RESPECT for the worker

Lean has a 98% fail rate (IW survey). 'Respect for the worker' is now being hawked as the magic to make the Lean fad "real". There is no magic. Respect for workers is an integral part of Quality. People have forgotten the basics.

Womack - Lean
Womack observed the workers at Ford as "being replaceable as parts on a car". By contrast, workers at Japanese factories, "had a sense of purposefulness." They were not just "going through the motions." He saw that workers only respond when management actually values workers. Toyota's Quality Circle teams have made over 2,000,000 process improvements. Womack found that forming Quality Circles is not enough. Quality Circle worker teams need responsibility, as at Toyota.

Made in Japan
Prior to the 1950's "made in Japan" represented cheap, "Jerry built" junk. Professor Deming and others built a Quality ethos in Japan. "Deming is the core of our management" - Shoichiro Toyoda, Toyota President and Chairman. Respect for workers is a key element in both Japanese and Professor Deming's Quality.

What does "respect for workers' mean?

Train the Workers
Firstly, respecting workers means training them. The workers need to understand their role in the big picture. Build a foundation of common knowledge about Quality. Workers must be made to feel an important part of the company. They are the real process experts.

Eliminate Fear
Eliminate fear. Don't blame workers when mistakes happen. Mistakes are mostly the fault of the system in which employees work. Let everyone know what Quality means and how to achieve it. Make workers feel valued and encourage them to find better ways to do things.

Break down the Barriers
Break down the barriers between employees and management. Eliminate divisiveness, particularly the colored belts of the Six Sigma Scam. Eradicate elitism. Have managers get their hands dirty.

Know the Workers
Managers should know the workers, their names and their needs. Managers should be able to talk to workers in the same way they talk to each other.

Eliminate quotas
Eliminate quotas and defects targets. Production targets encourage high volume and low quality. Defects targets do not represent quality.

Allow Pride in Work
Allow workers to take pride in what they do. Tasks that may seem menial to a manager can be important to a worker and something in which he can take pride. Sweeping a floor can be done well or done poorly. Sweeping floors should be done with pride in the appearance of the factory.

Educate workers
Implement education and self improvement. Encourage all employees to learn. Teach employees skills that make them better able to implement their process improvements.

Involve Workers
Involve all workers, and all other staff, in Quality, in every department and every division across the company.

14 Points
If this all seems familiar, it should be. It is taken directly from Professor Deming's "14 points" for quality improvement.

   by Dr Tony Burns BE (Hon 1) PhD (Chem Eng)

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