An anecdote:
We have constant recurring problems with our PCB assembly house.
During a recent session on how to take control of the situation, we
decided that the only recourse we had left was to start working with
another vendor. There was dissent on this as some individuals still
felt that we could work with them. However after two years of
receiving boards that had tested/passed stamps and reversed or wrong
ic's on the boards (as well as other equally blatant problems), the
general consensus was to go elsewhere. The determining argument was my
assertion that they simply did not care. This was evidenced by failure
to return phone calls, their QA manager saying that we must have
damaged the boards (he actually accused us of changing parts to wrong
components in order for them to have to repair the boards), and caught
blatantly lying by saying that they were using an auto test fixture
which we found out had not ever been installed. It was obvious that
the only thing that was improve their organization was a top down
company wide attitude change. It just so happened that the same week
that we decided to go to a different vendor, this companies corporate
office fired their GM and replaced him with one who's mission was to
change the attitude of the entire organization. We were asked to
attend a meeting with the new GM, the contracts negotiator, the
production manager, and the _new_ QA manager. We were told straight
out by the GM that we were being given a "corporate apology". They
detailed changes in the production control process and even stated
that they had fired a full 1/4 of their work force. This was the key
part. All of the employees were given one-on-one interviews with their
manager and the manager was instructed give the employees new guide
lines regarding levels of quality, timeliness, and responsibility for
the products. Finally, they were going with a TQM format. We were even
given anecdotal information regarding the firing of employees that
claimed that there was nothing wrong with their work or their
department.
I believe that this is what you meant when you said "developing these
"soul" like qualities". The desire to do well has to come from within.
The board vendor has reorganized and kept those with the desire to
build and improve a quality product and gotten rid of those who were
unwilling to change the lax environment. We still have them on notice,
however, and went ahead with our plans to get quotes from other
vendors (a little leverage never hurts).
One of the standard questions we ask during our hiring process here is
"describe a change that you have implemented in the past to improve
the product or process". It is imperative to us that that we have
people who are willing to challenge the status quo. It's part of our
collective soul.
JHC
"he who cuts corners goes in circles"
--JAMES_H_CARRINGTON@HP-Chelmsford-om1.om.hp.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>