For todays homework I chose the Broken Windows Theory

Assumptions of the Theory:

Small problems when not solved eventually turns into bigger problems.

Hypothesis of the theory

Visible signs of disorder and misbehavior in an environment encourage further disorder and
misbehavior, leading to serious crimes, starting a chain of events that eventually leads to
heightened levels of crime.

The principle was developed to explain the decay of neighborhoods, but it is often applied to
work and educational environments.
The basic idea of broken windows, which was first introduced by George L. Kelling and James
Q. Wilson in The Atlantic in 1982, is that if you let the little problems slip, like broken windows,
vandalism and rampant graffiti, bigger problems eventually become insurmountable. Ignoring
tiny errors or mistakes, invites ambivalence to much larger problems!
“One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows
costs nothing.”

The theory assumes that the landscape "communicates" to people. A broken window transmits to
criminals the message that a community displays a lack of informal social control and so is
unable or unwilling to defend itself against a criminal invasion. It is not so much the actual
broken window that is important, but the message the broken window sends to people.
When applied to business if the problems go unaddressed, they tend to repeat themselves. Soon a
mistake becomes standard operating procedure. That sets the bar even lower for other areas of
your operations. Employees start to take less pride in what they do, impacting productivity and
morale. Clients notice they aren’t getting the level of customer service they’re accustomed to, and
begin to look for other partnerships.

Hammer fitting example.

In the company where I work we have a problem of using a hammer to adjust 2 parts to fit when
doing welding assembly. Normally the parts should come with no error from the previous part but
even a slightly deviation from the measurement can cause a small intermissions in the assembly
welding line. To avoid the intermission operator uses hammer to adjust the 2 parts. Next time he
does’nt even controls the two parts fitting, he uses the hammer right away and he is doing that for
all of the parts. So he spends extra movement and extra time for the non value added operation
and that leads to company losses. Also if we give the job to another operator he is doing the same
thing. When he is asked why is he doing that because there is no problem with the fitting he
could not give a logical answer
If the first operator stopped the production on the first wrong part the problem would be solved
with the first part and losses accomplished on another God knows how many parts would be
saved.
Attention to the “broken windows” in our work environments will send a message to employees
about the quality of their work which will prevent the defects, delays, waste and rework that can
devour an organization’s profit margins.