Kaizen: A Good Change
Tara C Bigbie
Devry University
Total Quality Management
Dr. Stephan Onu
11 August 2014

Abstract
The Kaizen philosophy was established to expand industrial processes, and is an expansive part of the Deming Theory on Total Quality Management. The history of Kaizen dates back to post World War II and can be seen throughout global corporate cultures. Kaizen is not just a benefit to companies, but a way of thinking that provides solutions that lead to change from an individual’s perspective. Like all change, there are pros and cons to its implementation. This paper takes a deeper look at the definition of Kaizen and the benefits and downside of its theory.

Kaizen: A Good Change
Since World War II, Japan has been a leading force in the conception of managerial culture and process. With the introduction of total quality management (TQM) by W. Edwards Deming, the Japanese have created a process of continuous improvement that has been applied to manufacturing companies, service based corporations, and even the medical community. This process is known as Kaizen. Kaizen translated to English means “good change”, or improvement. The Japanese adopted Deming’s key principle to “improve continuously by increasing quality and productivity”, and defined it as their own. Today, Japanese manufactures have Kaizen down to an art form.
Kaizen is integrated into daily operations and thought processes. It is not just a way of improving production, but also improving quality of life through job satisfaction and the encouragement of problem solving at the individual level. Employees are encouraged to suggest small, continuous improvements on a daily basis. These suggestions are tallied and then shared throughout the community. When staff level individuals are given the opportunity to participate in the decision making process of improvement, they feel important. Kaizen is not just geared towards production, but also the continuous improvement of self, attitude, service, management, and all other aspects of a corporation. While Kaizen humanizes processes, in order for it to be successful, all members of the work community must participate. Participating in Kaizen requires members to know the definition of Kaizen and the reasons why Kaizen is important in the TQM implementation (Tozawa, 1990).
Defining Kaizen is not as simple as restating the translation. Kaizen must go through the Plan-Do-Check-Act, or PDCA cycle before a change can occur. The first step in this cycle is to standardize procedures and actions. Having a basic set of standards will allow for growth and change while maintaining the focus of production. If, during the standardized operation, a problem arises, Kaizen implements its second step: to make the problem visible. The Toyota production line gives its employees the opportunity to construct countermeasures by stopping all production when a problem arises and allowing the operator to provide insight on how to fix the issue. Because all production has been stopped, this allows the community to progress to step four of the cycle; isolate the root cause of the problem. Through the discovery of the root cause, several hypothesized solutions are developed and then tested. This is steps five and six in the Kaizen cycle. The final step is introducing the solution of the problem. By providing a solution to the problem, and incorporating the previous steps, not only has the problem been solved, but a good change has occurred (Yarrabothula, 2013). Understanding the aforementioned steps is an important function in Kaizen, however, understand the “why” is just as imperative.
Kaizen is not necessarily a tool, but a way of life. Kaizen can be practiced everywhere, from personal use to corporate change. There are several reason why a company would practice the Kaizen theory. Exercising Kaizen reduces waste, improves communication and utilization, increases production, and advances time management; these principles are based off the theory of time = money. By reducing the amount of time companies spend on in-processing employees, training employees, reducing over production, and eliminating excess inventory, corporations are able to cut expenses. Improving communication between staff and management allows employees to feel like their voice can be heard. The “intimidation” factor is eliminated due to the free flow of ideas and the willingness of leadership to listen without fear of judgment. Refining how a company utilizes its space and workforce commonly increases production while decreasing its cost. Managing time effectively and efficiently offers an easy solution to cutting costs as well. While the reasons above are all benefits to practicing Kaizen, like most good things, there is a downside (Pandey, 2012).
On a large scale level, improvement is impressive but difficult. Implementing a massive change within an operation can affect several departments, people, and procedures. This can lead to confusion and refusal of change. By placing incremental changes throughout an organization, the stress of monumental change decreases, thus becoming semi-transparent to the personnel (Pandey, 2012).
Throughout the history and expansion of Kaizen, the base theory has remained the same: Continuous improvement occurs with continuous change. By understanding what the Kaizen Theory is, how it functions, and the benefits it provides, those companies that practice Kaizen will have a corporate culture heavily invested in its people.
While Kaizen has many benefits, I would be hesitant to involve my entire staff in the decision process. I value the opinions and inputs of my employees, but I also know that personal gain is a common motive of corporate destruction. Because I work in a service based industry, I would limit Kaizen to quarterly group meetings, in which ideas can be discussed and thought out.

References
Pandey, P. (2012, May 29). Benefits of Kaizen. Retrieved from Slide Share: http://www.slideshare.net/howtopossible/benefits-of-kaizen
Tozawa, B. (1990). Kaizen Teian III. Tokyo: Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun.
Yarrabothula, V. (2013, April 29). Are you applying Kaizen in your life? Retrieved from Success with Venkat: http://www.successwithvenkat.com/are-you-applying-kaizen-in-your-life/