The Synergy Paradigm
John Maceda
Synergy: {n} The working together of two things to produce an effect greater than
sum of their individual effects.
Most businesses operate on two distinct levels:
•Human Systems – Those systems that are concerned with or operated by people. •Process Systems – Those systems that are functional or mechanical in nature.
Each of these systems is independent of other and each has its own characteristics and needs. Human systems and process systems do not generally have same challenges or solutions although they must work in total synergy in order to achieve greatest success.
Take a simple task like driving your car. The operator (human system) must be alert and competent. The car (process system) must have all of its components running smoothly. The two systems (human and process) must work in total synergy and cooperation with one another in order to succeed.
We could diagram this process as synergy sits atop pyramid of cooperation between human systems and process systems.
Most companies try to operate their two systems in a cooperative manner and most fail to ever reach true synergy.
True synergy is almost effortless cooperation between two systems. It produces very little waste and outcome is highly efficient and productive.
So if true synergy is a goal how does one achieve it?
To achieve true synergy in business we must first know and understand what our customers want and expect. We must design our process systems around those customer needs. Process systems must be designed in such a way that they can be readily measured using a statistical approach and remain open enough to allow substantial change to occur. This, of course, requires application of human system to study, analyze and design solutions that are first and foremost targeted to customer.
So our roadmap for synergy could begin with gathering our customer requirements, identifying waste and variation using tools such as DMAIC, eliminating defects and waste on one side and eliminating non value added or unnecessary items on other and finally proceeding to design phase.
