My friend Christian forwarded me this article from Fast Company magazine. It details a very unique jet engine factory at GE, where a familial (or tribal) culture has developed and the results are astounding. This factory is the highest producing, highest quality jet engine factory at GE, and yet no financial bonuses are used and there is one manager for the entire factory (no middle management layer).
The question is how a company can create or foster a culture like this. GE apparently hasn't been able to replicate it themselves.
The article is worth reading.
Have you ever worked in an environment like this?
I'm so glad Joel Oleson recommended this blog.
ReplyDeleteI loved many management principles discussed in this article. One thing I noticed that drives increased productivity in many other areas is the fact that the manager has an open cubicle on the work floor. Good managers can foster creativity and imbue their employees with energy when they work amongst them. When employees feel like their opinions matter, they are empowered to speak up and promote effective change from within.
"The most interesting measure [of what make this team better than the rest] may be one that the people at GE/Durham talk about themselves. They don't really think that their main job it so make jet engines. They think that their main job is to make jet engines better."
One thing that makes this hard to accomplish is the school of thought that comes from most managers. That is "The reason I am a manager is because I am smarter than the others". This way of thinking leads to a manager who believes he/she must be present and dictating to their employees what and sometimes even how things must be done. A group of people, no matter how smart and talented they are can not reach anywhere near their potential in such an environment. You basically need a manager who finds oneself successful by completely empowering a team, giving them all of the credit they deserve, and letting the team fail just as the manager would fail. This might be the reason why it's so hard to recreate.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that makes this hard is finding the right people to be on the team. Without the right people always wanting to improve and be their best, it's hard to want to empower them.
I know of companies are trying their hardest to reproduce this and are succeeding ... It can be done.