United Nations & "Kaizenizations"...!!!
Image credit:fmaonline.net
To begin with, the notion that the non-profit organizations have the option to be not-profitable and still get to stay in business, is both inaccurate & ridiculous!
I recently had a workshop on "Performance Metrics & Kaizen" for the largest non-profit organization in the world, namely the United Nations! The main question in there was that whether Lean has anything to say in non-profit environments, as well? After all, if non-profit entities don't have Profit or Profitability as one of their metrics, what do they improve, when it comes to the finances? So let's first talk about for-profit & non-profit, a little bit...
According to nonprofit.pro:
".........there are legal definitions, including 26 types of nonprofits recognized by the IRS, and there are common perceptions of what people mean when they refer to an organization as nonprofit. Let's start with perceptions.
A nonprofit is a tax-exempt organization that serves the public interest. In general, the purpose of this type of organization must be charitable, educational, scientific, religious or literary. This is a common and broad definition that fits the type of information likely to be found at this site. ,,,,,
Legally, a nonprofit organization is one that does not declare any profit and instead, it utilizes all the revenue available after normal operating expenses in service to the public interest........"
Here is my point now: All businesses, no matter how they are structured in the eyes of the IRS, be it for-profit or non-profit, must be profitable or they will go out of business, in a hurry! The main difference between the two types of for- profit & non-profit, is the way the business is set up and structured to pay or not to pay Federal Income Taxes. They both need to be able to pay for their expenditures such as mortgage, utilities, insurance, salaries (if applicable) and etc.
Having said that, all non-profit organizations, including the largest one in the world, can learn a thing or two from the "Lean Philosophy".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o8NmyciXTI
Looking forward to hearing your feedback! (Lean Consultant & Trainer)
Hormoz Mogarei
Get Kaizened, Inc.
N/A
8 年Normally company improvement simply saves time. I know that real scrap and obsolescence have a real cost saving but mostly, continuous improvement saves time. This time can be translated into a man-hours equivalent, if we want numbers or a productivity benefit, based on the rate "product" is made. The real gain is that the free time can be used to increase capacity or improve the service offered. Lean helps everyone, sometimes, it just needs to be tweaked a bit to suit. Steve