Submitted by: Submitted by gyu5point0
Views: 501
Words: 518
Pages: 3
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 10/17/2010 04:59 PM
(1) GM’s manufacturing process focused on a “quality through testing”
approach, where quality assurance measures were performed during postmanufacturing
testing and validation phases. The “quality through testing”
approach negatively impacted productivity and efficiency, since the cost to
discover and repair defects are at their highest after the manufacturing process is
already completed. A vicious cycle was created, since the entire “quality through
testing” manufacturing process was inherently low in productivity and efficiency,
but the leaders of General Motors pointed to poor employee performance as the
impacts to productivity and efficiency—the employees couldn’t be successful with
the process created by the leaders, and senior leaders blamed the employees for
poor productivity.
NUMMI helped break the vicious cycle as both sides of the issue were
addressed. The “quality through testing” approach was changed to include
quality assurance as part of each step within the process—the process now
positioned the employees to be successful. On the structure and labor practices
side, the NUMMI structure gave the employees a sense of empowerment and
made them feel like they ran the place. The team leader was no longer the boss,
but rather a respected fellow employee working towards the same goals.
Now instead of the vicious cycle of the old GM system, the NUMMI system
was the exact opposite where the different parts both supported each other.
(2) NUMMI meets Senge’s leadership challenges by first removing the vicious cycle of
finding someone else to blame. No more was the sense of doing what’s right for
the individual or boss. Also, with the senior leaders trusting and respecting the
employees, and vice versa, and NUMMI giving the employees the sense of all
being part of the same team and vision, there was no need to blame. The
employees understood how they impacted other employees (on the factory line)
and ultimately the end customers....