It has been facinating looking around BPO operations in first Bangalore and now Mumbai. Today I asked a simple question about how they worked to improve tone and style of communication and this led to the revelation that they invest around 10% of their working day in improvement activities.
Why don't we manage to do that in the UK? How much better could we be if we did? I certainly have been involved in many initiatives that have just dried out in the end. Exaples are Quality Circles, TQM, etc.
It seems to me that in the UK (and maybe wider) we have two failings in this respect. The first is one of control; too often management and/or our regulatory framework seem unwilling to give any power to the working staff in the area of reall improvement. Oh yes, they say that they are empowering employees, but how often is that really true?
Related to this is that in current management thinking it seems that as soon as there is an perceived "fat" in the work force, ie the effort we might put into improvement, we tend to cut it out rather than use it. This is comparatively recent phenomenon as there was capacity to do this twenty years ago, but not now.
So who has got it right? Are the Indian so much wiser than us? Or is it just natural process allowing each part of a system to perform its best function?
In truth I don't know, but someone might. I for one will keep thinking on this until I find an answer that makes sense. Any insights/contirbutions are welcome.
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