and Aleksandr V.
Suvorov's The Science
of Victory
But to the tale: -- great joy unto the camp!
To Russian, Tartar, English, French,
Cossacque,
O'er whom Suwarrow shone like a gas
lamp,
Presaging a most luminous attack
Don Juan, Seventh Canto
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Productivity Systems,
Aleksandr V. Suvorov,
1729-1800
Possibly the greatest military commander
who ever lived
63 victories and no losses
Defeated some of Napoleon's future marshals
and was feared by Napoleon
Would have easily made mincemeat of
Frederick the Great
Suvorov's Organization:
Summary
SPEED KILLS (COMPETITORS)
"Where did all the Russians come from?"
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Productivity Systems,
Suvorov's Environment
and Competitors
During the 18th century, most
commanders regarded soldiers as
automatons who were to do exactly (and
only) what they were told.
This illustrates a mechanistic organizational
model, in which performance is measured on
compliance with rigid rules.
Results were achieved largely through
punishment or threat of punishment.
Frederick II of Prussia: "Good will can never
induce the common soldier to stand up to
such dangers; he will do so only through fear
[of his own officers]."
Frederick's own words describe his attitude
toward his soldiers, and we will compare this to
the organization that Suvorov developed. It will
be clear that Suvorov's organization could have
beaten "Old Fritz" decisively.
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Suvorov's "Quality
Statement"
At the end of each day's work, everyone
was to shout, "Subordination, Obedience,
Discipline, Training, Military Formation,
Military Order, Cleanliness, Neatness,
Health, Cheerfulness, Courage, Bravery,
Formation Exercise, Victory and Glory!"
Far from sloganeering (against which Deming
warned), these words encompass much of
The Science of Victory. In Suvorov's
organizational culture, a single word or short
phrase conveyed enormous meaning.
As an example, Suvorov's rules for personal
and camp hygiene, along with diet
"Cleanliness, Neatness, and Health"
reduced the Russian Army's attrition losses to
about 1 percent, versus 20 to 25 percent for
contemporary armies.
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Suvorov on
Empowerment
In contrast to his contemporaries'
demand for mindless (as opposed to
disciplined) obedience, "Suvorov was no
believer in unwitting compliance with
orders. A soldier had to understand what
he did, know what his commander
wanted" (Longworth, 1966, 216).
Suvorov "detested stupidity and blind routine
and did all in his power to make the men think
for themselves." "In striking contrast to the rule
of Frederick II [Frederick the Great] of
converting soldiers into automata, Suvorov's
system was based on the development of the
soldiers' intelligence and their understanding
of the tasks they were called upon to perform"
(Ossipov, 1945, 17).
"Every soldier must understand his
maneuver."
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Productivity Systems,
Teamwork Examples
During Suvorov's campaign in
Switzerland, the French destroyed the
Devil's Bridge the only bridge across a
river in the confined mountain paths. The
enlisted men dismantled a nearby barn,
tied the planks together with officer's
sashes, and used them to bridge the gap.
At Suvorov's funeral, the monks who
were carrying his coffin could not get
through a narrow archway in the chapel.
Some grenadiers who had served with
him proclaimed, "Suvorov must pass
everywhere" and lifted the casket above
their heads. This narrowed the
procession's width enough to fit through
the archway: a truly fitting monument to
the organization Suvorov had created!
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Productivity Systems,
Demanding Initiative
Suvorov wanted his followers to think for
themselves and exercise judgment and
initiative.
Suvorov detested Nichtwissers ("knownothings" or "I-don't-know-Sirs"), i.e. people
who were unwilling to take responsibility for
thinking for themselves.
Unterkunft (literally "under the bed") meant
errors of omission, such as failure to exploit
opportunities.
A single word could carry enormous meaning.
He often accosted soldiers with seeminglyinsane questions like "How many stars are in
the sky?" One private admitted to not knowing
but said he would count them at once and
actually began to do so. Suvorov did not
expect the man to know the answer; what
delighted him was the man's immediate
willingness to work on a problem that even
skilled astronomers could not have solved.
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Productivity Systems,
Empowerment
Requires Training
The Russian Army could not have
achieved this level of empowerment
without thorough and diligent training.
Suvorov wrote in Nauka Pobezhadt (The
Science of Victory):
"Training is light, and lack of training is
darkness. The problem fears the expert. If a
peasant doesn't know how to plow, he can't
grow bread. A trained man is worth three
untrained: that's too little- say six- six is too
little- say ten to one. In the last campaign
the enemy lost 75,000 counted, but more like
100,000 in fact. He fought with skill and
desperation, but we didn't even lose 500."
The 200:1 casualty ratio was the direct
product of the Russian Army's superior
training and organization.
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Productivity Systems,
When Top-Level
Commitment isn't there
Michael L. George's Lean Six Sigma reports
that a CEO brought in W. Edwards Deming to
give his senior executives a Total Quality
Management seminar. He said that he was
"totally committed to the process" and
expected his executives' "complete attention
and support" and then he left the room. A
senior executive reported later that
"commitment flew out the window" with the
CEO's departure, and that managers who
were supposed to watch the 16hour
videotape of Deming's lecture merely read
the videocassette's cover instead.
It should now be evident that Suvorov was
not "squandering his time" by drilling soldiers
personally instead of delegating this task to a
noncommissioned officer.
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Productivity Systems,
Training Cannot be
Overemphasized
When times are difficult, many
organizations cut the training budget.
Suvorov, in contrast, was firm in his
position that poorly-trained workers
cannot achieve outstanding results.
Byron records that,
Also he dress'd up, for the nonce, fascines
Like men with turbans, scimitars, and dirks,
And made them charge with bayonet these
machines,
By way of lesson against actual Turks:
And when well practised in these mimic scenes,
He judged them proper to assail the works
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Productivity Systems,
Managing by
Wandering Around
Tom Peters describes management by
wandering around (MBWA), which the
Japanese call gemba leadership. It
means going to the value-adding
workplace instead of trying to lead the
organization from a corner office.
Fosters morale and commitment, and the
leader knows what is actually going on.