more about Tom Jackson

WORKING PAPER: The-Rise-of-the-Cybernetic-CorporationDownload

For a short introduction to Tom’s unique perspective on leadership and modern organization, take a look at his working paper, “The Rise of the Cybernetic Corporation.” The term “cybernetic” means “self-steering” or “self-organizing.” Lean production teams and agile development teams are self-steering or self-organizing in this sense. Because their frontline teams are empowered to operate largely without management intervention, cybernetic firms are said to be radically decentralized. Tom uses the Nobel Prize-winning discipline of transaction cost economics to explain how and why radically decentralized or cybernetic firms are so much faster and more accurate than their counterparts, almost all of which are patterned after the multi-divisional design of General Motors circa 1920.

HOSHIN KANRI FOR THE LEAN ENTERPRISE

In 2007, Tom was awarded the Shingo Institute’s Research Award for his book, Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise. A second edition is forthcoming in 2024.

2nd EDITION OF HOSHIN KANRI FOR THE LEAN ENTERPRISE

In 2024, Tom plans to launch a 2nd edition of Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise. The 2nd edition will fill a critical gap in hoshin kanri theory and practice. In practice, hoshin kanri has often been used in pursuit of total quality and lean manufacturing, two primary methods of operational efficiency. Typical versions of the hoshin kanri, including Tom’s own version, have addressed the communication and execution of short strategy, but have not included a viable method for long-term strategy formulation. Unfortunately, this has left the door open for hoshin kanri to be misapplied in pursuit of operational efficiency alone (it is necessary but not sufficienet to strategy) and other questionable concepts of strategy, including the much loved but ill-defined “true north.” The 2nd edition contains several new chapters devoted to the concept of strategy, strategic intelligence, and strategic data analytics as well as long-term strategy formulation. The new edition also contains new chapters on the visual management of strategy deployment and execution in the big room or obeya, organizational design for self-managed teams, the book of knowledge, and executive coaching.

Other books by Tom on this subject include Implementing a Lean Management System, Corporate Diagnosis and The President’s Diagnosis.

ARTICLES ON MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

Tom’s work on lean production and hoshin kanri challenges the need for budgets and internal audits, the two pillars of modern management accounting. What comes next?

Lean organizations are self-auditing in the sense that operators monitor the slightest deviations from standard work, including defects, and then pause or stop production to engage fellow operators and managers to fix problems and prevent defects from passing down stream.
Lean organizations go “beyond budgeting” by integrating financial planning with strategy deployment.

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN, TRAINING FOR LEAN TRANSFORMATION

Tom Jackson specializes in large-scale lean transformations. His clients include multinational manufacturing corporations such as Ford Motor Company, Emerson, Whirlpool and adidas, and large U.S.-based healthcare organizations such as UCSF, the University of Kansas, and the San Francisco Department of Health. Thousands of lean practitioners have graduated from the programs designed and often executed by Tom.

LEAN HEALTHCARE SERIES

In support of his fifteen years in healthcare, Tom conceived and executed the Lean Tools Series for Healthcare, published by CRC Press. The key work in this series is Mapping Clinical Value Streams, which Tom authored himself. Other volumes in the series are based on the Shingo Prize-winning Shopfloor Series for manufacturing.