Kaizen (Continuous Improvement)
Introduction
Kaizen is a Japanese term that encompasses the concept of a quality management method well known in the industrial world. It is a process of continuous improvement based on concrete, simple and inexpensive actions, and that involves all workers in a company, from managers to rank-and-file workers.[1] As it implies a change of attitude in the worker and also in the company, both definitions point to different parts but at no time do they lose their connection, one cannot exist without the other, something similar to the Taoist philosophy that establishes yin and yang.
Etymology
The Sino-Japanese word kaizen is the reading of the characters kanji 改善, whose meaning can be broken down as follows:.
“Beneficial” is more related to Taoism or Buddhist philosophy, than to the definition of a common benefit, of society and not of collective interests (e.g. multilateral improvement). In other words, one person cannot benefit at the expense of another. The benefit that concerns this concept must be sustainable (forever); Zen or Shan is a term that reflects a truly altruistic act,[note 1] that benefits others.
The word kaizen, etymologically, refers to any change for the better, whether large or small, punctual or continuous, similar to the word "improvement" in Spanish. In particular, the word kaizen in Japanese does not incorporate anything that connotes a continuous, rather than punctual, process of improvement.[2].
In order to distinguish the two meanings that the term kaizen has in Japanese (on the one hand, the traditional meaning of "improvement"; on the other, the more internationalized meaning of "method of continuous improvement"), the second is usually written with the characters katakana カイゼン, devoid of the semantic value that kanji have.[2][3].
Although it should be noted that translating the kanjis literally causes a loss of meaning in the translation, if we do the reverse translation, literally "continuous improvement" in Japanese is "Kairyo 改良". This is something that is achieved externally through material and financial investments or by relying on the techniques of others to solve one's own problems. The actual definition of kaizen is more personal, and occurs within one's own mind for the Japanese. could be better translated as "continuous self-development." There is a clear distinction in Japan between the two concepts: improvement and self-development. That's why, even in North America, Toyota employees often say "Kaizen" in its original Japanese, rather than trying to translate it into English.[4].