![]()
The Conflicted Middle:
Lean Accounting is part of The Conflicted Middle comic series focused
on a middle management Leader trying to improve a necessary condition for
his company - making money. In
this first issue, the story is about making financial decisions. We
will follow his journey as he discovers that cost accounting no longer
works in today's environment. He sees how Lean Accounting (largely Throughput
Accounting) can magnify the success of his team's efforts. He realizes that he must help his organization
make better operational decisions and create focused areas of improvement.
He will learn from two
stories:
- A plant trying to improve efficiency.
- A team struggling with an outsourcing decision.
In the end, he and his team will decide that they must master a
new tool in as part of their continuous improvement efforts: Lean
Accounting.
The Conflicted Middle is a series of comics that examine the
lack of progress associated with middle management. This group is often referred as the frozen
middle, when in reality their resistance comes from the conflict that abounds in
their level of management. These conflicts make them unable to:
- Make effective
decisions
- Move the company
towards their higher purpose
- Support new
improvement efforts
- Have or support
autonomy
- Avoid
in-fighting
In the end they become skilled at one thing - keeping their
jobs.
The Conflicted Middle series will look at tools to minimize this
conflict and allow middle management to become the most important level in the
company. They will be the ones that push for new continuous improvement methods.
They will become the force that changes the paradigms of employees. Ultimately,
their efforts will lead to the culture shift required for the long-term success
of the organization.