Table of Contents

1. KAIZEN, The Concept2. Improvement East and West3. KAIZEN by Total Quality Control4. KAIZEN - The Practice5. KAIZEN Management6. The KAIZEN Approach to Problem Solving7. Changing the Corporate Culture

Reviews

Books about Japanese management have become kind of a cottage industry, from Theory Z ( LJ 5/1/81) to The Art of Japanese Management ( LJ 8/1/81) and The Mind of the Strategist ( LJ 6/1/82) to Kaisha: the Japanese corporation ( LJ 12/85). This volume covers some of the same groundthe current superiority of Japanese management stylebut approaches things from a different perspective. Essentially, Imai contends that the Japanese edge can be found in a philosophical orientation captured in the concept of Kaizen. Kaizen management is anchored in the notion of perpetual improvementeven if all is going well. In contrast to U.S.-style management, it takes a longer-run view and is process-oriented rather than geared to immediate results. Importantly, the Kaizen philsophy is also quantifiable , rooted in the mathematics of quality control theory. Recommended. Gene Laczniak, Coll. of Business Administration, Marquette Univ., Milwaukee