All Features
Claire Zulkey
A boss who overloads you with information may be frustrating, but one who leaves you in the dark may come off as uncaring.
That’s the key finding from a new study that examines how employees perceive managers who assume that less is more when it comes to communicating at work.
After reviewing…
John Logan
Labor Day 2022 came smack-bang in the middle of what is increasingly looking like a pivotal year in the history of American unions.
The summer saw a steady stream of workforce mobilizations. Employees at Trader Joe’s locations in Massachusetts and Minneapolis both voted to unionize. Meanwhile,…
Libby Sander
Telstra and Westpac are the latest companies to encourage staff to work from home, just a few months after some of them returned to the office. However, working from home for extended periods can leave employees feeling socially and professionally isolated. When people work from home, they have…
Matt Fieldman
You’ve heard the questions from your manufacturing colleagues: “Where are all the good people these days?” “Why don’t people want to work anymore?” and, “Why can’t people show up on time and ready to work?”
During a recent seminar at the City Club of Cleveland, I learned that there are eight…
Lisa Wong Macabasco
The underrepresentation of women at the top of corporate America is a persistent and exasperating problem. Women currently hold 32 CEO positions in S&P 500 companies—slightly more than 6 percent of the total.
“We have all this knowledge on stereotypes and the biases and challenges people face…
Lite Nartey
George Bernard Shaw famously quipped that “the single biggest problem in communications is the illusion that it has taken place.” This is often the case when it comes to interactions between firms and stakeholders. Organizations need to improve communication with key actors to foster trust, enhance…
Bruce Hamilton
I responded recently to a LinkedIn post regarding AI-assisted robotic recycling. The sorting speed is so fast, we almost miss each sort in the blink of an eye. Having observed this same activity attempted by humans—and overlooking the upstream potential to avoid this kind of recycling mess at the…
Gleb Tsipursky
Recently, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon claimed that returning to the office will help improve diversity. If he’s right, that’s an important argument for office-centric work. After all, extensive research shows that improving diversity boosts both decision-making and financial performance.
Yet does…
Meridith Wentz, Kevin Wilkinson, Gary Zack
The purpose of this article is to highlight actions that organizational leaders can implement to help improve organizational resilience and sustainability. Building on the case study, “Using the Baldrige Framework to Improve Organizational Resilience and Sustainability” by Garfield et al (2022), we…
Alexander Mirza
As a double immigrant who worked his way through high school and university, I’m a big believer in the lifelong benefits of working on the front line of a service business early in life.
One of my first front-line jobs was in the retail sector working at one of the biggest sports stores in Toronto…
Michaela Jarvis
The debate over what is lost when remote work replaces an in-person workplace just got an infusion of much-needed data. According to a study conducted at MIT, when workers go remote, the types of work relationships that encourage innovation tend to be hit hard.
Two and a half years after Covid-19…
Gene Kaschak
Many manufacturers that adopted lean principles by applying a “just-in-time” (JIT) mindset to inventory of materials and parts have been burned, sometimes badly, by cascading supply chain disruptions. Broken links in the supply chain have created havoc, especially for smaller manufacturers.
Some…
Ausrine Cebatore
Following the pandemic, the Great Resignation marked a trend with large numbers of people resigning from their jobs. However, quitting isn’t an option for everyone; many people have obligations, such as loans to repay or medical insurance that is linked to their jobs. Serving notice was simply not…
Etienne Nichols
I know what you’re thinking. You’ve got a medical device prototype that the FDA has categorized as Class I. You’re ready to push forward to manufacturing or marketing the device, since there are no formal requirements for design controls. “So why would I waste time on design controls?”
The fact is…
Diana Blazaitiene
Pandemic fatigue, tense geopolitical situations, and increasing professional burnout might all lead to employees ghosting—or completely cutting off all communication without any explanation—their employers. A 2021 study shows that about 28 percent of employees admit to having ghosted their employer…
Harish Jose
In today’s column, I’m looking at the Ohno Circle in light of German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s ideas. I’ll try to stay away from the neologisms used by Heidegger and will only scratch the surface of his deep insights.
One of the best explanations of the Ohno Circle comes from one of Taiichi…
Bryan Christiansen
CNC (for computer numerical control) machines have made manufacturing easier, faster, and more precise. Supported by the development of IoT technology, the CNC machine market is set to experience significant growth. With that in mind, this seems like a great time to discuss the intricacies of CNC…
Del Williams
In industry, gas-fired boilers have been the standard for decades to produce steam and heat process water. However, not all boilers are created equal in terms of safety. By definition, combustion-fueled boilers can emit harmful vapors, leak gas, and even cause explosions and fires.
In a recent…
Gleb Tsipursky
Organizations need to incorporate constructive feedback from stakeholders to survive disruptions amid today’s turbulent economy. Securing constructive feedback is critical in helping you find which decisions are working and which ones aren’t. Yet, many organizations fail to engage effectively with…
Phanish Puranam, Ruchika Mehra
How should humans collaborate with artificial intelligence? This is a question of increasing urgency as AI becomes pervasive in the workplace. From screening job applications and chatting with customers to assessing investment portfolios, algorithms are working alongside us in myriad roles and…
Lauren Dunford
Industry 4.0 has been a hot topic for years now, for good reason: 86 percent of manufacturing C-suites say digital transformation is a priority, and about 91 percent of industrial companies are investing in digital factories. Yet Industry 4.0 has also become a buzzword in many ways, as so many…
Scott Dietz
The manufacturing community has long struggled with finding skilled workers, citing, among other things, the misconceptions that manufacturing jobs underpay, are monotonous, and involve working in dirty factories. With the adoption of Industry 4.0—automation and robotics—the issue is as much about…
Bruce Hamilton
With GBMP’s 18th annual Northeast Lean Conference on the horizon, I’m reflecting on our theme, “Amplifying Lean—The Collaboration Effect.” The term collaboration typically connotes an organized attempt by unrelated, even competitive, parties to work together on a common problem; for example, the…
Gleb Tsipursky
Forward-looking organizations use hybrid and remote mentoring to solve two of the biggest challenges for that type of work: on-the-job training and integrating junior employees. Yet despite solving this major problem, mentoring programs that pair new staff with senior employees are all too rare.…
Ken Moon
Henry Ford was onto something.
In 1914, the automaker began paying his factory workers $5 per day for eight hours of work on the assembly line. Although Ford had refined mass production to make it more efficient, he still needed employees to show up and stick around. The generous wage, equivalent…