will be the first to tell you to remain skeptical of any “new” thinking.  However, what we have here is not “new” per se.  Our prevailing management style in the US is born from Frederick Winslow Taylor called “Scientific Management” that gives us the structure of functional specialization of work (assembly line).  This original thought has been the staple of our management philosophy from the late 1800s to present.  A time period that spans the invention of the Zepplin, teabags and the first flight of the Wright Brothers to walking on the moon and the iPod. 
 
Nothing changed much until the American W. Edwards Deming was successful in post WWII Japan in the 1950s in what would become known as the Japanese Industrial Miracle.  All of a sudden the US had a staunch competitor in manufacturing.  Add to this “new” thinking Taiichi Ohno and the Toyota Production System, and we have a whole new management system. 

 

When you look at service organizations (private and public sector) you will find precious few that have ever tried such “innovative” thinking.  The list is long as to why . . . competition (no one else pressuring service organizations), “we’ve always done it this way” thinking, lack of understanding, unwillingness to give up control, technology, etc., etc.  For what ever the reason, not much has changed in management since Frederick Winslow Taylor.  Business Improvement programs (Lean Six Sigma, TQM and many others) have become more of the same.  However, “new” thinking challenges this stale sameness.

 
The economy has changed now.  Maybe we need to be looking for better ways.  My continual search for better methods has led me back to Deming and Ohno. Instead of tools in our continual (continuous) improvement, we need new methods and to change thinking.  
 
I have found advancements in this ”new” thinking from Vanguard Consulting Ltd. from the UK.  They have taken the “new” thinking of Deming and Ohno added intervention theory and have had success throughout Europe.  John Seddon (Managing Director) is an occupational psychologist which was a red flag for me because I thought he would be getting people in a room kicking balloons (or something like that).  I was pleasantly surprised that John had spent his time studying “change programmes” and what worked and didn’t work.  From Deming, we (John and myself) both learned that to improve performance in an organization we had to improve the system. What John further discovered was that you have to change the thinking, and that intervention theory can aid in this process.  His method – the Vanguard Method- has been tested and refined over the years to help service organizations benefit from the “new” thinking or more appropriately move from Command and Control thinking to Systems Thinking.
 
To read more on systems thinking with practical exercises, I would urge you to read the Fit for the Future management articles (six in all).  These articles are good reads for your organizational change management and leadership programs.