|
FACTOR |
ILLUSTRATIVE
ASSUMPTIONS |
| Corporate Purpose |
● Make money - to produce
short-term shareholder return ● Our
key audience is the financial markets and in particular the analysts |
| Customers |
● We are smarter than our
customers; we know what they really need
● Quality is not a major factor for our customers |
| Performance |
● It costs more to produce
a high-quality product and we will not recover the cost
● Strategic success comes from large,
one-time innovative leaps rather than from continuous improvement
(punctuated equilibrium approach; re-engineering)
● The cost of additional increments of
quality would eventually exceed the benefits (the law of diminishing
returns) |
| People |
● Managers are paid to
make decisions; workers are paid to do, not to think
● We do not trust our workers
● The job of senior management is
strategy; not quality improvement and implementation |
| Problem Solving and Improvement |
● To err is human;
perfection is unattainable and an unrealistic goal
● Quality improvement can be delegated; it
is something that the top can tell the middle to do to the bottom
● Celebrate success and shun failures;
there is not much to learn by dwelling on mistakes
● If it ain't broke, don't fix it |
| Organization |
● Functional loyalties
take precedence over other loyalties
● An emphasis on systems is counterproductive
|
| Other
(mine) |
● Workers want one thing
from work - money
●
Workers are lazy; they want an easy job, and to "game the system"
● Management is about command and control
● Power is a zero-sum entity |
