53 pages • 1 hour read
Eliyahu M. GoldrattThe Goal
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1984A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 12-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary
Alex arrives back home and demands that Julie tell him where she was last night—he called the house repeatedly and no one answered. She is offended that he assumes she did something wrong and calls him out on his double standard: “How many times have you been late, or out of town, or who knows where?” (91). Alex passive-aggressively accuses her of having an affair, which she denies. Alex tries to make her understand the stress he’s under at work, but Julie accuses him of having no idea what her life at home is like. She misses him and begs him to at least bring some work home. He promises to come home early the next night.
Chapter 13 Summary
On Saturday, Alex’s son Davey wakes him up early. Alex had forgotten that he agreed to chaperone Davey’s Boy Scout trip, an overnight camping trip to the woods. He leaves Julie sleeping. When he and Davey arrive at the woods, Alex discovers he is the only chaperone. Alex must lead the group of ten-year-old boys on a trail to “Devil’s Gulch” (95) where they will camp for the night, then lead them out of the woods to the pickup location. The hike is ten miles, and the boys must stop for lunch at a specified location.
They set off on the hike. Quickly, Alex notices that there is a huge gap between him, at the front of the line, and the final boy in the back of the line. Someone may get left behind. Alex puts a boy named Ron in charge of the front of the line, and heads to the back, where he meets the slowest walker, who is walking in the middle of the line. He is a large boy named Herbie. As they walk, Alex thinks about what Jonah last told him about dependent events and statistical fluctuations and begins to see both concepts at work on the hike. Because the line is not being managed effectively, Ron is now too far ahead, and those behind Herbie are being slowed down. Alex makes Herbie walk faster, and though they catch up, Herbie is winded. Alex considers what to do next. He realizes that because Herbie must run to catch up, he is expending energy more quickly and will become tired sooner. “Why can’t we all just walk at the same pace as Ron and stay together?” (99), he wonders.
As they keep walking, Alex begins to see the hike in terms of Jonah’s system of measurements. The “product” is their walk, and the product is not sold until the last person finishes. The difference in length between the front and back of the line is inventory. Throughput is the rate of walking, and operational expense is the energy required. Each time Alex and Herbie struggle to catch up, operational expense goes up as they try to reduce inventory, and throughput goes through the roof. “Is this what’s happening in my plant?” (102), Alex wonders. The group stops for lunch.
Chapter 14 Summary
The group eats lunch, even though they have not reached the designated spot. Alex muses about how to “trim the capacity of fifteen kids” (104). He can’t tie them all together, and different kids move at different paces. Thinking about statistical fluctuation, Alex devises a dice throwing game and invites Davey and some other boys to play. Each boy gets a bowl. The first boy in line has six matches in his bowl, and when he rolls the dice, and can then move that number of matches from his bowl to his neighbor’s bowl. Then the next boy rolls the dice. The goal is to move as many matches as possible to the neighbor’s bowl, but each boy can only move as many matches as he has in the bowl. Everyone has a “quota” of moving 3.5 matches per turn, and anyone who averages less than over the course of the game must do dishes. The boys play, and Alex sees that the boy at the front of the line is able to meet his quota easily, while the boys at the end of the line are not. They are dependent on the other boys’ rolls and while, statistically speaking, they should be able to meet their quota, the reality does not match up. Alex thinks about how this would work at a real plant: “Inventory moves through the system not in a manageable flow, but in waves […] and the system gets further and further behind schedule” (112).
Chapter 15 Summary
The boys continue their hike. Alex thinks about what the dice game taught him, and wonders if he can fix the gap between hikers, as well. He considers telling Ron to slow down, so that the rest can catch up—but that leaves everyone out of breath and the process starts over again. Herbie has fallen back to the end of the line, and only Alex is behind him. The gap between Herbie and the boy at the front is becoming dangerous—Alex doesn’t even know who’s leading. “At the moment, Herbie isn’t limiting the progress of anyone except me” (114), Alex thinks. There’s very little “idle time” (114) and yet, the gap between the boys is far too large. Then, Alex has another lightbulb moment: “…whoever is moving the slowest in the troop is the one who will govern throughput” (115). Herbie will determine how fast the group finishes no matter where in line he is. Alex stops the troop. He puts Herbie at the very front of the line, much to the other boys’ annoyance, and has Herbie set the pace. The boys complain about having to walk so slowly, so Alex challenges them to come up with ways to make Herbie walk faster. Herbie’s backpack, they discover, is very heavy. Each boy takes something from Herbie’s pack and carries it themselves, enabling Herbie to walk much faster. “We’re flying now, doing twice the speed as a troop as we did before. And we still stay together. Inventory is down. Throughput is up” (118). The reach the campsite before dark, and Alex leads the troop out of the woods the next morning.
Chapters 12-15 Analysis
This section of the novel is crucial to Alex’s understanding of Jonah’s theories and ideas. During the Boy Scout hike, Alex comes to see dependent events and statistical fluctuations as real-world events, not abstract concepts. At first, Alex believes that he can reduce the excess “inventory” in his line by making the boys at the back of the line move faster, as he believes that the dependent event is Ron, the leader of the pack. He is disappointed to see that the line stretches out again. It is only when he re-evaluates his assumption—that the leader sets the pace—that he is able to make a real change. Ron, as the leader, only sets his own pace. The group of boys is like an organization or product, and the product is not complete until the last member finishes the hike. When Alex makes this connection, only then is he able to place Herbie, his real dependent event, at the front of the line to set the pace.
This hike is a turning point in Alex’s evolution as a manager. Before, he was unable to see any of Jonah’s ideas as more than just that—ideas. His plant is so complex, with so many moving parts, that applying Jonah’s ideas was daunting. When the elements are simplified—a dozen boys, a hike, the goal of reaching camp by nightfall—Alex is able to put the concepts into motion. He displays key qualities of a good manager throughout the hike. He encourages the boys to see the troop as one entity, one team, and to work for the good of the team rather than themselves. In a move that foreshadows Alex’s ability to encourage his workers to think for themselves, he asks the boys to brainstorm solutions to the Herbie “problem.” If they want to walk faster, they must find a way to help Herbie move faster. Rather than taking Herbie’s backpack himself, he encourages the boys to divide it among themselves, as he will later encourage his advisory team to divide work in order to solve far more complex problems.
