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chain analogy

См.: аналогия цепи.

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chain analogy​

chain analogy - - The comparison of an organization to a chain based on the belief that, just as a chain accomplishes work through a series of dependent links, an organization produces output through a series of dependent "links." Just as the limiting factor in a chain's ability to do work is its weakest link, an organization's ability to achieve its goal has some limiting factor, which is called the constraint.

Example: In a manufacturing company, the "links" could be marketing, sales, engineering, procurement, production, and shipping. Shipping cannot ship the product until it is produced. Production cannot make the product until the parts are purchased, etc.

Perspective: The chain analogy is useful because strengthening most links in a chain will not make the chain stronger - you must strengthen the weakest link. In a similar manner, quickly generating significant improvement in organizational performance cannot be accomplished through improvements anywhere and everywhere, but rather only through focusing on the factor that is limiting global performance, i.e., by focusing on the constraint.

See:constraint.