Dr. PRAKASH C. SHARMA
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
SPREADING OF LIGHT OF WISDOM BY PRAKASH THROUGH HIS WRITINGS AND TEACHINGS
Dr. PRAKASH C. SHARMA
Q What were the objectives & reasons
for writing these books?
Q
For which level of persons, are your books relevant?
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Q
Have you written some general and light reading books also?
Yes, on socio-economic morals.
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Q How have you classified your writings?
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According to my experience, it can be taken as
approximately one to two years.
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Q
What is your advice to the budding writers?
----------------vijaiksharma
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
LEON A. WALKER WALKS AN EXTRA MILE AND OPENS UP ABOUT HIS CONTRIBUTION TO WRITING.
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| LEON A. WALKER |
Profile of the author: Leon A. Walker writes various forms of creative literature as well as social and political commentaries and book reviews. Over the past two years, he has also served as a judge for the "Next Generation Indie Book Awards" and in addition, he continues to collaborate with artists and photographers -worldwide- on a variety of unique artistic images. He has worked as a public and private sector business professional and he is a retired United States Naval Officer. He is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is a native of Cleveland, Ohio.
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Q How many of your books have been published so
far?
So far, I have published two books and
just completed a third one, which will be available soon.
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Q What is your specific field of writing?
Primarily poetry and short
stories, but sometimes I also write social and political commentaries.
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Q Are there any specific reasons, for choosing
this particular field?
A lot of that focus and education came
from my father. He often
read and recited poetry to me and my siblings, when we were young
children. I found it moving
& it remains a lasting memory.
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Q What has been the general assessment of the
reviewers and readers for your books?
The responses to my books, has been
very good. I have received
numerous favorable comments, emails (from around the
world) and interviews such as this.
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Q What is your own general assessment of your
books?
Generally I think they are quite
good. But as a writer, I am
very critical of my work, so I never seem to be completely happy with every
aspect of a completed work.
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Q Which particular book of yours, do you
consider as the best so far, and why?
My second book entitled “Life Lines” is
probably my best work so far. It
covers a wide range of topics and seems to generate a lot of
interest.
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Q Who is your role model?
I can’t say that I have a specific role
model. I admire many people
who are intellectuals, those who do good literary work and
also those who promote respect for nature and mankind.
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Q Which other author’s books, do you feel, come
close to your style of writing?
I can respond to this best by saying
that I love classic writers. From
Shakespeare
to Hemingway and many others, I think that I have been influenced by
them.
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Q When & how do you get the ideas & do
you immediately note the ideas down in a diary
or elsewhere?
I have gotten out of bed in the middle
of the night, to write or to make notes about something that inspired me. I have done this countless
times.
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Q On an average, how many months do you take to
complete one book, in all respects?
In a perfect world, it would normally
take me about 12 months, meaning
writing the content and completing all preparations.
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Q Could you share an interesting event/incident
in your writing career, with the readers?
I enjoy doing interviews. You might find this one insightful
about me and my writing.
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Q Do you agree that besides the quality of
writing, there are other factors too, for the
success of a book?
Certainly. There are very popular themes that are
selling in great numbers. It
is not
necessarily about quality, but rather
popularity.
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Q Which aspects motivate you to write books?
Earning money/publicity/helping readers
/self-satisfaction/others
I am a passionate writer. My goal is always to simply touch
people in a positive way or to move them to introspection.
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Q Has Face Book helped you in any way, in your
writing career or even otherwise? If yes,
please elucidate.
No, I don’t think so, although I have
connected with many other writers on various forums of social media.
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Q In your opinion, is there adequate scope for
name/fame/wealth in the field of writing?
I think that it is far more challenging
today, than it was 20 or 30 years ago. With
the advent of internet and e-books, I think bound
books are selling in fewer numbers. So
it follows that there may be less of a customer base for
the more expensive bound books today.
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Q What are the reasons for the general success
of the concept of “Agents of writers” in some
countries?
The “Agent” is the bridge between the
Writer and the Publisher. The
Publisher –in the U.S. for example; relies on the Agent to suggest
a book that is suitable for publishing,
which means that the book should sell in profitable
numbers.
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Q If you were not a writer, in what other way,
you would have expressed your creativity?
I lived in Italy some years ago and I
continue to try and maintain some fluency. I consider this somewhat artistic. I suppose I would try an instrument
like the piano as well.
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Q Have your family members and friends
contributed in any way, in your writing career?
