negative effects.
5. Agree on the way to overcome obstacles to implementation.
6. Agree to implement.
Although anyone can follow these steps if sufficiently knowledgeable and motivated, TOC consultants often help clients through these steps because conventional wisdom resists change so strongly. Ironically, those TOC consultants can have just as much difficulty taking their own enterprise through these steps.
How Practitioners Can Get Started
One way to get started with TOC is by studying success stories. They are not hard to find. Many have been published in books and articles. Some can be found on the Web in blogs. Of course, peers who have successfully implemented TOC are perhaps the most credible source of all.
It’s also possible to get started with TOC by hiring TOC consultants. Their breadth of experience often exceeds what peers know because consultants have the additional advantage of having seen what works and what doesn’t work. Furthermore, if the consultant brings software assets, then that can aid in implementing TOC.
Certification is another way to get started because it requires completion of formal training as well as exams.2 It thus requires demonstrating a level of proficiency above what can be attained on the job or via independent study. This is obviously a path that TOC consultants take.
How Researchers Can Contribute
Researchers also have a role to play in causing change. Field studies, case studies, and simulation studies are all ways to investigate TOC and foster its adoption.
Literature reviews are another potential contribution whose value should not be underestimated.3 When well done, such reviews are used both by practitioners and by other researchers. However, the TOC literature is scattered across several fields and many journals, so the best literature reviews synthesize findings from disparate sources.
For research to have impact outside of academia, it has to be consumable by practitioners and students. This is a challenge because scientific terms and methods that