Always Making Progress

Chapter 4 Operational Management Facilitation

DOI: 10.4324/9781003244707-4

A ship can’t be happy unless she’s efficient and she certainly won’t be efficient unless she’s happy.

‘In Which We Serve’ (1942)

4.1 Why Is Operational Management Facilitation Undertaken?

It’s an often-repeated cliché that ‘if you don’t measure it you cannot improve it,’ so from the point of view of Continuous Improvement, it is vital that performance is measured (shown in the second step of Figure 4.1). The ‘Plan Do Check Act’ (PDCA) cycle shown in Figure 4.2 is an iterative four-stage approach for improving processes, products or services and for resolving problems.

Figure 4.1 Operational Management.

Figure 4.2 Plan Do Check Act cycle.

4.2 What Is Operational ...