Only in terms of their memories; and
the stories that I may have written about them. Of course, they have also been very
supportive
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Q Due to the concept of e-books, what is your
opinion about the survival of printed books
in future?
I have touched on this
earlier. E-books are
already having an impact on revenues in the publishing world. However, I
believe that many people, including myself, still enjoy reading and collecting traditional bound
books. It will be
interesting to see how this evolves. My
books are available in all formats.
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Q What are your future plans for writing books?
I have just completed a manuscript for
my new (third) book entitled “Equinox”. I expect to make it available very soon. A fourth book will follow within the
next year to 18 months. It will be more of an autobiographical
work.
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Q What is your advice to the budding authors?
Write with passion and purpose. Don’t be afraid to bear your
soul. If you can touch
someone emotionally, they will remember you!
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----------vijaiksharma
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
WRITINGS OF DR. SHIGEYASU SAKAMOTO IN THE FIELD OF PRODUCTIVITY ___IN 2013
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| Dr. SHIGEYASU SAKAMOTO |
Brief Profile of the author: Dr. Shigeyasu Sakamoto is a Management Consultant in Productivity improvement and President of ProductivityPartner Incorporation. Before his current appointment, Sakamotowas Vice President of Maynard MEC AB (Sweden) and VicePresident of JMAC (Japan). Sakamoto is a Fellow at the WorldAcademy of Productivity Science. He received his Doctorate degree ofPolicy science from the Graduate School of Doshisha University inJapan and is certified as a Professional Engineer (P.E.) by theJapanese Government. He is also certified as an industrial engineerfrom the European Institute of Industrial Engineering, MTMinstructor from International MTM Directorate (IMD) (1985), anda MOST instructor from Maynard Management Institute. He workedfor the IMD as the Technical coordinator, responsible for developinga new system of MTM. Sakamoto is a senior member of the Instituteof Industrial Engineers. He’s a Work factor and Mento factorinstructor for WOFAC Corporation. Sakamoto has publishedmany books and papers in English and Japanese regardingProductivity, Industrial engineering and Work measurement.Recently, he explored the subject of Company dignity, throughexperiences as a Management Consultant of Productivity formore than 20 years in Europe. He has questioned the Qualityof working life in Europe and Japan, distinguishing the habitsof companies, seeking big market share vs. those who strivefor a culture of ethics and dignity. This study motivated hisDoctoral degree in research. The dissertation was publishedas A Study of Company Dignity (SHAKAKU, Companality).---------------------------------------------------------------- |
Q: Kindly make the readers briefly aware of the
role & functions of “Productivity Partner Inc., Japan”.
As professional of management issues especially Productivity,
the role consists of supporting the companies, who wish to find and reach world
class level of Productivity. I have had a lot of unique support, regarding the subjects of Productivity
and profitability, for my clients, who have been in Sweden, Denmark, Finland,
Norway, Germany, UK, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. The
uniqueness is in larger scale of Productivity and profitability improvement,
such as 500% productivity, 700% profitability improvement. I have effective
technologies and their successful implementing know how as well. One unique
approach to support clients is Methods Design Concept (MDC in brief).
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Q: Could you briefly narrate your contribution in
the field of Consultancy in Japan & elsewhere?
I made a presentation at
International Conference of Management Consultants, Paris. My words in the
presentation are introduced on http://www.conferencepage.com/ftf/forum2003/downloads/Presentation-AndyChestnutt.pdf,
“, as “Changing a business requires dynamite and it is a consultant who lights
the fuse” (Andy Chestnutt,), These are my favourite words, as a management
consultant, while supporting clients.
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Q: What are your specific views about
Productivity in the service sector?
Practices in service sector are so much behind, compared to manufacturing
sector. A key reason of this situation is due to those managements, which are
not interested in Productivity competition. Their interest is such that Productivity
should contribute not only in reducing cost, but also in Customer support. Key
points are setting up definition of Productivity in the service sector and
designing Measurement system. My way for this matter is introduced in my book
as Measurement/monitoring based Management (MBM in brief)
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Q: How many of your books have been published so
far in Japanese and in English languages?
More than ten books written by me in
Japanese language have been published so far. The most recently published Japanese
book is “A study of SHAKAKU (Japanese word), a study of Company dignity” having
327 pages, and its 3000 copies have been sold out. The contents of this book are
based on my “Doctor” dissertation, sub title is “Searching Corporate Maturity”.
