Keep Walking!

Sometimes I think we should not be given a choice to postpone things. Especially, for me. I seem to work well under pressure with a deadline hanging on my head. I should have got my driving license 6 months ago. My company offered me a job which had a requirement of an Australian Driving License. Then, I asked them if I can join and learn to drive and get a license ' as soon as possible'. They gave me 6 months. Then it got extended to another 6 months. Almost 8 months after, I am still 'trying to get the license'. Only if they had told me I won't get the job if I don't get the license. I would have got my license in 3 months time. Sometimes, people should not give choices. I found that at least, choices do not work for me.

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so. But when a workman was posed with the same problem, did not get into complications of X-rays, etc but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan ...