| Memo: Quality at Work
Edition: Final
Don't count me among those who approve of the
conventional wisdom that ''power corrupts."
I simply don't accept that as necessarily true.
But in the area of Total Quality Management, a
variation of that old adage is more credible.
Absolute power does corrupt - absolutely.
Organizations in which real power is monopolized
by a few never serve as models of efficiency and
productivity. Concentrated power is a poisonous,
counterproductive approach to managing a business.
Traditional management teachings focus on planning,
organizing, staffing and controlling. What bothers
me is that managers often interpret very narrowly
their task to exercise control, particularly as
it relates to human resources.
Too many managers have exclusive power to make
critical decisions and judgments.
Implicit in this approach is that managers know
most and know best. This narrow definition of
control stifles the creativity and productivity
of the workforce.
Total quality management advocates empowerment
for all employees - empowerment that makes workers
eager to initiate problem solving and more likely
to pursue the constant improvement that is fundamental
to a vibrant, customer-oriented enterprise.
Real empowerment comes when employees are not
occasionally asked their opinions (often management's
attempt to appease), but when they participate
in the meaningful decisions, from establishing
policy to shutting down a faulty process. Quality
guru J. M. Juran points out that employees must
have the authority to take corrective actions.
The Whirlpool Corp. plant in Oxford, Miss., several
years ago began phasing out traditional plant
supervisors and empowering hourly workers with
broader responsibilities, from hiring and firing
to running assembly lines. Costs and accident
rates went down, and product quality rose. An
almost festive energy among the workers took hold.
The founder of Wal-Mart (one of the largest departmental
store house in the US), the late Sam Walton, wrote
in his autobiography, Made in America: "There
is absolutely no limit to what plain, or ordinary,
working people can accomplish if they're given
the opportunity and the encouragement to do their
best." How true. I have seen employees come
alive simply because management sought greater
participation from them or because they were encouraged
to work on a quality action or improvement team.
It was as though their very existence had been
recognized. An employee of an area school district
told me that "just not being
disregarded" was enough to motivate her.
Unquestionably, the concepts of empowerment and
traditional management control are incompatible.
And making the transition to empowerment is not
easy. It will require a great deal of retraining.
But drastic change is necessary. Traditional management
tendencies to forgo unlocking human creativity
in favor of exerting control must be dealt a fatal
blow. For the organizations that successfully
empower their people will make the greatest strides
in performance and competitiveness.
Submitted by Afolabi
Imoukhuede, Managing Consultant, MCS
Consulting Limited Ikoyi, Lagos
aimoukhuede@mcsworldgrp.com
Total Quality:
Good Business Is 'Good To The Employees'
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