The Ring i System

I first heard of this system more than 30 years ago during my 6-month stay at Suzukashi, Japan. At that time, I do not know the real meaning of the system.


This time around, the Ringi System was put into practice in a multi-national company I know of.


Basically it is a Japanese collective decision making system involving a large number of people.
There are 4 steps involved:

1. *Nemawashi or setting the groundwork
2. The person in charge will first draw up the plan in a written form.
3. It is then send around to the superiors; if another dept is involved, then the consent from there will be needed. "Superiors" refer to all layers of mgmt people & some companies called them **"deliberators"
4. The final decision will be made by the authority of the company, in most cases, the CEO.



** Deliberators :
(i) people who think carefully, often slowly, about a choice to be made.
(ii) people who consults with another or others,usually with the same intellectual thoughts, in a process of reaching a decision, slowly.



The System is supposed to be a bottom-up system ( as opposed to the US top-down system) with the bottom people having no say in the decision. The original Japanese bottom-up system is the method of appreciating the the ideas from the lower rung people who have hands-on experience on the job.


Of course, in Japan the approval is shown by the person's "hanko" - a personalised stamp, with some even registered legally.


Theoretically, if there are objections against the plan, there are two solutions to it:
1. Discussions and the plan is revised if necessary-sometime the PDCA chart is used (huh?)
2. If the revised plan is still not supported, it will be scrapped.



In actual practice, the users of the system in many companies have gone through hell a few time. There are seldom discussions but there are many queries & inquisitions.... heads have rolled under the guillotine since the Spanish have theirs in 1748. Oops! I have strayed too deep into history.

...OK, in actual practice, deliberators try to outdo each others in a war of intellectual wits & wisdom, lest you are seen with lesser job to perform. Deliberators do not see eye to eye.
Try this tongue twister-Deliberators delibrately deliberate. Deliberators in Japanese companies in Japan are usually senior experienced people who have gone through the mills & know their mettles well but sometime deliberators in Malaysian companies are people without plant operational knowledge & answers to their queries often require supernatural use of individual resources from the occult.

* Nemawashi

....a nihongo gardening term meaning to prepare a tree for transplanting by digging around it & cutting some of the roots.

(i) Therefore the planner of the project need to do the groundwork so that a consensus may be reached BEFOREHAND. Groundwork to purchase A4 papers?

(ii) Nemawashi should be done before the plan is drawn up. Again, draw up a plan to purchase A4 papers?

(iii) Conducting "nemawashi" effectively through formal & informal meetings is the key to success. Maybe someone may want to suggest A5 papers for the printers or faxes.

BENEFITS

1. It's a safe way to make decision--people express their opinions & many people review the plan.

2. People have feelings of participation ( sounds familiar) -so that it is Plain Jane sailing to implement the plan

3. Gives younger employees an opportunity to be the originator of the plan - and thus make them more interested in the company ( why is it that the reverse seems to be happening in some companies?)

DISADVANTAGES

1. Takes a long long time to reach a decision. Wait till the cow comes home.

2. Responsibilities tend to be diffused because no one accept liability if the plan fail.

3. Vendors feel frustrated. Business partners feel frustrated. The originator feels frustrated(?).

There, this is the Ringi System.

Hey, what plan are you talking about? Project plan? Business plan? Production plan? My friends have to use the Ringi forms to apply for simple project plan to re-purchase A4 papers, to purchase a key from the locksmith, to service the company vehicle....I wonder whether they actually sit down to discuss what, which, where,when, why and how ( hey, that's 5W & 1 H man)to buy the key?

Of course, using the Ringi System for big project plan like designing an office would work extremely well to cut off cronyism. Talking about cronyism, a funny thing happen on my way to work this morning.......................aw, that's another story.