JUST PLANE CULTURE
BY PATRICK KINANE
THE COST OF POOR QUALITY
IN THE EARLY 1960S, RAL DONNER HAD A SONG CALLED “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’VE GOT (UNTIL YOU LOSE IT)”. I AM AGING MYSELF WHEN I CAN REMEMBER SUCH THINGS. THEY SAY THE FIRST THING TO GO IS YOUR MEMORY, SO IT APPEARS I AM SAFE. THIS BRINGS ME TO THE POINT OF THIS ARTICLE AND IT’S NOT ABOUT 1960S ROCK ‘N’ ROLL — IT’S ABOUT SAFETY AND QUALITY.
I apologize in advance to all those
reading this who possess an MBA. I was almost one myself so I know where your mind sits. It’s like the doctor who only studies the body’s systems, then only looks at a person as an biological mechanism. A person is a fallible being with an irrational brain that does not think like a machine. A business is made up of mostly people but you are taught in MBA school to look at a business as a mechanism. It’s more than that. I fi nd it odd that few graduate business schools require courses in quality and safety systems or human behavior.
48
DOMmagazine.com | aug 2019 If you have been around quality
professionals for any length of time, the topic of the “the cost of quality” or, more accurately termed, “the cost of poor quality” will come up. Quality and safety are partners and are interlinked. When one is weak or strong, so goes the other. Upper management is pleased
when you have a robust safety and quality system and see the trends going in the right direction. They see the value and worth, therefore they retain those systems. But what if a successful span of reduction in safety and quality-related issues is met with
a plateau? What’s the worth then? In the numbers-related mind of upper management, it looks like safety and quality have done their jobs but have also run their courses. Safety and quality now take on the appearance of big expenses. As a manager, what have you been taught to do with expenses? You reduce expenses, so you get rid of the safety and quality oversight. Now you are running increased profi ts due to lower cost and you look good to your superiors. Everything is working smoothly … for a while.
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