Profit Beyond Measure: Extraordinary Results Through Attention to Work and People [Hardcover]

H. Thomas Johnson (Author), Anders Broms (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2000

9784906224616 Introduction to Quality Control

Introduction to Quality Control is highly recommended reading for people of all levels already working in quality control as well as those about to enter the field. It may be the best introduction to this vitally important topic you will ever find.

Editorial Reviews

Review

David S. Cochran, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering MIT Superbly written...Johnson provides tremendous insight regarding the re-direction that is needed in business management thinking. The effect of the approach on the design and engineering of manufacturing systems is profound. -- Review

About the Author

H. Thomas Johnson is the Retzlaff Professor of Quality Management at Portland State University. He co-authored Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, which is considered one of the most influential management books of the twentieth century by the Harvard Business Review, and authored its controversial sequel, Relevance Regained: From Top-Down Control to Bottom-Up Empowerment.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Productivity Press (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068483667X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684836676
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #858,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book the Business World Has Been Waiting for January 18, 2001

By Thomas A. Coens

Format:Hardcover

Since the day Amazon delivered my copy of Johnson and Broms' Profit Beyond Measure,I have taken delight with every page. This book is a wonderfully brilliant, masterful book that may be the serious business book of this decade in the way Senge's Fifth Discipline was for the 1990's. Insightful writers such as Margeret Wheatley and Danah Zohar have artfully open our eyes to the potential of viewing organizations as naturally evolving living systems. Notwithstanding their powerful insights, the actual application of these ideas left a lot to the imagination as to how they would actually be applied. Johnson and Broms, however, provide the substance and put the meat on the bones of the many complexity and chaos theory books available today. Johnson and Broms tell us with precision and in entaintaining detail the stories of Toyota and Scania Truck and how, respectively, they have gone forty and sixty-sixty years without losing money---how, they manage by means, as part of living systems, not trying to orchestrate management by the results (a notion of believing that you can fix future events to happen within a management plan) as America's Big 3 auto companies have over the past century. Johnson and Broms take us inside of the Toyota and Scania plants and board rooms, helping us see how they produce only according to actual orders, how they design and set up assembly and modulated processes to avoid waste (not eliminate it, avoid it in the first place!), how they treat their employees, how they see customers and market and more. Drawing from the principles articulated by Gregory Bateson, Johnson and Bohms help us see the unique milieu and overriding philosophy and work culture that is reflective of an open, living system, that relies on "balanced, cyclical patterns of continuous flow of the work for every person in the organization." Before reading this book, I only had a vague notions of how chaos, complexity, and new science theories applied to the emerging organizations of today. As a result of reading this book, however, I believe I now can grasp what it means, in real and substantive terms, for an organization to exist, evolve, and succeed as part of living system. This is a book for the new century. Every business can learn from this book and those that don' will perish while Toyota, Scania, and others of this fabric will thrive in our increasingly complex and interdependent world. I recommend this book to any one interested in business theory, organizational development, or building a better organization. Tom Coens

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Living systems applied October 17, 2000

By Jamie Flinchbaugh

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Tom Johnson's new book could be just as impactful as Relevance Lost. His close study of perhaps the most powerful and robust company on the planet, Toyota, exposes what others don't see. Toyota is perhaps the most studied and imitated company, and not just by the other autos. Many people look for that one missing link that others don't see. Others have seen it, but few have articulated it as well as Johnson.

If you resort to curtailing travel and eliminating donuts to try and make budget, or think lean is a material control system, or simply feel that their current patterns of management will never get you where you need to go, you should read this book. Through the attention and cultivation of the work and relationships of the business and not just the measurement results you will find many disconnects in how you are serving your customers. The work of the organization carries all of the information you need with it, and while output measures are important for reporting reasons, they are not helping you to design a system that connects workers to customers. This can help.

I predict this book and not Relevance Lost will be considered Johnson greatest contribution. Enjoy!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 20th Century Manufacturing Illuminated November 15, 2000

By Mr. M. Jones

Format:Hardcover

For manufacturers the 20th century was the story of Ford and Toyota. The story of the transition from mass production to lean production has been told many times, but often focusing on the techniques, not the strategy. Professor Johnson has developed a profound insight into the strategy behind Toyota's approach, framed as management by means, rather than management by results.

This is the most important insight into the Toyota Production System which has come my way in the last ten years. Johnson demonstrates why the Toyota Management by Means approach gives superior long term value to customers, shareholders and employees.

Profit without Measure is essential reading for any manufacturer building a strategy for World Class Manufacturing.