Management Book Report: The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

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Book Review: The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
The Goal: A process of ongoing improvement is a bestseller management novel written by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and published in 1984. In the book, Goldratt has presented content that is suitable for both students of management and also those practicing in the field. The author has presented a series of principles relevant to the manufacturing and industrial sector. Using Alex Rongo as the central character, Goldratt presents the various decision-making and problem solving skills that managers need to be equipped with in a bid to improve productivity and enhance operational efficiency in organizations. Ideally, the book is designed to enhance continuous improvement in organizations with the aim of making the world a better place.
Central character
The central character in the book is Alex Rongo, an industrial engineer with an MBA and a plant manager at UniCo Manufacturing Corporation located at his hometown, Bearington. He was married to Julie and together they had two children. The firm was faced with the challenge of delayed shipments and decreased labor, which led to high losses. Alex was given a timeline of 3 months to rescue the company by the division’s vice president, Bill Peach, failure to which, it was to be closed down. With the challenge at hand, Alex started working long hours in the company and engaging in a series of consultations in bid to find a solution to ending the firm’s troubles. This caused a strain in his marriage because he was hardly home to spend time with his family and his wife was unfamiliar to his hometown.
Jonah and his role in the story
Jonah was Alex’s former physics teacher whom he met at the airport during his flight connection to O’Hare and as Jonah was headed to New York. After brief familiarization and introduction, Alex engaged Jonah about his business trip to Houston to represent UniCo at the annual conference of manufactures association. He further explained that his business unit had been chosen because it had the most experience with robots. The panel and experts at the conference were to discuss the coming impact of industrial robots on American manufacturing. The topic captures Jonah’s attention and he poses some questions to Alex in regards to the use of robots in their unit. "Have they really increased productivity at your plant?"(Eliyahu 33). Jonah further enquired whether the plant was able to ship more products as a result of installing the robots. Also, if there was labor reduction and a decrease in inventories. Alex is puzzled by the questions and responds:
“I'd really have to check the numbers" "Check your numbers if you'd like," says Jonah. "But if your inventories haven't gone down and your employee expense was not reduced and if your company isn't selling more products which obviously it can't, if you're not shipping more of them then you can't tell me these robots increased your plant's productivity"(Eliyahu 34).
Alex was intrigued by Jonah’s knowledge of the unit’s performance and was left with a challenge of identifying the firm’s goals and performance measurements.
Jonah’s performance measurements
After the...