5S - Blind Faith

For the past couple of days, The Cube has been following up on Pierre Dolet's questions about his company entering a 5S program . . .

5S - according to those folks who make a bundle providing consultation services on the matter - is self-described as a "philosophy."

As philosophies go, 5S is fairly simple, boiling down to: Clean up your act and keep it clean.

Had 5S been Yiddish and not Japanese in origin, it would have been called the Momma Says Clean Up Your Room philosophy.

OK, so most folks aren't going to argue with the "Cleanliness is next to godliness" line of reasoning - and the Protestant work ethic that governs the American workplace likes godliness.

Where we fall apart is in the execution.

5S, for all its rules on red-tagging unnecessary things, SORTing out the trash, SETting IN ORDER and STANDARDIZing (3 of the 5Ss), sort of relies on that non-philosophical thought pattern called Common Sense.

Oy, Common Sense! That doesn't fit into a $35.00 business book, a $350/day consultantcy or a $35,000/year MBA program - those rely on a certain mysterium, magic and miracle to justify their hefty price tags. Common Sense - OUT! Definitive Leadership - IN. "I have paid, therefore I have learned, therefore It Must Be!"

Bzzzzz - it's also a buzzword among the other Captains of Industry.

Ommm - it becomes a mantra among the middle management, those who are mere Ensigns of Industry.

5S - It Be Good. It Be the Only Way. It Be -

Blind Faith.

Do what you're told.

A Consultant, a Captain, a Book, an MBA has said "This Must Be."

Around the Kernel of Common Sense grows the Hard Shell of Dogma.

"This Must Be."

Advice from The Cube to Pierre Dolet: Do not read or learn about 5S - ignorance is bliss and, by invoking the Original Philosophy, you may be burned as a heretic.