Ade Asefeso MCIPS MBA Published His New Book Lean in Unionized Environment

LONDON - Feb. 17, 2015 - PRLog -- Why Lean in Unionized Environment?

That’s the question that Ade Asefeso answers in his new book “Lean in Unionized Environment”

Ade said. “Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to work in a unionized environment. The engagement did not start out as an Lean engagement, but as the continuous improvement project wore on there were more and more opportunities to influence in more and more Lean methods. The engagement itself was to help set lead the implementation of a solution into an operational support area. Doesn’t sound very Lean right? But I thought it was a great opportunity to try to extend Lean practices into the realms of Application Management Services, otherwise known as Maintenance and Support.”.

Ade continued by saying. “Without a doubt, the people I met and worked with were some of the most client-focused, motivated people I have ever met. In fact, everyone on the project team was incredibly focused on value to the customer. At every turn, there was mention by people of the impact that current issues were having on the end clients and co-workers. Were there a few people who were the stereotypical ‘Union-worker’? Sure. But in my experience the percentage of those type of people are pretty consistent across both unionized and non-unionized environments.”

Visit http://www.booksonline.aaglobalsourcing.com/lean-in-union... for details.

Ade said we faced a lot of challenges such as "Roles – The primary challenge was that unions typically have a large component of their footprint being the formalization of roles and the responsibilities of each role. In addition, the corporation itself also further segmented these roles into functional departments. These functional departments, like Quality Assurance, were the only departments that was authorized to perform those tasks. An interesting thing happened on projects though. People from these different functional areas were assigned to the project and the project was then given the authority to use them in whatever way they saw fit. The projects were also co-located. So the projects were quite a bit more Lean compared to the rest of the organization. But you always had to be careful so make sure everyone was totally happy with how the team self-organized as one person could submit a union grievance if they did not like the work they were doing and if they thought it was outside their official role. Unfortunately when the project was over and it was transitioned to the Maintenance and Support areas, we were less successful in having the team self-organize and had to adopt more structured roles. It is an interesting note that the client knew that this structure was not as responsive and efficient, but they required the process to be aligned and use their current organizational structure.

Compensation – Compensation in a union environment is again a very formalized process and is based upon role and seniority. As we worked on the projects, it really did hamper the ability to recognize people even in informal ways. (like offering to buy someone a lunch) If you wanted to offer someone a perk, you had to offer everyone the same perk whether they were involved or not. This seems like a small thing but it ended up being a constant conundrum for the project.

Documentation – The documentation requirements were quite extensive for two reasons. One, they used documents as the transfer of knowledge between one department to another. Two, they evaluated people’s competencies and their readiness to be promoted to the next "

Ade, based on what you have described so far; Can Lean be implemented in a union environment?

Ade responded by saying; I would say yes, but there are challenges that need to be addressed. But just like anywhere else, you need the commitment from management that the client’s needs and value will drive the organization’s structure and not the other way around. The challenge with a union environments is you need this agreement from not only the company’s management, but also the union management.

Visit http://www.booksonline.aaglobalsourcing.com/books for details.

About The Author:  Ade Asefeso MCIPS MBA

Ade has packed a lot into his career over the years with a long spell working at senior level within various manufacturing companies in the UK. He can be described as international diplomat due to his work across the globe.

Ade spent a lot of his time representing various companies either at supply chain level, operational level, sales and marketing level, and senior executive level across Asia, North America, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe.

Ade is currently the CEO of AA Global Sourcing Ltd. A company that helps local businesses outsource so that they can enjoy the benefits that used to be enjoyed by big corporations for years.

All this still doesn’t make mention of Ade’s increasingly successful career as an author, of numerous books on Finance, Business Ideas, Personal Development, Self help, Lean Sustainable Supply Chain Management, CEO Guide to Doing Business, Outsourcing, Lean IT, Lean Manufacturing, Agile and Lean Office, Lean Office, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Healthcare, Six Sigma marketing, Six Sigma Service, Lean Startup, Lean Procurement, Lean Implementation, 5S for Supervisors, 5S Home, Lean Handbook, Lean marketing, Lean Sales and marketing, Lean Accounting, Lean Management, Lean Healthcare, 5S for Healthcare, 5S Office Management, Lean In Construction, Lean Retailing, Lean Banking, Lean Business, Lean Government, Lean Tools, Lean in Unionized Environment, CEO Tools, TPM Simplified, Green Manufacturing, Sustainable Urban Supply Chain Management, Real estate, Balanced Scorecard, Non Executive Director, Corporate Storytelling, Reshoring, Supply Chain Management and Online Marketing.

In his spare time, although it’s amazing to think that he might have some, Ade does keep fit.

Visit http://www.aaglobalsourcing.com for details.