Communication in the Production: Production Management for Senior Managers

By Marcus Karl Haman

Communication in the production and especially on the shop-floor is more important than many a manager would think. To hold discussions and re-views over all possible subjects seems to have be-come a kind of sports discipline in many organiza-tions. The false belief of many senior managers is to think that the more discussions a manager attends, the more important and esteemed he is. Otherwise no one would think of inviting him.
And already the manager is sitting in a confer-ence room and discussing with other participants. Naturally with coffee and if possible also with biscuits and cakes. A fantastic picture for every employee on the shop-floor, or?

A manager is only then a manager, when he car-ries out his management responsibility or can carry it out.

And this is only limitedly possible in a conference room, since the problems are to be found on the shop-floor and not in the conference room.

Here it must also be said that not all the discus-sions in the conference rooms are unnecessary, or are a wastage. There indeed are discussions, which should or must take place in closed or quiet areas.
But how many of the discussions really take place due to these reasons? And how many discussions take place with participants, who ask themselves only one question over the entire meeting: „What am I really doing here?“

The inviting party should ask himself the following questions, as for instance:


 How structured is the discussion?
 How prepared is the discussion?
 Are the right participants invited?
 Which objective, which significant points does the discussion have?
 How long should the discussion last?
 Which rules are there in the discussion, in case it does not run so smoothly?
 Where should the discussion take place?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: Dec 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9783738666281

Marcus Karl Haman

Marcus Karl HAMAN, MSc, studierte, nach seiner Ausbildung zum Starkstrommonteur und Werkmeister, Prozess- & Qualitätsmanagement an der Donau Universität Krems, Supply Chain Excellence an der Georgia Tech USA, bzw. an der alcala Universidad in Spanien. In seiner internationalen beruflichen Laufbahn konnte er alle Ebenen einer produktiven Organisation kennen lernen. Vom "blue collar" Werker bis zu Top Management Positionen internationaler Konzerne, konnte Marcus Haman Erfahrungen in der Automobilindustrie, sowie anderen Industrien sammeln und diese mehrfach gewinnbringend umsetzen. Für weitere Informationen besuchen Sie bitte die Webseite: www.haman.at oder www.hca-consulting.at

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model

STEP 1 – THE DEMARCATION

The first step, the demarcation, contains among other thing, the following topics:

RASI – Chart

Resources

In scope / out of scope listing

Time frame

Project Charter

Over all Target

Steering comitee

Escalation Process

Decision rules

etc.

These different points must be fixed before the Diesproject start and thus they indicate a frame, which must be passed and carried by the entire team.

Topics like the EDMI Chart, wherein it is fixed as to who is responsible for which activities, or measures (R – Responsible = decision), who is responsible for the execution (A – Action = execution), who may give support (S – Support) and who must be informed at which point of time (I – Information).

In order to obtain a simplified and understandable form of the RASI Chart, the RASI Chart presented in a matrix.

Table 1 - RASI Chart

The RASI Chart has thus the task to nominate clearly and equivocally all the responsible persons for each individual area. This clear regulation prevents unnecessary discussions within the project team and thus simplifies an efficient course of action.

To take over and to delegate responsibility are important functions of a management. It is important and essential that roles and responsibilities are clearly regulated, maintained and appropriately carried out.

A process without clearly defined distribution of roles will automatically come to nothing, and/or fail. It always requires a „driver and „caretaker, in order to keep a process not only alive, but also to reach the desired and set objectives. Also adhering to the process is important for a successful project. Measurabillity and control, only to name 2 of the most important properties of defined rules and roles, are essential, not only in a project. For this purpose a simple chart helps, the RASI Chart.

RASI stands for:

Responsible

Action

Support &

Information

Irrespective of how these 4 groups are called, the meaning is always the same. The more important fact is however, that these roles are employed and carried out within the process.

The decision or the decisionmaker decides in the mentioned point and his decision is binding. However, in this role there can be only ONE person, who has the responsibility.

Illustration 2 - decision

The role of execution is left to the execution specialists, who should bring the theory ‚on to the road‘. In this role several positions can also be named, should this become necessary and sensible.

The supporting role supports actively and not reactively the process and promotes the progress of the process. Here several positions can be named, which offer support to the