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Theory of Constraints

The document discusses why Theory of Constraints consulting is not very popular. It outlines the Theory of Constraints methodology and argues that the main issue is that TOC consultants believe it is the only solution needed and dismiss all other management philosophies. This fanaticism prevents wide acceptance of TOC when in fact it could be a useful paradigm alongside others.

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PrabhakarDeshpande
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20 views

Theory of Constraints

The document discusses why Theory of Constraints consulting is not very popular. It outlines the Theory of Constraints methodology and argues that the main issue is that TOC consultants believe it is the only solution needed and dismiss all other management philosophies. This fanaticism prevents wide acceptance of TOC when in fact it could be a useful paradigm alongside others.

Uploaded by

PrabhakarDeshpande
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM)

e-ISSN:2278-487X, p-ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 25, Issue 11. Ser. 4 (November. 2023), PP 11-12
www.iosrjournals.org

Constrained By Theory Of Constraints


Prabhakar Deshpande
Abstract:
Theory of Constraints is a management paradigm that views any manageable system as being limited by number
of constraints. The management philosophy was introduced by Eliyahu Goldratt in his book titled “The Goal”.
While the book, originally published in 1984 has sold almost 10 million copies, Theory of Constraints
consultants are few in number and struggling to survive. This paper attempts to answer the question as to what
ails Theory of Constraints consultants.
Date of Submission: 06-11-2023 Date of Acceptance: 16-11-2023

I. Introduction
Theory of Constraints is not a popular management paradigm. While there are millions of management
consultants worldwide, the number of Theory of Constraint consultants is very few. What is even worse is that
Theory of Constraint(TOC) consultants run as a Mom and Pop store fashion. Of course there are some
management consulting firms specializing in Theory of Constraints, which are small sized operations, like
Goldratt Consulting in Israel, Marris Consulting in France and Vector Consulting in India. But besides these
exceptions, the norm is of very few mom and pop store in Theory of Constraints consulting.
This is more surprising because the book that espoused Theory of Constraints(TOC) paradigm – The
Goal, written by Eliyahu Goldratt – is a best seller and often discussed. Indeed the book, initially published in
1984 has been translated into many languages and has sold almost 10 million copies. Yet despite the popularity
of the book, the management philosophy of Theory of Constraints does not find too many takers.
This paper tries to find why this is so.

II. Theory of Constraints(TOC)


The theory of constraints is a management philosophy that views any organisational process as one with
many steps and the entire process is limited by the weakest step that acts as a constraint. The Theory of
Constraints tries to find the weakest step and remove the constraint.

A constraint is something that prevents the system from achieving its goals. The steps of Theory of Constraint
are
1. Identify the constraint
2. Decide to exploit system constraint
3. Subordinate everything to constraint
4. Elevate the constraint
5. Go back to step 1
The underlying premise is that organisations can be measured by three parameters – throughput,
operational expense and inventory. Throughput is obviously the sales, inventory is the goods carried and
operational expense is the costs incurred in converting inputs to outputs. Now the way to optimize an
organisation is to maximize throughput and minimize both operational expense and inventory by removing
constraint.

III. The Fanaticism of Theory of Constraints Consulting


The problem with Theory of Constraints is that its consultants believe that it is one stop solution for all
problems in an organisation. Indeed Theory of Constraint (TOC) consultants often position themselves against
Strategy Consulting, which to their mind includes all other management philosophies.
The problem is not that there is no wisdom in Theory of Constraints, the problem is that Theory of
Consultant professionals believe that Theory of Constraints is the all that is needed in management of
organisation.
Now every person who has studied management in business schools, knows that management is a vast
discipline and there are many paradigms and philosophies in management. There are various subfields such as
strategy, hr, marketing, quality , finance etc.
Even within the limited field of production, where theory of constraints finds the greatest utility, there
are many management philosophies such as lean or just-in-time or Toyota-model etc etc etc.

DOI: 10.9790/487X-2511041112 www.iosrjournals.org 11 | Page


Constrained By Theory Of Constraints

But the problem with Theory of Constraints professionals is that they believe that TOC is the greatest
wisdom that has dawned in management discipline and that makes unnecessary any other management thought.
Mind you, while there is no doubt the Theory of Constraints(TOC) is well known, it is not even taught
in many business schools. Now while some TOC consultants boast the fact that it is taught in more than 200
universities and colleges, what that also means that TOC is not taught in more than 20,000 universities and
colleges. Which means in more than 99% of educational universities TOC is not taught. So TOC is not part of
mainstream management curriculum.
And yet Theory of Constraint consultants behave as if TOC is the only solution available in world and
worse all other management paradigms are wrong. Thus Theory of Constraint practitioners preclude every other
management thought in the world. This is very absurd, especially considering that most management schools do
not teach Theory of Constraints.
So on one hand Theory of Constraint practitioners are dismissive towards every other management
philosophy or paradigm. On other hand the main stream management and business academic and corporate
world does not consider Theory of Constraints as even meriting acceptance.
Thus there is a certain mutual exclusivity between main stream Management Paradigms and Theory of
Constraints. Hence Theory of Constraints is not very popular and doesn’t find wide acceptance.

IV. Conclusion
Theory of Constraints(TOC) is no doubt a very sensible management paradigm. But the problem is that
TOC consultants believe that Theory of Constraints is the solution to all organisation problems, thus obviating
the need for any other management theory. Clearly this fanaticism of TOC consultants is costing them a lot in
acceptance. If TOC consultants accept other management philosophies and position their offering within the
basket of all other management philosophies they may find greater acceptance.

DOI: 10.9790/487X-2511041112 www.iosrjournals.org 12 | Page

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