Management and Life

History - Our bridge to past and future   I just finished reading City of Dijjins by William Daralymple. The book and the author deserves much praise for the careful chronicling of the author's stay in Delhi, his research and visits to various sites and narration of Delhi's history along side the appreciation of the forts, ruins and legends of he city. Reading history leaves one with mixed feelings. On one end, our daily existence and quests seem inconsequential, mundane, irrelevant or passable in contrast to the grandeur, developments, thrills and climaxes of the past. Viewed against the backdrop of the historical canvas, our lives seem like a small dot which could get washed off in the next brush stroke of time. And yet history lends a hope that like all the historical events which were perhaps equ ally mundane and commonplace when they occurred, our lives too can also form an important milestone in the evolution of society and mankind. One day,...

Book Review The Decalogue – Deming and Goldratt - Domenico Lepore and Oded Cohen Dr. Deming and Dr. Goldratt are considered as the ‘gurus’ or geniuses in modern management literature. Their theories have had a profound impact on the understanding and improvement of management systems across a wide variety of organizations in the world. ‘The Decalogue’ – is the work of two disciples of Dr Deming and Dr. Goldratt who discovered the overlap and complementary aspects of their theories. Domenico Lepore, a Deming Scholar found that TOC offered a methodology and thinking tools to implement Dr. Deming’s theory. While Oded Cohen, a partner of Dr. Goldratt, realized that the core aspects of Deming’ theory such as appreciation of the system, understanding variation and process improvement provide the background for a better understanding and implementation of the TOC. By combining the theories and approach presented by Dr. Deming (The System of Profound Knowledge) and Dr. Goldratt (...