RE: Driving Out Fear

["John McConnell" <wysowl@msn.com.au>]

Regards, Dirk van Putten wrote,

Maybe the problem with the acceptance of the Deming and the SOPK is that we
expect an entire system to be in place and shrug off initial attempts to
begin a better organizational system? Can we not give some positive
reinforcement for trying? Does a complete, acceptable organizational system
just fall out of the sky?
On one occasion I watched a divisional manager of a large corporation
abolish ANY form of performance appraisal during his first day at work in
his new division.  The one in place at the time was a ranking system.  His
managers were shocked and dismayed ("How do we select people for
promotion?").  But he was the boss, and he got his way.  Several months
later, after he had introduced them to the Deming Philosophy, he asked for
volunteers to build a new system.  He was swamped in volunteers (some people
love structure, and feel uncomfortable without it).  A team was established
and he gave them the aim and the limitations (along SOPK lines).  A short
time later they had a new system and new documentation that could be used
for staff development and for identifying prospects for promotion.  It had
three rankings.  Special high; part of the system, and special low.
A Manufacturing manager in another company rounded up all his production
managers and other first reports and took away all their targets and
objectives (labor costs, material costs, yield etc etc).  These measures
were still in place, and head office still sent a bunch of "please explains"
each week.  He told his people that these were his problems, that he and he
alone would deal with them, and that they were not to concern themselves
with these measures.  He then gave them all a single objective, to reduce
variation.  The limiting conditions were:  They were to do it on a systems
rather than departmental etc. basis; they were to utilise the talents of
their people; they were to use a scientific "fact and data" approach
whenever possible.  Two years later they were best practice.  Eleven years
later, they still are.
What both these managers did was to avoid trying to struggle inside the old
environment whilst they introduced a new one.  They simply burnt the old one
to the ground or made it irrelevant.  Then they set about building new
systems and creating a new environment.  (I have a paper by this manager if
anyone is interested.)
Dirk seems to be correct.  A complete, acceptable organizational system will
not fall out of the sky.  But the above case studies just might suggest
strategies that could give us a few clues.
Cheerio!
John McConnell