Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Quality improvement should be everyone s business. This was evident in the case. The people working in the industrial plant apparently know their jobs, but can be considered reckless in going about them. The challenge presented to Hank Kolb was that as the newly appointed Director for Quality Assurance was a very difficult one. Problems sprung from practically all sides and/or areas of the plant. The people working there seemed to have lost focus on what they were supposed to do whenever glitches happen. They seemed to tolerate inconsistencies and have practiced a that s fine attitude, without regard for urgency on improvements that should be immediately addressed. The pressure from the market demand was no help as well. Since the product was prematurely advertised in the market, without checking if product tests have been made, unnecessary pressure was placed in the hands of production to meet these demands. The company that Hank Kolb was working in was one which had the makings of failure if not immediately addressed or checked. They have a system, that is true. But the system itself will not work on its own without the people who will regard the system as that which is of utmost importance. They seemed to have lost the passion to do things and build in the quality in their product, moreso in the manner they produce it. Everything stems from the attitude of the people across the organization. Apparently, the people were the root cause of the problem. They themselves did not care nor felt the need to address deficiencies as it happens in front of them. This is a bad case of having forgotten the philosophy that they should be practicing and implementing companywide. What could be the reason behind this? I can say that the I don t care attitude may come from the fact that the company lacked the physical means to check and analyze if their processes are working as required. They lacked the tools to monitor and check how each area of the plant is doing. They also lacked a feedback system so that each person can tell if he is doing the right thing, or if the whole process is still on the right track.