Controlled Experiment in Management

"The story of Henry Ford, his rise and decline, and of the revival of his company is what one might call a controlled experiment in management". Peter F. Drucker

Action: Are you an owner-executive who treats all your employees as your helpers? Are you an employee who is treated as a helper? List three ways your organization could be more profitable if employees were encouraged to assume responsibility. Peter F. Drucker

Okay, I admit it, I'm sitting on a blue lagoon today and enjoying it, even while writing this blog. Thank you Kalik beer.

This is a great Action call. I would start with maintenance, first pass quality, and customer service/support. I have found these to be three practical areas to really let your front line employees not only do the work, but also devise ways in which to improve the results and gain responsibility. I'd even go so far to say that the real frontier today lies in pushing responsibility out to customers and users much more so than we have been doing.

Example; Maintenance: It was not until worker (IG Metal unionized) driven maintenance cells were formed, that the real causes and solutions to VW's paint plant productivity problems were discovered and implemented. Without the day-to-day working understanding of production issues in this complex system, no-one but the actual operators could affect the required changes.

Example; First Pass Quality: Without first pass quality responsibility being moved into the hands of the Japanese Auto line worker, Toyota would not be the world leader it is today. And the "Machine that changed the World" would be the computer and not the car. A well known story, but worth re-iterating often.

Example; Customer Service: When customer service and satisfaction was put into the hands of the front line sales clerk at Nieman Marcus stores, a lasting brand (even love brand) was coined. Maybe even supporting "needless markups" and margins.

Three years ago, I had also begun to see customer peer to customer peer maintenance and support connections being formed in retail technology (Tivo tried this in 2004/5). Imagine the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) implications if maintenance and support issues were handled between customers, bypassing conventional, even Computer aided support. Usually, the smartest user/fixer is a geek customer, not employed by the company.

I have implemented so many instances of driving responsibility up to the front lines, at the customer interface, that I have also seen some of the worst failures. The unfunded, lip service only, 'pilot project' etc. do more damage than good, so if you are going that way, make sure you do it right, otherwise there is sure to be a mess. Are you ready to really trust your employees?