"...We want to improve our
company’s quality. How do you go about rapidly making the people become more
responsible for what they do?" H.P., South Carolina
"...We want to improve our
company’s quality. How do you go about rapidly making the people become more
responsible for what they do?" H.P., South Carolina
THE INDUSTRY ADVISOR
IMPROVING YOUR QUALITY
By Gene Levine - www.genelevine.com
Somehow issues always boil down to people, don’t they? Your question is
multi-dimensional and therefore the answer depends on many factors which were not
mentioned in your letter. For example:
- How high is your turnover?
- Are your quality problems within a particular product, an operation, under a particular supervisor’s control?
- Is your expected level of quality in all your products clearly procedurized, manualized and documented?
- What is your percentage of customer complaints?
- What is the extent of your formal approach to Quality Assurance (QA)?
- Do you have the traditional QA department with in-line and final inspectors?
- Do you post expected quality goals and then the graphs to show performance against those goals?
To answer your question it is necessary to first define the word "Quality" as used in the context of my answer. Today, the word is an overused fashionable buzz word whose meanings are often more than stitches per inch or seam length. For example: "Total Quality Management (TQM)" and "Quality of the Workplace." My definition is that "Quality" simply means what the customer wants from your business. It is more than just the quality of your products. My point is made very well by author William Glasser, M.D. In his recent book "The Control Theory Manager," Dr. Glasser states that in order to achieve quality;
"Lead-managers embrace the following two procedures that rarely ever occur to boss-managers:
"1. Learn what quality actually is, teach it to all who work in the organization, and then listen carefully to any worker who has an idea of how it may be further improved.
"2. Manage everyone in the organization so that it is obvious to all workers that it is to their benefit to settle for nothing less than quality work."
Generally when firms have quality problems it is because the quality message is vague or ill defined. Quality is proportionate to the training and emphasis employees receive and then their buying into their role. Ambiguity, vacillating standards and priorities lead to misunderstandings on the worker's part and frustration at the management level.
Not knowing what your management style is, I will now offer some proven ideas that could help crystallize your problem and pave the way towards solutions. It begins with . . .
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