How have you overcome resistance to quality?

B

Brian Hunt

In one company I worked for (very sales led, bureaucracy hating - which was good!) the term "quality gets in the way of business" was often heard. One senior manager in a remote office (400 miles away from headquarters) was very strong in his resistance. But his office was responsible for keeping local IT sysems running and needed quick access to spares. Due to poor process control, there was a backlog of faulty, or no fault found found circuit boards - as these were replaced on return to central stores, this backlog was reducing his spares availability and becoming business critical.

Sorting out the process was a couple of days work - the improved and more accurate time to fix helped his business unit to improve and he became one of the most enthusiastic supporters of quality.

I'd be interested in any more examples - these might come up at an interview I have due in the next couple of weeks!
 

Randy

Super Moderator
Brian Hunt said:
I'd be interested in any more examples - these might come up at an interview I have due in the next couple of weeks!

Toyota, Honda, Mitsubish, Sony, Toshiba and a few others. These companies made Quality foremost.

Examples of where Quality had been ignored... Ford, Mopar (Chrysler), GM, RCA, GE and many others.
 
S

suziwann

Overcoming resistance to Quality requires a certain approach and attitude.

Don't go in with 'this is what we are doing now, we are going to change it to this.'

This is totally the wrong approach.

You are not going in to tell them what to do at all! You are not going in to make them do things 'your way.'

You are going in and they are going to tell you what to do.

You do this by first explaining to them the reason why you are there. Give them an insight into Quality and explain why you have to comply with regulations. Even show them a set of regulations, you will find that most people haven't even seen any even if they are aware that they exist.

You ask them questions.
Ask them how they do things.
Ask them if you are right in the way that you are trying to implement Quality.
Keep going back to them for feedback, get their input.
Their input is the key to success.

Present their input in a way that will comply with Quality regulations and check with them at all stages of the process.

Good luck with your interview and I hope that that is useful.
 

Hershal

Metrologist-Auditor
Trusted Information Resource
Money.

1. Upper management is paid to do things that positively affect the bottom line.....starting a quality emphasis requires presenting it in terms of possitive effect on the bottom line, you make believers when the results show the evidence of the proposal.....my experience in manufacturing.....

2. However, in some fields it works differently.....in product safety testing for example.....folks become believers when they see what is required to prove a product is safe and they see destroyed buildings or similar where people lived to tell the tale because the product was right.....

3. In construction when the building official enforces the Code and people stay alive through quakes or similar things.....one becomes a believer....

2 and 3 from my experience over the last 4+ years with the organization I work for.....

Hershal
 
M

morgand - 2006

1. The drive for it comes from management. Management supports, fosters, promotes, lets folks know when good things happen and when necessary, provides discipline.

2. The world quality is used a few times as possible because our work and business are driven and guided by it. Instead of "Quality Objectives" we use Team Goals. Instead of "Quality Management System" we use management system, because quality is understood to be the goal of the organization (see Number 1).

3. Ensure that folks see the benefits of quality work and relate positive changes to improvements. (see Number 1)


4. See Number 1
 
C

Craig H.

I look at it as a long process. You may not, at the end of any given day, see that you have made much progress. We don't get many "eureka" moments.

Instead of being a landslide, we are like a constant flow of water on concrete, and over time there should be visible, permanent, change.
 
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