Policy Deployment at Five Levels

The Two Levels of Hoshin Kanri
Stephen Gallagher, Business Consultant, Australia
The two levels referred to in the article are not organizational levels. One level is the break through strategic objectives (the important few that will provide strategic advantage) which are cascaded through the business, and the other level is the cascading of the everyday activities (mission rather than strategy related) that take up the 80-90% of peoples time. This latter level is to ensure the business does not compromise its normal operational requirements while pursuing it's strategic objectives.

Hoshin Kanri is a Horizontal Process: a Rising Tide, not a Cascade
Tom Wilson, HR Consultant, United States
Michael, it strikes me that your organizational structure has 3 redundant levels and that the Hoshin Kanri concept is misunderstood and misapplied as a consequence. The dynamic is horizontal and not vertical: the object of the exercise is to eliminate the vertical echelons you require.
The short response is that you are doing it wrong.

Hoshin Kanri is Deployed Vertically and Horizontally
Stephen Gallagher, Business Consultant, Australia
Hoshin Kanri is deployed both horizontally and vertically. Horizontally to ensure that there are no overlaps or gaps in top level initiatives, and vertically to allow the lower echelons of the organisation to develop local initiatives that align with organizational objectives. The catch ball process supports both these directional deployments.

The Essential Orientation is Horizontal
Tom Wilson, HR Consultant, United States
@Stephen Gallagher: Of course it has a vertical deployment, but it is no more than one level. The fact is that the horizontal deployment is the essential orientation: there is to top level, per se: the senior management echelon exists at the shop floor, so to speak, and the strategic vision radiates outwards and horizontally in a feedback, feed forward, feed through dynamic. The object of the exercise is to avoid the restrictions the mechanics of a chain of command and to leverage the organic qualities of the organizational community. It has a very Zen quality to it: first you see it. Zen you don't.

The Three Axis of Organizational Performance
Tom Wilson, HR Consultant, United States
I taught land navigation as a Ranger instructor and I walked all over Georgia and Vietnam with just a map and a compass, so the Hoshin Kanri has a particular resonance in my life.
An organization operates around three axis: a vertical and two horizontal ones:
- The vertical is the chain of command and is artificial. Its value is that it is artificial: the vertical is the difference between the philosophy of Plato and the Metaphysics of Aristotle and the Roman legions and everybody else.
- One horizontal axis is sociological and contains the cultural aspects of the organization.
- The remaining horizontal axis describes the progress of the organization in Hegelian terms.
Hoshin Kanri is designed specifically to engage the cultural resources of the organization sociologically by a constant regard for the navigation of the operational elements of the enterprise. It does not replace the vertical element, but is a force multiplier for its executive functions by ensuring constancy of purpose.