New Lean Management Fundamentally Differs from Older "Modern Management"

Online, October 28, 2009 (Newswire.com) - CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Oct. 29, 2009 - A lean manager has two main jobs: (1) get the people who work for you to take initiative solving problems and improving their work, (2) align the work they do so it delivers value for customers and prosperity for the company, according to author, lean practitioner, and management thinker John Shook.

The work of the lean manager stands in sharp contrast to the old-fashioned "dictator" manager, who simply tells everyone what to do, and the modern manager, who tells subordinates to get the job done using whatever methods they decide upon so long as they meet their targets.

Shook will explain the essential work of lean managers at the first Lean Managers' Conference, December 8, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport
Orlando. The conference is sponsored by the Cambridge, MA-based Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) to give managers new insights into their roles in organizations pursuing lean transformations.

Other speakers include Michael Balle, author of The Lean Manager; Pascal Dennis, author of Getting the Right Things Done; Jerome Hamilton, 3M global director of lean six sigma; and Jerry Bussell, vice president of global operations, Medtronic Surgical Technologies.

Shook is co-author of Managing to Learn, which won a 2009 Shingo Research Prize for its description of how A3 reports support lean management and leadership.

Lean management, the name for the revolutionary system created at Toyota, is the successor to existing "modern management" systems descended from methods perfected by Alfred Sloan at GM during the 1920s.

What is Lean?
The terms lean, lean manufacturing, lean production, or lean management refer to a complete business system for organizing and managing product development, operations, suppliers, customer relations, and the overall enterprise that requires less capital, material, space, time, or human effort to produce products and services with fewer defects to precise customer desires, compared with traditional modern management.

Tuition for the conference is $1,000, including all participant materials, breakfast, lunch, and snacks each day. Conference attendees receive discounts on two days of optional lean workshops Dec. 9-10.

Lean Enterprise Institute
The Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. was founded in 1997 by management expert James P. Womack, Ph.D., as a nonprofit research, education, publishing, and conferencing company with a mission to advance lean thinking around the world. We teach courses, hold management seminars, write and publish books and workbooks, and organize public and private conferences. We use the surplus revenues from these activities to conduct research projects and to support other lean initiatives such as the Lean Education Academic Network, the Lean Global Network and the Healthcare Value Leaders Network. Visit LEI at lean.org.

Media Contacts:
The Lean Enterprise Institute
Chet Marchwinski, 617-871-2930