Frustration with Attitude of both Upper & Lower Management - Need To Vent

Hey guys, obviously its late. I just got off (work).
Anyway it seems as though the QA department is the REDACTED of the company I work for.
Upper management won't give us "teeth" and lower management see us as a burden.
Let me give you some background.
I Started on the factory floor but was given an opportunity after 15 years to become a QA inspector. My meticulous nature was a factor as I had 2 errors since day one. I'm not bragging, its just that I am picky by nature.
A
I absolutely love my job and felt I could actually bring about a positive change at our company because I could bring some common sense to the table. Maybe a better way to put it is that I can give a perspective from the men who do the work day in, day out.
Also, I wanted the guys to look at QA as helpful and not as the people trying to get them in trouble.
Well my eyes have been opened to a new world of bullshit. I knew it existed before,but I have now experienced it first hand.
Now my old coworkers (some) see me as the enemy, the upper management sees me as the enemy. But I am supposed to make things better.
I can only assume that this is par for the course. Is there any advice that anyone can give me??

Re: Need To Vent

Welcome Sysyphus,

You are definitely not alone. Many here had similar complaints and we are glad you found us. Marc named this place the 'Cove' for some specific reasons and one of them is to provide a sanctuary in times of need.

Now that you had landed in the Cove, just forget about all the bad things that had happened. You need time and gigantic efforts to overcome or change the culture at your present workplace. You really need to plan and have a strategy to do it. Alternatively, you may want to weigh the risk/rewards elements and decide whether it's time to look around for a better place. With your kind of dedication, you're going to be an asset to many.

Be rational, share your thoughts here and you can be sure to get some very good feedbacks and advice.

Re: Need To Vent

Hello Sysyphus,

Welcome!

I find your name "Sysyphus" interesting... Was it this figure you had in mind when you picked the name?

Many here at The Cove Forums can relate to that. You could do a search here and read how others have dealt with situations similar to yours.

For example, here is a recent thread that you may find interesting: "Lack of Management Commitment and Cooperation in Implementation of QMS!"

There are more excellent posts regarding this topic.

Please come back soon.

Stijloor.

Re: Need To Vent

This is very common problem i guess unless we are doing something tangible or involve ourselves in additional productive activities.

Re: Need To Vent

Hello Sysyphus, and welcome to the Cove

As it happens, nigh on all of us need to vent once in a while. I, for one, could use a good venting session right about now, but I am too tired... (groan) Anyway, when we are done venting we usually want to proceed to a discussion about how to handle the issue. Let's see what we can come up with.

Sysyphus said:

I Started on the factory floor but was given an opportunity after 15 years to become a QA inspector.

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Which is an absolutley great background for the job. Then , at least, you know the drill on the floor.

Sysyphus said:

Now my old coworkers (some) see me as the enemy, the upper management sees me as the enemy. But I am supposed to make things better. I can only assume that this is par for the course. Is there any advice that anyone can give me??

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Yes, this is one of the things the Cove is pretty good for: The collective experience here is awsome. Perhaps if you could begin by describing your situation and the roadblocks in more detail?

Btw: When you say that (some) of your old coworkers see you as the enemy (I suppose that jealousy could play a part?), this also indicates that others do not. Being caught between a rock and a hard place, maybe you could try to concentrate more on your "allies", asking them for advice?

/Claes

Re: Need To Vent

Claes Gefvenberg said:

As it happens, nigh on all of us need to vent once in a while. I, for one, could use a good venting session right about now, but I am too tired... (groan)

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Claes, do you still ride that (mountain) bike? Go out and hit the trails. Get the cobwebs out of your head. It's so therapeutic.

Stijloor.

Sysyphus:

When I was in Quality Management (late 70s) working in a confrontational atmosphere, I felt exactly as you feel today. I was frustrated with a blood pressure in the stroke range and yet I was only in my early 30's.

As Stijloor stated, you MUST expend some physical energy to get rid of your frustration. I ended up playing tennis and within a couple of minute into a set, I forgot all about work. The mountain bike thought from Stijloor also works for me right now. I get on my bike and blast away. Problems seemed to be viewed in a different perspective after my ride.

To survive and make a positive contribution, do not get too confrontational. You may win many battles but lose the war and could be pegged as someone with an attitude. Get a quality cost system in your company if you can and then look at the results. Download the quality costs into various departments and then and only then, will your department become a contributing factor in reducing these costs rather than the opposing party.

I, and many others here share similar situations. As someone pointed out previously, it comes down to a hoice between deciding to expend the energy to try to change things, or bail out and look for something better. (Remember, better is relative)
Trying to change a company culture is like trying to push an idling locomotive.
It CAN be done, but it takes tremendous personal effort and it is very slow to get started. The plus side is that once you get it moving, it builds speed and momentum, and at some point fairly quickly, it can't be stopped.

Sysyphus said:

Hey guys, obviously its late. I just got off (work).

I Started on the factory floor but was given an opportunity after 15 years to become a QA inspector. My meticulous nature was a factor as I had 2 errors since day one. I'm not bragging, its just that I am picky by nature.
A

Click to expand...

Sysyphus, you are not alone. I was working on the factory floor also for 8 years and know every department that we have inside and out.
When you have been chosen to take over a large responsibility, you will always have to deal with the jealousy factor of your co-workers. I went thru the same thing. I heard every rumor possible after I took over the Quality Dept., from a major wage increase to Vacation benefits and other things. And really none of them happened. Then you get viewed as the Enemy oversudden, because now you sit in a Office and you are part of Managemant per say and all you do is just rat them out..lol. Took my co-workers a long time to realize that I am not there to make their job difficult nor that I am different, because I am still very activly involved on the Press floor and available to them when they need help with anything. So you have to keep working on it and eventually it will turn around.
As to Management, well I am in the same boat as you. Some days are good , some days I could rip my hair out. This week especially, and I really got offended by one of the V.P's when he told me that I could not read a Blue print properly, and since he had a College degree in Technical Drawing and Engineering, he is more qualified them me. The thing is I read the Blueprint correctly, it was Top Management that didn't. Next thing I knew I had a Technical Drawing book from his College days on my table, with a sticky note attached to it which pages I needed to read. And to think outside of the box. Wonder if I will get a quizz on this later. Oh and let's not forget , yesterday I couldn't use a Caliber Gage correctly. Wonder if there is a book on that too.
Today is Friday, let's see what else I am not doing correctly today. Possibly not breath the correct way? This is my rant for the week.

Hang in there, we all have to go thru it. Just keep coming back to the Cove, plenty of people here that been thru the same scenerios.

Well... let me give you a for picking a proper forum (no pun intended) for your frustration.

I think Claes has started a proper course of action on this by starting to kind of dissect your issue.

Now... I know you're frustrated, but why?

1. Who do you report to, and is this person part of the problem, or part of the solution?

2. Do you have a QMS in place?

3. How are sales/profits at your organization?

4. (just asking.. ) could it be that you are upset/having issues with one individual, and it is clouding your judgement?

Consider a fish bone diagram on this; not for your organization's benefit, but for you. What are the real problems here, and what are the root causes? Identify which causes can be remedied, and which will need to be lived with.

Yes, we do feel your pain. The first I have learned is to appropriately channel the frustration, and not let it dig at me personally. It's just a job; you're not in it for the love; you're in it for the money. Next, be sure of exactly what the problem is. Many times, I found that I am the root cause!