A suggestion to my boss - What do you think and how will he react?

[darkafar]

I’m a system engineer, responsible for the maintaining company system, auditing. We are in a crisis. We can’t get orders. We are planning to change our product so that we may have a chance to get some orders.

The GM has a strong technical background. One of our customers once commented to me in private, “The problem with your GM is that he is too technical.” And my direct superior has been complaining that the GM won’t authorize for quite a long time. It has become almost a common knowledge that the GM won’t authorize in the company. And my direct superior’s relationship with the GM is quite bad.

(My direct supervisor is having a holiday now, and I’m authorized to take his responsibility and report directly to the GM)

Every time the potential customers visited us, and presented some findings, the GM would go to me and say, “Actually, our system is quite good, don’t you agree?” Well, I don’t know what to say, so I nod concurringly and say, “Yes, it is.” And we often address customer’s findings in a rush, and often, in my view, without touching the root cause. When we first established the system, I used to update our procedures every one or two months, and he didn’t like it. He is not enthusiastic in following work instructions either.

So I believe that the customer dare not give us orders, not because of our system but because of company culture. We don’t have a good company culture to support quality, needless to say continual improvement. And to establish a quality supportive culture, I think we first need to establish a set of principles, to get the top management’s attitude right.

I also suspect the GM dares not authorize even if he wants, for fear of out of control. So I think if we establish guiding principles first, maybe he would be more at ease with the idea of authorization.

 

[darkafar]

These two observations say it all, IMO, so I really have nothing to add. But I'm curious as to what affect the OP thinks that his manager's American experience has on his behavior. Perhaps this ties into other threads regarding cultural influences on quality systems, such as the ones here and here.

It is individualism, adventurism, and candor. These traits are considered more American than Chinese. The GM showed more of these traits than others.

 

[Jen Kirley]

Well Darkafar, this is very bad news to me.

From what you say, this fellow has no clue. Is he not getting any sales forecasts, customer satisfaction metrics, or reviewing quality cost data? Is he not talking to anyone but himself and you, to answer him as faithfully as the wicked queen's mirror in Snow White?

Doesn't he have a boss? A president, Controller, or a board of directors that is looking at things like sales, profits etc.? Is he acting alone there?

Can you hazard a guess as to why he would be afraid of losing control of the place? This fellow might be what is called, as per McGregor's Theory, an X Manager. Have you heard of it? If not, read about it here.

So, unfortunately it seems you don't have time for the Slow and Easy approach to change. Someone needs to give this man some data and explain there are no orders. Or, a customer could do it.

But there are lots of bad outcomes I can think of. He could get upset that no one told him, or think people were withholding things from him. He could go into denial and blame others of sabotage. He could insist people are lying and/or trying to make him look bad. On and on.

If there are no orders, what keeps the company open--is anyone besides you talking about this problem?

I'm pretty confused now. I can't think of any companies that would allow themselves to get to the point of having no orders. Managers are usually looking forward over a period of months or more.

 

[darkafar]

There are two excuses:

One is that the sale department is an HQ department, so we are not responsible for sales.

The other is that the market condition is not good for our current product.

I don’t think these excuses acceptable, after all several customers have visited our factory to assess the situation.

We have sales forecast, but we always miss the target by not a slight gap.

We don’t have quality cost data. Once I suggested we could set some quality cost metrics, he did not agree. As we are an ISO9001 system, quality cost metrics are not mandatory, so I gave up.

Once I suggested that as a system engineer, I should be empowered to review our work instructions, he suspended direct contact with me for quite a long time. I heard later from my direct superior that he complained I wanted more power. Our work instructions are several, even dozens of pages, and quite a lot of information is irrelevant to the operation.

We have some objectives rashly built for ISO9001 certification. They are not very good, and many are irrelevant to company’s primary objectives. Later I proposed the balanced scorecard approach, the scorecard idea was killed, I don’t know, by whom, maybe it’s my superior, maybe it’s the GM.

He is a member of the board of directors, and he seems fine. But we are not fine. We are not going to get bonus at the yearend, and we will receive only minor salary rise.

