Job security of employees is one of the core values of organizations pursuing performance excellence. It is a key component of employee satisfaction, which in turn is a prerequisite for achieving customer satisfaction. And if you are in a proactive competitive mode, as are Mr Naresh Goyal or Dr Vijay Mallya, of Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines respectively, the last thing you can afford is job insecurity. People are your greatest asset. Please don’t discard your carefully nurtured jewels.

Let’s go back to basics. Managing for finance is accomplished through financial planning, financial control, and financial improvement. Similarly, managing for quality is achieved through quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. Likewise materials, purchase, sales, etc. So why are dedicated roles in organizations restricted to planning and control? What about dedicated roles for improvement? Can we have a Financial Improver? Quality Improver? Materials Improver?

My answer is a categoric “Yes”.

The role of an Improver should be to reduce the chronic waste in value-creating and support-managerial processes. Their compensation should be a function of the consequential cost reductions achieved. Improvers must have adequate experience in planning and control, as well as an understanding of the organization culture.

Obviously, these are likely to be the stars of an organization. The existing responsibilities of these stars should be reassigned amongst the next level of employees resulting in job enrichment. Please note that control is the most easily delegable process that managers and supervisors tend to cling on to.

Our experience at Qimpro reinforces Dr J M Juran’s articulation that the chronic waste locked in managerial processes translates to 25% of total cost for a batch-mode manufacturing organization; 15% for a continuous process organization; and 40% for a service organization. Any saving here, goes straight to the bottom line. For the airline industry much of the chronic waste is locked (read budgeted) in the aircraft maintenance process, meals management process, reservation process, etc.

If chronic waste is reduced by full time Improvers having salaries linked to collective consequential cost reductions, there will be no need to lay-off employees.

Job insecurity can be a sure cancer for an organization.

Mr Goyal and Dr Mallya, these turbulent times are an opportunity for each of you to think out-of-the-box and release your stars for full-time strategic improvement. You could set a strategic goal to halve your chronic waste in managerial processes in two years and bring health to your bottom line.

It’s all about intelligent cost reduction (COPQ).