Business Novel, The Goal

However, in developing a hypothetical case study in the length and detail required for the argument presented--the book runs to 337 pages--the authors chose to present their work in the form of a novel. The book centers on Alex Rogo, the plant manager of the Bearington manufacturing plant of UniCo; town and corporation are both fictitious, as are the machines in the plant and the (never specified) lines of products the plant turns out. At the beginning of the novel, Rogo hears grim news from his division manager, Bill Peach: The Bearington plant is losing money, and if Rogo does not turn it around in three months, the plant will be shut down. Rogo, and nearly all the plant's employees, stand to lose their jobs.

The Goal is unlikely to win any literary awards. None the less, it is surprisingly successful as a novel as well as as a business book; in the expression of the popular-book trade, it is a page-turner. And, as a consequence of the novel format (in two senses of the word), the book touches on issues

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onah (p. 27). At first, Alex gives a blustering answer. "Sure they have," I say. "We had--what?" I scan the ceiling for the figure. "I think it was a thirty-six percent improvement in one area." Really ... thirty-six percent?" asks Jonah. "So your company is making thirty-six percent more money from your plant just from installing some robots? Incredible." I can't hold back a smile. "Well ... no," I say. "We all wish it were that easy!" (p. 27). The noteworthy element in this brief exchange is that upon Jonah's registering of doubt about the efficacy of the robots, Alex opens himself to that doubt. The development of the book's plot required that he do so, of course--but it was by no means inevitable that he would. The robots, as we later learn, have become a item of faith at the plant, and with UniCo as a whole (as, indeed, with much of the manufacturing industry). When people are questioned on a matter of faith, as Alex is questioned here, the most common reaction is a defensive one, reasserting the faith as though proclaiming it will make it true. If someone questions us as to whether the world is round, rather few of us are willing to examine that view and our reasons for believing it. More typica
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Approximate Word count = 1613
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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