Culture Change Case Study
Managing Culture Change in a Manufacturing Company Background Those organizations most often interested in changing their culture are usually those performing poorly, facing a crisis, newly reorganized under a larger entity and those with new missions or new managers. The example organization here is an exception to the general rule. (The company and setting have been disguised in this example) Why change it if it ain’t broken? Gordon Smith was VP of Manufacturing. His worldwide organization included plants, engineering and client support groups in China, Singapore, UK, Norway and USA. Gordon had been in his job for six years and could report that each year he had met his product delivery, inventory and quality objectives. But, it was his performance in cost reduction that had made corporate life pleasant for him– giving him freedom from oversight and the latitude to reward his staff with incentive trips, similar to the way the sales force was treated.. Gordon had inherited a motivated group of professionals, given them lots of headroom and had reduced overall costs by 8-10% in each of his six years. He ascribed much of his success to his personal, maniacal focus on cost, and having drilled the rallying cry [...] Read More
Bringing New Energy to Quality Improvement Programs Part 2: An Example
Bringing New Energy to Quality Improvement Programs Part 2: An example Introduction A Cambridge, Massachusetts-based software company decided to launch a TQM program in its worldwide Information Systems (I.S.) department. The principal driving factors were user dissatisfaction with the level of service, particularly problems with the support of global infrastructure of networks and servers. Many I.S. people felt that they were overworked, that management wasn’t setting clear priorities and that their users were excessively demanding and unappreciative. A small team that was put together to define and guide the TQM program. They identified the underlying problems as being no documented processes, no agreed metrics, little alignment of roles and responsibilities. Just as the TQM program was being defined, the company was purchased by a larger competitor. Management priority went to urgent business matters and the problems of infrastructure quality quickly became secondary to issues related to the merger of the two companies. TQM wasn’t abandoned but its priority was clearly, if unofficially, reduced by lack of promotion. The I.S. directors did meet with the TQM team to define where they wanted the organization to go but didn’t take personal or public leadership for TQM. The team kept contact with the [...] Read More
Bringing New Energy to Quality Improvement Programs Part 1
Metaphor Language Bringing New Energy to Quality Improvement Programs Part 1: Background and Planning new Introduction This seven page document is the first of two related to quality improvement. It addresses the principles behind metaphor languages and how to use them. The second shows how metaphor language drove the introduction of TQM in a software company. Together, they make two assertions: 1. The lack of strong top management leadership need not doom a TQM effort. 2. Programs that are losing their momentum can be re-vitalized with new tools This paper describes a method for introducing or giving a “mid-life kicker” to TQM. By finding issues at mid and lower levels of an organization and by employing metaphor language tools, a manager can generate new team energy and build widespread ownership for TQM. When Quality is not the organization’s first priority… Imagine that you have been appointed to be the head of a quality effort in your company. You, like everyone involved in quality, have heard these statements: – “TQM succeeds only when there is strong leadership from the top” – “TQM requires a real crisis in order to take root” Imagine that your management is starting a TQM effort because [...] Read More