One book “Beyond World-Class Productivity-Industrial Engineering Practice and
Theory” has been published in English language, in 2010, by Springer.
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Q; What is
your specific field of writing?
The subjects are Productivity, Profitability
and Industrial Engineering and their importance for improving performance of
companies, namely getting more profits.
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Q: What has been the general assessment of the
reviewers and readers for your books?
It has been very good, due to introducing
the practical way of thinking, with IE technology and concrete approach, based
on my consultancy support experiences.
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Q; What is
your own general assessment of your books?
There is no book like my book, which
explains the practical way of thinking. This book not only explains practical
points of view, but is based on theory and/or basic thinking of real Industrial
engineering theory, with my professional support experiences for clients for 50
years.
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Q; How did
you get the idea to write this book “Beyond World-Class Productivity-Industrial
Engineering Practice and Theory”. Kindly enlighten the readers about the
purpose and uniqueness of this book.
There are a lot of fashionable topics in Productivity improvement such
as TPS (Toyota production system), KANBAN, TQC, KAIZEN and so on, and there will
always be. My question is how much, and how to measure the results of
improvement regarding Productivity. I don’t hate such a way of improvement but do
they contribute to increase in Productivity directly. According to the study of
a Harvard Professor in Japanese company, which is eager to develop TPS, it is
only 200% in 5 years. My experiences which are given in my book, show more than
400% within 2 to 3 years. TPS target is not labour productivity first, I
believe. In general, the people of Management are misunderstanding the effect
of TPS. There are many books which
explain success story of Productivity, but there is a low level of success. I
give a simple example about the success at Olympic level games, regional level
and domestic level games. The best of success should be at Olympic level, as it
is World-Class level Productivity.
Followings are extracts
from the Preface of my book: “You will see plenty of titles defining
useful technologies for inventory and lead-time improvement or participatory
management practice, but it’s not easy to find books concentrating on labor productivity
that introduce basic tools of industrial engineering that can be applied in
various industries. Allow me to draw your attention to a discussion by Consultants
and Professors many years ago in the Journal of
Industrial Engineering.
One of the key points was the introduction of classic IE, or modern IE. The age
of Computer technology came to IE in the form of new applications in Work
measurement and Line balancing; Mechanization or Automation was set to
transform manufacturing. Implementation of Small group activity (SGA) and Lean
production entered many companies. As results regarding Productivity and Cost
reduction were glorified, not only were terms associated with Motion and Time
study virtually eliminated, Industrial engineering itself became lost in translation.
Real gain should be pursuance. For
example, reducing the allocated number of workers to reduce paid-hours
immediately, but accrue the same or more powerful results. This is an example
of “real
gain”.
Management, particularly in human resources departments, is interested in these
types of gains. Industrial engineering
should be a department that fosters
these connections. Industrial engineering tools are effective enough to support
management with these goals in mind. There are a lot of fashionable topics in
Productivity improvement, and there always will be. However, Management and
Industrial engineers together must always look ahead. Basic Industrial
engineering technologies are not hackneyed. Effective results come when
industrial engineers know how to use the technologies and demonstrate their
abilities. This includes going back to the basics. Experts never choose the
tools themselves; as demonstrated in the following chapters; they need only
apply them correctly.”
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Q: Do you consider that this is your best book so
far?
Why not? I wrote many books, papers and presentations so
far, but this book introduces several points of those experiences. It is
difficult to find a basic and practical book of Industrial Engineering (IE in
brief), like my this book. IE is still very effective and useful way for Productivity
enhancing, but some people misunderstand and are out of date about IE. It is a
big question for me.
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Q: Which aspects motivate you to write books?
Earning money/publicity/helping readers/self-satisfaction/others.
First of all, reviewing & summing
up my experiences as manuscript, motivate me well, then the result helps
readers who are interested in my professional field. Many books written by me
on Productivity and Industrial engineering in Japanese language have been
published in Japan. But their market is limited, not only in respect of number
of readers, but also the quality and interest of the readers.
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Q: In your
opinion, is there adequate scope for name/fame/wealth in the field of writing?
I believe so.
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Q: If you were not a writer, in what other way,
you would have expressed your creativity?
Presentations in Conferences, Seminars and
actual Consulting support.
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Q: How have your family members contributed, if
any, in your writing career?
Main contribution has come in the form
of patience of my wife Kiyoko, while my
working hard for preparing the manuscripts.
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Q: What is your advice to the budding authors?
It must not be difficult to write books,
for selling many copies of the books, when writers follow opinion of the publishers.
