Systems Thinking Converging with QMS/LSS through Leadership

After reading the 12 comments to the proposed question, I have decided to weigh with my opinion. The comments appear to be dancing around what system thinking really is and where it originated, etc. Also the misconceptions of what lean is and what six sigma is and the combination of Lean Six Sigma or LSS. So lets define lean as the elimination of all non-value added actions (waste has too narrow of a connotation). Six Sigma is defines as an organized way to leverage decade old tools in order to eliminate variability in processes. Lean DOES NOT improve quality or excellence of a product, service or organization. Six Sigma DOES NOT improve throughput or cycle time. LSS starts to go toward system thinking by combining the two together in order to derive synergistic effects not feasible with each set of tools individually in isolation.

Now let’s dive into Systems Thinking and the convergence with QMS and LSS. Systems’ thinking has been around since the beginning in time. Aristotle was one of the first to put into a philosophical dialogue. What is the ultimate synergy of system working in perfection? Well look at Earth’s ecological systems and also the human body. Systems’ thinking is man’s philosophical approach to try and understand these complex systems and how they interact with great positive value generation with effortless ease. Now let’s get back to how this relates to value generation for organization and mankind. Remember that organizations were created by man for the sole purpose to benefit man – not for the exploitations of man. Also there is symbiotic relationship that not exists between man and the environment – earth’s ecological systems – but also between each other the communities. Here is quote from an article I just read by Tito Conti, “Quality and Value: Convergence of Quality Management and Systems Thinking”. “Systems thinking is a way of thinking that STRIVES to UNDERSTAND the complexity of the reality we are immersed in, in the particular the reality of socio-cultural systems. … ever increasing complexity of man-made systems, the dynamics imposed by exponential growth of technology … we cannot escape the systems thinking challenge.’

Very humbling to reflect. LSS can be a tool to create simplicity and then co-operations between departments, business units and thus human. Synergetic effects of social systems (which is work people!) has value generated that, if positive and aligned, is greater than the sum of the values individual units could generate in isolation. Quality is neutral and excellence is not quality, but has been misused often enough o be widely accepted by professionals. Excellence is just a product of the interactions among systems and not the sum of the actions of individual parts. We all understand that excellence of one individual unit does not translate into excellence for the entire organization, right? An organization culture and structure must be designed with system and integral thinking, which takes higher levels of critical thinking. LSS should only used for the sake of aligning the workforce toward a common goal and drive out fear and selfish agendas – ONLY LEADERSHIP can bring this together. Last thing – pay attention to Maslow’s laws on human, social interaction and behavior. The perceived gratification received by people, through motivation and engagement, is directly proportional to the value generated for the organization. This is leadership at the fifth level, which sees the interaction of systems through whole brain – 4-lens perspective of the global whole and breaks it down in simple forms for the alignment of people toward a common vision!