p.1 The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a unique management philosophy that strives for
a rationale or scientific approach to management. It provides a way to simplify the complexity of human-based systems
and still keep the main issues and impacts under managerial control.
p.3, 4 Is there a universal problem that all managers face?
There are two cardinal universal problems that are interrelated. The first is that any organization
that has more than just a few people is, above all, a complex system. The term complex means that it is difficult
to predict the outcomes of a given action across the organization. The causes and effects are not easily
identified simply because of the overwhelming number of interactions among the people and departments. The second
problem is the uncertainty around and within the organization. That means that any decisions or actions we choose
may produce different results.
Those two causes produce the effect that it is difficult to know what the best decision is
in different situations... TOC offers a way to deal with the issue by creating a picture
of the organization that is "good enough" rather than precise, one that will simplify the complexity. Once a simplified
version of the organization exists, the uncertainty can be dealt with by implementing appropriate protection mechanisms at
the most critical areas.
As part of its scientific approach, TOC is based on certain assumptions and logically develops a
set of guidelines that are logically derived from that set of assumptions. In my interpretation of TOC, the following three
basic concepts are key assumptions in understanding the TOC philosophy:
1. An organization has a goal to achieve.
2. An organization is more than the sum of its parts.
3. The performance of an organization is constrained by very few variables.
p.5 Those three assumptions underlie the following rules of well-managed organizations, referred to as the
five focusing steps of TOC... The five steps are guidelines for managers to follow. They are based on the realization that
an organization can have only a few constraints - maybe only one - and many nonconstraints. A constraint is anything
that significantly limits the performance of an organization relative to its goal...
1. Identify the system's constraints.
2. If a constraint can be immediately removed without large investment, do it now and go back to step 1.
If not, devise a way to exploit the system's constraints...
3. Subordinate everything else to the above decisions.
4. Evaluate alternative ways to elevate one or more of the constraints. Predict the future constraints and
their impact on the global performance by theoretically employing the first three steps. Execute the way you have chosen to
elevate the current constraints...
5. Go back to step 1. The actual constraints may be different from what you expected.
p.8 Consider that a constraint is anything that significantly limits the performance of an organization
relative to its goal.
p.23 Dr. Goldratt developed a tool for verbalizing conflict and creating superior solutions: the evaporating
cloud (EC). Although this name emphasizes the idea of finding ideas to evaporate the cloud, I prefer the name given to it
by [H. William] Dettmer: conflict resolution diagram.
p.29 The real challenge for the nonconstraints is to support the exploitation of the constraint... I
advise the management to look at the identified constraint and ask themselves: Does it make sense to be constrained
by this?
p.53 TOC suggests that any organization can be blocked by very few critical factors, called constraints.
The formal TOC definition of a constraint: Anything that significantly limits the performance of an organization.
p.60 Although every organization has at least one constraint, it can also always improve itself by finding
ways to better exploit, subordinate, and elevate. All of those are achieved by overcoming some "blind spots" in our cause-and-effect
understanding.