Authors should be happy when many copies of their books are sold, but authors
should write the contents, considering their beliefs.
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Monday, 20 May 2013
VIEWS OF SHIGEYASU SAKAMOTO ABOUT CONSULTANCY ---IN 1983
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| SHIGEYASU SAKAMOTO |
Brief profile of the author: Shigeyasu
Sakamoto, P.E., an Electrical Engineering graduate from Osaka Institute of
Technology, Japan, Senior Consultant & Davison Vice-President of Industrial
Engineering, in Japan Management Association Consultants, Tokyo, Japan, has published
seven books in Japanese and one in U.K., in Industrial Engineering field. He
has developed Managing Office Productivity (MOP in brief). He has specialised
in Work measurement, Methods improvement, Cost reduction & control,
Production planning & control and Inventory control etc. Several of the
leading firms have retained him as a Consultant, some of which are Mitsubishi
Motor, Kubota Iron works, Toyota Body, Sumitomo Chemicals, Nippon Aluminium,
Nippon sheet glass, Nippon sea foods and Meiki etc. Further he has presented
papers at International Productivity Congress at Sydney in 1977, Singapore in
1982 and Bombay in Jan 1983.
Q;
In your opinion, should Consultancy services be rendered through Government run
organizations or privately run Organizations?
Consultancy services in Management
field should be rendered through private sector; however Certification of
adequate qualifications for Consultants should be done by the Government.
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Q:
Kindly give an outline of the nature and the mode of training, which an
individual should get to enable him to become a professional Consultant.
One aspect is class room training
in wide range of management techniques, including on-the-job training. Another
aspect is about application of techniques or experiences, such as how to change
Organization climate, how to motivate for Productivity improvement and so on.
Success or otherwise of professional Consultants depends more than 60 % on
their nature, techniques and application ability for the particular
organization. Techniques themselves are of little value, for growing up
professional Consultants.
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Q:
If you maintain a full scale organization of Consultants, you would like to
have a continuing load of assignments. How can this be achieved?
Yes, I would like to have a
continuing load of assignments. At first I have to make good services available
to the clients and obtain good results for top management. Second is endeavour
for refreshing ability and range of experience in particular fields of
management.
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Q:
Do small Organizations also hire Consultancy services?
Small size Organizations may not
hire Consultancy services, because of services fee.
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Q:
If failure is observed in the work completed by Consultants, what do you think
should be done to the Consultants and by the Consultants?
A failure in meeting original
target of improvement or original suggestion of Consultant will cause very
delicate problem. The result of consultancy services depends not only on the
advice of the Consultant, but also on the Company attitude. It is very
difficult to differentiate, if failure is caused. This is why we never charge Consultancy
fee, as related to the results.
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Q Sometimes it is observed that a Consultant is
at a disadvantage, since the outsider is considered to be an intruder and the
people resent his views being thrust on the Organization. What are your views?
I do not agree with this.
Consultancy services are good, not only in view of Return on Investment (ROI),
but also neutral position. Revolutionary change is not made by management
techniques. However, if Consultants advise same management techniques and
company members follow the proposal, it causes neutral position of Consultants.
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Q
What is your opinion about free-lance Consultants and their working?
I do not recommend free-lance Consultants.
They usually work in wide range of any kinds of management fields, but their
services are not by their originality. These Consultants spend a lot of their
time for services, but they spend little time for study, for developing new
useful services.
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Q
: Could you give a brief idea about the philosophy behind Quality Circles?
The philosophy is making their
role a leading part of company activities. Through Quality Circle activities,
employees experience their important role in companies. When I organize or
advise companies about Quality Circle activities, these are for motivating
employees that means I never expect remarkable ratio of Productivity improvement.
If employees feel their role as a leading part of company activities, it is a
success.
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NOTE: Following books have been published
by him till 1983, out of which first seven books are in Japanese language: Managing Office Productivity in 1983, Practice
of Industrial Engineering in 1981, Work Measurement in 1979, Practice of Cost
reduction, Industrial Engineering view points in 1980, Practice of work
Measurement in 1972, Work Measurement for Foreman in 1969, Japanese firm
doubles Productivity in 1977 in U.K.
This interview was conducted in 1983.
The profile, photograph and the actual contents of the interview reflect the
status as in 1983, i.e. thirty years ago, but the contents are relevant today
also, though there are changes in the profile and the photograph, which are being reflected in the next interview in 2013.
-------vijaiksharma
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