To many the term 'Management Science' is an oxymoron. There seems to be no middle ground between the now deeply unfashionable 'tool driven' mathematical obsessions of Operations Research and the management fads and anecdotally rich, but content poor, business 'success stories' which shout at us from every airport bookstall.
Whilst we believe that real life is too rich and complex to be able to be reduced to a set of equations, we are committed to developing rational approaches to the practical challenges of management.
We want to support and guide managers - to make better use of their resources. Much of the 'science' we need has been around for decades but has either not been used properly or where it has, it has not been properly appreciated or fully exploited.
We would like to share some of the ideas and the material inspired our work and would invite you to share yours. Through this page you will be able to access material and explore links which will hopefully enrich your understanding of what is 'out there'.
If you have material which you think would complement or enrich ours please contact us.
The original notions of 'Total Quality Management' (TQM) and continuous improvement trace back to an American statistician named Dr Walter A. Shewhart. His approach to statistics was radically different from that of many of his contemporaries - he had a pragmatic outlook which influenced his statistical practice. He believed that lack of information hindered the control and management of production processes. In order to aid managers making more rational and efficient decisions, he developed the concept of 'Statistical Process Control' (SPC) which first appeared in his book 'Economic Control of Manufactured Products' and ever since it has been the cornerstone for process control in industry. Many of the modern quality ideas owe their inspiration to Dr. Shewhart. Click on is picture to discover more about Walter Shewhart.
A surprising number of managers have never heard of W Edwards Deming despite the fact that he was one of the most important figures in the Quality Movement - by far an away one of the most impactful intellectual forces in business history and the inspiration for the Total Quality Management, Toyota Management System, Six Sigma and so on. We believe a large part of the success and longevity of his ideas is because his thinking was inspired by Shewhart's methodical and pragmatic approach to problem solving. In particular he emphasised the significance of variation and the need for managers to understand its impact on all measurement processes before any intelligent action can be taken. As such W. Edward Deming, along with his teacher Dr Walter A. Shewhart should be regarded as the most influential thinkers in the history of management.
Our company is based on the same basic philosophy, and our tools and methodologies extensively adopt and adapt the techniques they invented. Click on his picture to discover more about Edward Deming.
Much of our work and thinking is based upon the notion that any form of measurement is probabilistic; it can only be approximate. In physics - at a quantum level - this is encpasualted in Heisenburgs Principle of Unvertainty. In normal every day life the reason why we can never be certain is because of the existence of variation - the consequence of a multitude of unknowable factors introducing uncertainty into every kind of process. The consequences of variation for practical management tasks was first understood by the fathers of the Quality Movement and now underpins modern manaufacturing practice - as manifest, for example, in the famous Toyota Manufacturing System.
It is quite staggering that the implications of variation for management as a whole have not been more widely understood or explored.
A good place to start is this article written by a leading member of the second generation of western quality gurus - Myron Tribus - click on his picture to read the article.
In today's economic climate with increasingly uncertain and volatile markets forecast accuracy has become one of the top concerns of CFO's. The importance of accuracy in business forecasts has always been over emphasized, especially in turbulent times, even though accuracy is only a part of having forecasts that can truly support and enhance decision making.
A forecast (short to long term and periodic or rolling) can only support us in building more relevant and flexible plans and making quick and informed decisions if it is 'reliable'. A forecast is reliable if and only if it is Actionable, Unbiased and reports a realistic measure of the Risk it carries.
This article examines the criteria for reliable forecasts and introduces solution methods developed by the author in partnership with Unilever to improve forecast reliability and monitor its quality in 'real time' and on continual bases. Click on BBS logo to download the article.
Our aim is to provide business people with concepts, tools and methodologies that:
- help eliminate irrelevant 'noise' and so create 'intelligence'
- enable them to apply their intellect more productively
