Successfully Implementing Japanese Management Techniques at ETF

LESSONS FROM MY CAREER: SYNTHESISING MANAGEMENT THEORY WITH PRACTICE - PART 21

- BY SUNIL G WUJESINHA

The technique was very well accepted, and many employees at the clerical level at ETF Board who were hitherto engaged in mundane jobs such as checking some documents for eight hours daily found significant enrichment, because now, they were collecting statistics, preparing Cause & Effect Diagrams, preparing Pareto Charts, and so on, which were quite different to their routine daily work.

Since they were working in groups, they were able to contribute their individual talents. Some were good at numbers, others good at slide preparation, while some had a great ability to make presentations. These circles did many practical projects and made significant improvements to the work processes at the ETF Board.

One project of a circle was my favourite. The problem was the difficulty members (claimants for refunds) faced when filling out the claim form at the end of their employment or upon a job change. Many claims were rejected because claimants with basic education found formfilling difficult. Further analysis showed that the main problem was the question in Sinhala "name of spouse". In Sinhala, it was ‘kalaththrayage nama’, This was kept blank by about 20% of the claimants thus making it a rejected application.