home >
library
> dictionary > kaizen
Dictionary of Vocational Psychology
Kaizen
Japanese for "continuous improvement"; a (business) philosophy that emphasizes the continual, relentless, and gradual improvement in all things. Kaizen is the term the Japanese applied to the system of ideas of total quality management proposed by E. Edwards Deming, the American who assisted the Japanese in developing quality improvement principles widely used in their industries. Initially, Deming's ideas were applied primarily to manufacturing systems, with everyone on the production line encouraged to do whatever they could to improve quality. Deming had a wide impact on how organizations and even governments view the importance of quality in organizations; consider the Deming Prize (Japan) and the Baldridge National Quality Awards (USA). Deming's approach became "kaizen" when in the 1980s Japanese and other authors began to write books with the term in the title; in the process, kaizen extended the notion of continuous improvement in quality beyond work and into all things. A particularly useful concept common to many discussions of kaizen (and ultimately derived from Deming) is the need to begin improvements immediately, rather than wait for the perfect plan. Vocational psychologists seeking to investigate the effect of kaizen methods on individual vocational or organizational performance must take care in operationalizing variables of the particular kaizen theory they choose to test. One might also note that many of the ideas in Kaizen are similar to those from earlier authors. For example, the literature on self-improvement dates back to ancient times. Research on efficiency studies in the workplace formed an important part of vocational psychology in the early 20th century.
Websites of interest
Kaizen Institute. Founded by Masaaki Imai, who reportedly popularized the term "kaizen" (outside of Japan) in 1985.
Deming Prize. Union of Japanese scientists and engineers.
Deming site. From the Leadership Institute. Includes discussion of his 14 points.
Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award.
Comparison of Baldrige award and Deming prize.
ISO 9000. International standards organization that helps to establish (de facto) benchmarks against which quality may be judged.
email
vocational psychology
Essays
| Library | Links
Counseling |
Assessment |
Consulting
About | Legal &
Disclaimer | Editor | Contact
email
vocational psychology
Updated July 7, 2002
Page and site © 2000, 2001, 2002 Andrew Carson,
all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.
The Kaizen Guide to Winning through People
