[Ailist] Devaluing by valuing Re: What is the Life Force (Vitalenergy/Prana) ofBusiness?

[Roger Davies]

One of the biggest and most widespread errors that I have seen in my 25
years in industry is the idea that cost is the opposite of value. Once we
get that notion out of our collective business psyche we will be able to
start to build again. Much of this comes from an incomplete translation of
Lean Manufacturing from Japan to the West. The original focus was not just
on cost but that became the major focus in the West.

One of the downsides that I have found in trying to change mindsets is that
we are often forced to couch things in terms that accountants understand and
can present to executives. In doing so much of their meaning is lost. Being
cynical my definition of an accountant is 'one who knows the cost of
everything and the value of nothing'. Also that great 'fad' of Six Sigma is
really just a method of getting engineers to speak in a language that
accountants can understand. Good engineers have been using statistical
evaluation for decades because they needed to to solve problems. They just
weren't compelled to account for every dollar of their savings. The downside
now is that we're supposed to be able to calculate the outcome of everything
before we even start it. Of course that kills the one thing many businesses
crave, innovation.

The answers are not difficult they just don't translate into the current
accepted language of business. Maybe that's what we need first, a new common
language.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Lionel Boxer
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 5:49 PM
To: bruce at bruceelkin.com; coachpb at comcast.net;
ailist at lists.business.utah.edu; rdavies at rtpcompany.com;
mail at sachinchavan.com
Subject: [Ailist] Devaluing by valuing Re: What is the Life Force
(Vitalenergy/Prana) ofBusiness?

Exactly, but that is what happens.  Accountants create dollar values for
everything and now we have carbon trading.  Meaningless measurement that
results in something with a money value that will become traded like shares.

Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256 Associate of RMIT
University - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au Graduate School of Business my
"Assessment of Quality Systems with Positioning Theory" 
now in a googe book - see link at http://intergon.net
>>> "Roger Davies" <rdavies at rtpcompany.com> 10/11/09 10:12 AM >>>

 I'm also of a mind that in trying to quantify such things we actually
devalue them. There will be indirect, measurable benefits just like we can
measure heart rate or blood pressure to tell us about our health. Our health
is much more than a bunch of measurements though. If you did a big study and
found that an Appreciative conversation contained x number of y words would
that mean that any conversation with that quota of those words would be
appreciative? I doubt it. Measurement, though valuable can also be
deceiving, especially when one tries to apply it to dynamic systems. In many
, many businesses the output of everyone is reduced to a few measurements
and if you don't meet your target you aren't a good enough employee. That's
one way businesses unwittingly act to disengage their workforce.

Roger

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