We’re certainly familiar with acronyms, at least those that pertain to our job, profession and interests. Acronyms exist for brevity and convenience as we don’t have to utter or write the whole caboodle. Imagine if you’re a scuba diver forced to spell out the term “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus” to a Grade 5 pupil.
It’s confusing, if not downright troublesome. Take social media, which continues to spawn acronyms. Maybe you’re familiar with LOL (laughing out loud), but what about NSFW? It means “not safe for work” and is used to warn people about a sensitive photo they’re about to see. The list can go on and on.
But what if we were to continue adding to the confusion, if only to build our knowledge? Take the case of TPS. It’s well-known in the auto industry that it stands for the Toyota Production System. Instead of referring to it as Toyota’s DNA, I would refer to it as the Thinking People Strategy, or TPS 2.0 for short.
I use that term when I’m talking to people outside of the auto industry and to those in the service sector, like banking, construction, healthcare, agribusiness, fast food, government service, and, of late, the broadcast industry.
I’m proud to have coined the term TPS 2.0 close to ten years ago to emphasize that the heart and mind of Toyota can be summarized in one root ideology: “People don’t go to Toyota to ‘work’; they go there to ‘think’.” That means building and encouraging an army of workers to give at least one percent improvement idea every day.
One percent improvement
Let’s say you have 500 workers. That means 500 ideas a day or 10,000 ideas a month (20 days per month). That’s a tough job for a management to handle. In real life, however, you’ll be lucky to get 30 ideas a day. It could be lower when team leaders, line supervisors and their managers routinely dish out killer phrases that discourage people from cooperating.
So, what’s the oft-repeated killer phrase that you last heard from your boss? The one I discovered was too disturbing: “You’re not being paid to think but to work!” Indeed, that was too painful to hear. Aren’t managers supposed to be the leaders in helping improve their workers’ self-confidence and skills?
I know. I was blessed that in my previous life as a corporate warrior, I had been mentored by five bosses (except one) in different organizations. Despite their different management styles, they gave me their unshakeable patience and positivity.
TQMax
Another interesting acronym is TQM, which traditionally stands for Total Quality Management. According to the American Society for Quality, the story behind TQM started as a term coined by the Naval Air Systems Command to describe its Japanese-style management approach to quality improvement.
It used to be known as Total Quality Control by the Japanese until quality standards like The Deming Prize and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) defined its seven principles comprising leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, measurement, human resource focus, process management and business results.
In the Philippines, the equivalent of MBNQA is the Philippine Quality Award, co-managed by the Philippine Society for Quality and Development Academy of the Philippines for the private and public sectors, respectively.
The definition of TQM given by the United States Department of Defense in 1988 is “a strategy for continuously improving performance at every level and in all areas of responsibility.”
That was the traditional TQM until I discovered around 20 years ago that total quality can only be improved if we’re focused on solving problems using current resources that are often ignored or neglected. That’s the slogan of my 2016 book called “Total Quality by Maximization,” aka TQMax.
The essence of TQMax is simple: “Problem-solving is not progress if you’ll spend money for the solution.” The idea came from Toyota at the time when Japan lost the war in 1945. They didn’t have the money or other resources to solve problems and produce the best product that we know today.
What Toyota did during those challenging times was to use whatever available resources they had. That means using scrap wood and metal materials with the help of their workers, who cooperated beyond management expectations. In other languages, it is called “resource optimization.”
A good example of this is the use of sunlight, gravity and air among other forces of nature to solve operational issues. Imagine the modern packaging design of reverse bottles with a spout on the bottom instead of on top, like what you can see in ketchup, mayonnaise and other non-food products like shampoo and conditioner.
Aside from “resource optimization,” another term worth mentioning in this context is “moonshine,” a term popularized by Chihiro Nakao, founder of Shingijutsu consultants. Nakao recommends “moonshine” when referring to the use of existing materials that are already in hand but not being used for their original intention.
In conclusion, acronyms are a great addition to our learning process as long as they are amusing like the one I learned when I was courting my better half more than four decades back – HHWW means “holding hands while walking.” Today, it means HHAS, “holding hands, avoiding shopping.”
Rey Elbo is a quality and productivity improvement enthusiast. For free consultations, email your concerns to elbonomics@gmail.com or visit https://reyelbo.com. Anonymity is guaranteed.