 

[Wes Bucey]

Well Darkafar, this is very bad news to me.

From what you say, this fellow has no clue. Is he not getting any sales forecasts, customer satisfaction metrics, or reviewing quality cost data? Is he not talking to anyone but himself and you, to answer him as faithfully as the wicked queen's mirror in Snow White?

Doesn't he have a boss? A president, Controller, or a board of directors that is looking at things like sales, profits etc.? Is he acting alone there?

Can you hazard a guess as to why he would be afraid of losing control of the place? This fellow might be what is called, as per McGregor's Theory, an X Manager. Have you heard of it? If not, read about it here.

So, unfortunately it seems you don't have time for the Slow and Easy approach to change. Someone needs to give this man some data and explain there are no orders. Or, a customer could do it.

But there are lots of bad outcomes I can think of. He could get upset that no one told him, or think people were withholding things from him. He could go into denial and blame others of sabotage. He could insist people are lying and/or trying to make him look bad. On and on.

If there are no orders, what keeps the company open--is anyone besides you talking about this problem?

I'm pretty confused now. I can't think of any companies that would allow themselves to get to the point of having no orders. Managers are usually looking forward over a period of months or more.

Actually, I can think of a number of scenarios that could have occurred to bring this organization to the current status vis a vis Taiwanese boss, customer loss of confidence, and employee demoralization.

I've seen variations in both suppliers and customers, but I've never had the opportunity to have an assignment to try to "reengineer" such an organization. Rarely can a finger of blame be pointed at a single individual, except in the case of single owner/managers who have no controlling investors to answer to for the dysfunction. In such a case, an inside employee "may" be able to finagle a face to face frank discussion with the owner/manager, but he had better have ALL his ducks in a row to demonstrate a path out of the morass. Merely telling the guy the organization is bogged down without a clear cut workable solution is just rubbing salt in an open wound.

I have a number of ideas on what to do and how to do it, but they all entail getting the ear of the controlling investors to describe the depth of the problem and lay out the options available and the ramifications of pursuing each of those options.

Sadly, from what I have seen from a distance in similar situations, most investors choose the easy option of selling the crippled company at a deep discount to new investors who come in with a new broom, sweeping the place clean of all old top and mid level managers and starting over from scratch. Some BIG multinational corporations have sold off entire divisions for literally pennies on the dollar to bottom feeders who are ruthless in terminating folks, even to the point of closing a plant and selling off the real estate and fixtures rather than try to reinvigorate a plant losing money because of previous bad management.

Reinvigorating a dysfunctional organization takes time and money, both of which may be in short supply as a result of the deteriorating sales and profit picture. Often the dysfunction runs bone deep in a number of people. Change requires an initial assessment of who is worth salvaging and then embarking on an extensive program to help the folks chosen to remain understand just HOW dysfunctional the organization is and to enlist their willingness to join in the quest to change to a functional organization which embodies many of the points put forward by many management gurus (which are similar to Deming's System of Profound Knowledge where ALL the remaining employees and new hires are filled in on the big picture and make a conscious commitment to work together for the good of the organization), thereby enriching their own situations within the organization. Often, customers and suppliers must be sacrificed as part of the change.

I'd welcome the challenge to be the change agent, but I'm in a unique situation of not having to worry about a loss to my earning power or prestige if the change should fail. It would be a BIG blow to my ego, though, if I couldn't put things right.

 

[JRKH]

I must agree with what Wes and Jennifer have said.
The organization as a whole appears to be dysfunctional and I don't believe sending your letter of suggestions will have the desired effect. Blaming the GM for what is obviously an organization wide problem is not the way to go. Although you are probably right when you point out that he is the strongest personallity and everyone takes their cue from him.

First of all you state that your boss is on holiday and authorized you to act in his place, but I doubt if that would include initiating this kind of change.
Second you must admit your own participation in the dysfunction by agreeing with the GM that the system is "Pretty Good" when, in fact, it appears to be a farce.

