A New Accord

Abstract

A positive change valence enables the transition from push change (planned change) to pull change (learning) and pull to push change. As described in chapter 7, these two types of change are compatible if seen, understood, and managed properly. The conditions that promote this balance are the developmental focus on employees, units, organizations, and enterprises in what we described as the capability for seeking growth. An essential need is increasing the demand for products and services before improvement initiatives yield positive benefits. These results include more capable, aware, and dedicated people at the individual level, better understanding and functioning of processes at unit and organizational levels, and a secure foundation of relationships, establishment of trust, and fluidity in working across boundaries at enterprise levels. The outcomes are improvements in performance and quality, which allow products and service to be offered at higher volumes and lower costs. However, if gains cannot be applied, the employees, their unit and organization, and in total their enterprise processes are underutilized, creating a gap between the ability to produce and deliver products and services and the ability to provide the value to existing and new customers.

The information and descriptions in this chapter are taken from research and case studies supported by the Air Force Research Laboratory (under agreement number FA8650-05-2-5706) and a consortium of other government and aerospace industry members. MIT faculty and students made several visits to Rockwell Collins and Letterkenny Army Depot to collect information, interview people, and discuss findings. The case studies that describe changes in detail, which were reviewed and approved for release as MIT working papers, include the following: George Roth and Chester Labedz, “Rockwell Collins: Lean Enterprise Change Case Study,” unpublished working paper, Lean Aerospace Initiative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA., September 1, 2006; Katharina Helten, Eric Rebentisch and Josef Oehmen, “A Case Study on Sustaining Lean at Rockwell Collins: 2001–2002,” unpublished working paper, Lean Advancement Initiative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA., December 10, 2012; Roger Harvey and Chester Labedz, “Letterkenny Army Depot: The Army Teaches Business a Lesson in Lean Six Sigma,” unpublished working paper, Lean Advancement Initiative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA., May 23, 2006; and Chester Labedz and Roger Harvey “Letterkenny Army Depot: Finance Innovations Support Lean Six Sigma Success,” unpublished working paper, Lean Advancement Initiative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA., September 15, 2006.