THE GOAL A Process of Ongoing Improvement

In a business text disguised as a novel, a remarkable cast of actors dramatizes a fascinating tale of discovery and redemption. In the story, the manager of a troubled plant learns from a mathematician turned consultant that many of his management practices and economic assumptions are faulty. After he retools his thinking, he convinces everyone else at the factory to get with the new program. The story’s flow is slowed by extraneous dialogue and subplots, but it’s still a good story and a captivating format for serving up the author’s message--that businesses weighed down by archaic habits can be wildly profitable when fresh mathematical methods are implemented with courageous persistence. T.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 01]