Overview of AMS Core Elements

Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company and a pioneer of integrating principles of continuous improvement into his business operations, understood the power of discontent. He once said, “Our own attitude is that we are charged with the discovering the best way of doing everything and we must regard every process … as purely experimental.”

What Ford meant is that we should never get too comfortable with the way things are. When we become attached to the current way of doing things, we get complacent and stop striving to find a better way.

The Arizona Management System challenges us all to continuously improve. To do this effectively, we must first set a standard as a benchmark by which we can measure progress.

Agencies that are currently deploying the full AMS have been provided an assessment tool that lists core standards for all AMS elements and behaviors to help in measuring progress toward deploying the system. These standards are meant as a guide, and agencies are expected to take ownership in developing their
own standard work around each element.

The core standards will continue to evolve as agencies become more proficient in learning to use the system to achieve success and continuously improve. The following table summarizes the AMS elements as currently prescribed. The first three elements shown apply to all Cabinet agencies; the remainder apply once agencies begin to deploy the full system. Because agencies vary in size and complexity, no deadlines have been set by which to complete deployment. However, agencies are expected to have a deployment plan in place and work to achieve completion as specified in the plan.