It's obvious that you are a loyal employee and want what's best for the company and fellow employees. If you wish to be the change agent here, I suggest you need to wait for your supervisor to return and talk thse things over with him to try and get started building a consensus of what must be done and how to go about it. Bring up the issues in your letter as things that "WE" are guilty of and that "WE" must work together to change.

Otherwise I can only suggest looking to change employers before the implosion.

Best of Luck

James

 

[Jen Kirley]

Great responses from Wes and JKRH.

This scenario looks like a sinking ship that, due to its taking on water, would be hard to turn around.

I agree that the GM is a large contributor of the dysfunction, but unless he designed the company's structure ("the sale department is an HQ department, so we are not responsible for sales") there seems to be a lot of rot here that even he cannot, or would not, fix.

It's worth mentioning that having top managers as board members invites dysfunction--who knows what he has been telling those people?

I would be looking for other employment. It appears as though there is little you can do. I agree that in your supervisor's absence you still have sharp limits on your interim power. Nor have you apparently received any invitation whatsoever to perform as internal consultant.

What you can do is what has been suggested--do craft responses to these ills, but cleanse them of specifics that would identify the company and its major players, and keep them in your file of lessons learned. Wisdom is built brick by sometimes painful brick.

Use this new awareness to become a bit more assertive next time--be ready to offer the truth in bland terms. "Well, there are parts of our quality system that are doing well, but some opportunties have been revealed in XYZ that I think we need to address if our customers are to remain loyal." And be ready to describe them in constructive, noncombative terms. A change agent needs to be ready to do this in even the friendliest of territories.

The fact is, there are times when there really is nothing we can do but leave subtle influences and move on. Some people, including your GM and the others who run the place, really are change resistant and they might not be sharing things with you that are pertinent to this story. If they're so inclined on a personality level, an army of Deminguites will not turn them around.

Best of luck to you.

 

[BradM]

Hello, Darkafar!

Sorry I am weighing in so late. Just wanted to add a few observations.

I wanted to say "thank you" for communicating your ideas and asking some opinions. You know, none of us are born with a full toolbox of tricks; or some deep reservoir of wisdom. It comes from learning.

Now, that learning can come from two ways: Painful experience, or listening to others who have already gone through it. Personally, I have tried to maximize the latter more than the former.

Now, you have had probably fifteen/twenty people from all over the world state "I wouldn't do that if I were you", with another handful giving "thanks"; showing their general gratitude and agreement. Hopefully, wisdom will kick in and you choose to heed their input. Unlike another thread, where someone came on and said "Hey, should I do X??". A resounding "NO" was given by several posters. Yet, the OP came back and said "I don't care; I'll do X anyway!" That is not a good use of information.

If you could change ONE thing operationally (not firing or hurting someone ), what would it be? If you could implement one process improvement, what would it be? How would it save money?

 

[RoxaneB]

A thought that I had last night was that even if the OP opted to not send the email/letter to the GM, it is possible for it be seen. Should the OP's company monitor internet usage, it is very possible for the GM to get wind of the OP's thoughts on his performance.

This could be grounds for dismissal and with no severance package.

When I worked for one of my organization's site, it was frustrating that Sales was based out of our Corporate Head Office. Often times, communication on Customer Satisfaction/Perception was non-existent unless we complained...even then we had to drag it out of them.

At the end of the day, however, there are two sides to every story. Our OP has said he has suggested things to the GM before and been on the receiving end of cold treatment.

This may be a combination of the GM's management style and our OP's communication style. I know that I've been told I am too blunt and factual and disregarding of people's feelings. Now that I've joined Corporate, I need to learn to be more accomodating to people's feelings (ick) and more selective of the words that I use - both in and out of meetings.

To our OP, if you have opted to contact your GM in the manner in which you originally posted, do not be surprised or shocked or hurt when you receive treatment equal to (or worse) than what you received when you made that suggestion as a process engineer.

It's about lessons learned...and if you learned nothing from that experience...well, there is not much more we can say to help you.

 

[Jim Wynne]

It is individualism, adventurism, and candor. These traits are considered more American than Chinese. The GM showed more of these traits than others.

That's fine, but the question is, how do those traits relate or contribute to what you perceive as the manager's problems?