Context:
The month-long strike at Samsung’s manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu has brought to the spotlight the stressful working conditions in these factories shaped and determined by their management philosophy, which draws inspiration from the Japanese production method called Kaizen.
Relevance:
Facts for Prelims
About Kaizen:
- Kaizen is a combination of two Japanese words joined together which together means “good change” or “improvement.”
- Kaizen is the Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement involvement by employees at any level in a company.
- The concept of kaizen encompasses vast ideas.
- They make the work environment efficient by creating a team atmosphere, upgrading processes and procedures, increasing employee engagement, and making jobs more fulfilling, less tiring, and safer.
- Kaizen creates small changes overtime to promote continuous improvement within the company.
- The Kaizen process recognizes that the ripples caused by small changes today could also have huge impacts tomorrow.
- Ultimately, that can mean better quality control, more efficient processes and the elimination of waste, among other benefits.
- Under Kaizen, improvements can be initiated by any employee at any time.
- The philosophy is that everybody has a stake in the company’s success, and everybody should strive, at all times, to help make the business better.
-Source: Indian Express
