Story of Manager Apologizing to Front Line?

[Damascus]

I've read this vignette somewhere, but can't find the source. Can anyone help?

The story goes something like:
If a front line worker at Toyota makes a mistake (e.g., installs a mirror incorrectly), then the worker's manager will apologize to the worker stating "If I had set up the process and environment correctly, then you would not have made that error.".

This is a vague request, but any help is appreciated. The story (if true) demonstrates a significant cultural distinction.

Thank you.

 

[Coury Ferguson]

I've read this vignette somewhere, but can't find the source. Can anyone help?

The story goes something like:
If a front line worker at Toyota makes a mistake (e.g., installs a mirror incorrectly), then the worker's manager will apologize to the worker stating "If I had set up the process and environment correctly, then you would not have made that error.".

This is a vague request, but any help is appreciated. The story (if true) demonstrates a significant cultural distinction.

Thank you.

Sorry, I can't help you here. It doesn't sound familiar. Maybe someone else will be able to help.

 

[Bev D]

I've heard it before and never been able to verify it's authenticity. (I worked at Honda and if a mistake was made teh operator who made teh mistake was required to go downstream and rework to vehicle himself where the defect was detected. The intent was to ingrain the importance of self inspection and how even small defects can effect the downstream operations. It was aslo meant to motivatet the employee to come up with ways to prevetn future occurences. This wasn't universally applied in the US factories but was consistently taught to managers and supervisors while I was there. It wasn't intended as punishment but often felt that way to the operator if the supervisor didn't handle it correctly, mostly if they didn't work to prevent the reoccurence)

My suspicion is that this may have been true at one time, or is a parable intended to teach supervisors that mistakes aren't the operators fault and that the only effective way to stop mistakes is by process design nto human discipline...a good lesson regardless of the truth of the origin of the statement.

 

[Randy]

Ya gotta look back into the historical Japanese culture of responsibility and "face". Leaders are accountable for everything in the lives of thier subordinates, and a failure of a lesser is a failure of the leader. You're dealing with a people that traditionally, and up to just a few decades ago willingly and ceremonially killed themselves over failure, either theirs or their "followers"........there is something to be said for that philosophy. Those times are past, but some of the attitude towards responsibility remains (along with the ownership of it as well). Though I have not personally seen what you are talking about, I do not find it hard to believe, especially in a traditionally managed type organization. It's this type of ownership of responsibility along with a couple of other elements (using the process approach, believing in PDCA and others) that has allowed the Japanese industrial complex to kick our economic butt since the end of WW2.

Instead of just learning cute little Japanese tools like 5S maybe we should study and emulate (is this the right word?) some of the leadership culture as well.

 

[Wes Bucey]

FWIW:
Folks in the professional storytelling business, ranging from griots in Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griot) to modern day tale weavers like Garrison Kielor have a handy little mantra which covers a situation like this:
"All my stories are true and some of them really happened the way I tell them."

which means the essence of the story contains a truism or moral that should be observed, but the exact origin is lost in the mists of time (or blurred by poetic license to make the story more entertaining or impressive.)

Anybody ever have a dad who "Walked two miles each way to school in blinding snow, uphill both ways"?

My guess is the story may have GROWN out of a real incident, but the growth is all due to the embellishment of each teller.