Quality Management Journal

ISSN: 1068-6967 (Print) 2575-6222 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uqmj20

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Nicole M. Radziwill

To cite this article: Nicole M. Radziwill (2018) The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Quality
Management Journal, 25:2, 108-109, DOI: 10.1080/10686967.2018.1436355

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10686967.2018.1436355

Published online: 06 Apr 2018.

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QUALITY MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
2018, VOL. 25, NO. 2, 108–110
BOOK REVIEWS
Simple Excellence: Organizing and Aligning the Management Team in a Lean Transformation. Adam Zak and Bill
Waddell. 2011. New York: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. 141 pages.
After 25 years embedded in the manufacturing environ-
ment, authors Adam Zak and Bill Waddell noticed that
most of the literature about launching and sustaining lean
principles was written for engineering managers, product
managers, and accountants. But they accurately recognize
that lean transformation is a craft that requires broad
involvement across the organization – “there is no cookie-
cutter method of improvement … [but] there are some
common management principles.” This book was written
to capture those principles, while serving the needs of every-
one else involved in lean transformation, including sales and
marketing staff, human resources personnel, and informa-
tion technology staff.
This book is organized into two sections: “Thinking
Differently” and “Managing Differently,” with topics
ranging from cost accounting to value streams and stra-
tegic investments, presented in 20 short chapters. The
main message is that people should work to align them-
selves by how they create value. The key, the authors
say, “is to eliminate all of the noise, waste, and clutter
and to align the business on the commonsense, funda-
mental issues that determine success” rather than defin-
ing success from limited disciplinary perspectives. This
broader view of what constitutes waste provides the
foundation for unique perspectives later in the book
that will be valuable for managers of all experience
levels.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Klaus Schwab. 2016. World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. 184 pages.
This tiny volume should be considered the world’s best syn-
opsis of the profound changes that are impacting many
industries due to the introduction of inexpensive and pro-
lific sensors, actuators, and network connectivity. It is “a
crowd-sourced book, the product of the collective enlight-
ened wisdom of the [World Economic] forum’s communi-
ties.” The book has three goals: 1) increase awareness of the
speed and scope of the technological changes taking place
right now; 2) create a framework for thinking about and
responding to them; and 3) create a platform to support
partnerships and cooperation in these new innovative areas.
Although concise, the book easily achieves all three
goals. It starts by explaining the historical backdrop of the
current technological revolution and frames it in terms of
wealth, platforms, and inequality. Next, the author covers
the drivers for this revolution in terms of physical, digital,
There are hundreds of value-packed passages throughout
this book; here are a few. There is no such thing as customer
profitability – only a business can be profitable, even if its cus-
tomers contribute incrementally to the ability of the business to
meet its financial requirements. Goodwill is the only enduring
capability any business has. The fragility of the supply chain
should be a factor in how people select and evaluate partners –
awareness is essential. Examine differences in how customers
define and perceive value. The role of the purchasing function
is to build relationships over the long term.
I’ve read hundreds of management books over the past
two decades, and rarely do I find one as concise and com-
pelling as this contribution by Zak and Waddell. It is an
easy and comfortable read, and can be pleasantly digested
in one sitting or many. If readers are looking for some
inspiration to help them understand and internalize how
their organization can eliminate non-value-adding activi-
ties, or for a book that they can share with the organization
to help everyone achieve this goal, this is a fantastic, no-
nonsense resource with lasting value.
Reviewed by
Nicole M. Radziwill
nicole.radziwill@gmail.com
© 2018 American Society for Quality
https://doi.org/10.1080/10686967.2018.1436354
and biological “megatrends” and tipping points, which are
news events that, when they occur, will indicate that a par-
ticular outcome from a megatrend is reaching critical mass.
Physical megatrends include autonomous vehicles, 3-D
printing and additive manufacturing, advanced robotics,
and new materials. Digital megatrends are represented by
the Internet of Things (IoT), cryptocurrencies, new ways to
encapsulate value, and new platforms for innovation. Bio-
logical megatrends, such as CRISPR for gene editing and
data storage, are also positioned to catalyze innovations.
Each of these areas is examined in terms of social, eco-
nomic, and business impacts, with attention to interna-
tional security and personal privacy.
The bulk of the book is 23 vignettes, each describing a
“Deep Shift” – ranging from implantable technology, to the
connected home and smart cities, to “designer beings” and

“neurotechnologies” for improving health, wellness, and
physical/cognitive performance. Although many of these
may sound futuristic, the book explains how most of them
are grounded in already available technologies.
For a quick and to-the-point introduction to the vast
landscape of Industry 4.0, this book (as of yet) is unparal-
leled. It will help readers anticipate and identify upcoming
shifts that could impact their business.
Cybersecurity Leadership. Mansur Hasib. 2014. Tomorrow’s Strategy Today LLC. 171 pages.
Particularly in production and critical infrastructure envi-
ronments, attention to cybersecurity must be incorporated
into quality and risk management efforts because attacks
can result not only in diminished quality of outputs, but
also in damage to expensive physical assets. Quality manag-
ers are typically not familiar with principles of cybersecurity
– or how to manage it or incorporate it into quality man-
agement efforts. This book provides insight into some first
principles that can be applied to start closing the gap.
Structured as a collection of 49 short essays, Hasib aims
to provide “a business level understanding of cybersecurity
and … how to lead cybersecurity in any organization,”
while also addressing general leadership topics. The book
uniformly covers technical and administrative aspects of
cybersecurity, and is accessible to managers with no techni-
cal background. For example, on p. 71, Hasib writes that
“an organizational cybersecurity program requires three
types of controls: technology, policy, and people controls –
which must be managed, monitored, and improved over
time.” The policy and people aspects receive more coverage
than the technical.
There are two drawbacks to this book: it is short, and it
is not solely focused on cybersecurity. Essays in the second
Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon. 2014. Kim Zetter. New York:
Broadway Books. 296 pages.
If one asks any quality professional to describe a typical
cyberattack, the answer will probably include one or more
of the following: stolen personal information, loss of pri-
vacy, identity theft, or maybe even loss of corporate infor-
mation and trade secrets. But the greater risk – in
traditional production environments as well as critical
infrastructure (for example, energy production, water and
QUALITY MANAGEMENT JOURNAL 109
Reviewed by
Nicole M. Radziwill
nicole.radziwill@gmail.com
© 2018 American Society for Quality
https://doi.org/10.1080/10686967.2018.1436355
half cover topics that are perhaps only topically related to
the book’s title, such as collaboration tools, recruiting the
best team members, gamification, video conferencing solu-
tions, and electronic health records. The author did explain
in the preface that the book is about both cybersecurity and
leadership; however, the dilution of emphasis from the
beginning to the end is definitely a weakness.
For a simple introduction to cybersecurity from the
executive perspective, this book may suffice. For exam-
ple, the “Risk Management and Compliance” chapter
outlines 10 areas that should be addressed in any cyber-
security management approach. These are roughly con-
sistent with guidance provided by the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Center
for Internet Security (CIS), but covered in much less
detail.
Reviewed by
Nicole M. Radziwill
nicole.radziwill@gmail.com
© 2018 American Society for Quality
https://doi.org/10.1080/10686967.2018.1436356
wastewater management, transportation, healthcare) is that
cyberattacks can result in physical damage to expensive
capital assets, which can directly and immediately impact
product quality.
Zetter’s detailed, intricate book provides a comprehen-
sive tour of one of the most famous cyberattacks in history:
the Stuxnet worm, which targeted the industrial control