🚀 go-pugleaf

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
In Message Mon, 23 May 1994 08:38:33 EDT,
  John L Ellis -- Catawaba Valley CC <ellisj@mercury writes:

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>        Over the past three years I've taught numerous TQM seminars to
>workers in low-skill manufacturing industries.  Near the end of the class
>set (8-10), I show the Deming video on his 14 points.  After a brief
>discussion, I ask the students to independently evaluate their culture
>according the 14 points (10=best, 1=worst).  Not very complex.
>
>        After 350 surveys from three companies, the pattern is
>consistent:  workers rate Point #8 (DRIVE OUT FEAR) the lowest.
>
>        In subsequent seminars with management-level people, I raise the
>same question.  The responses are more diverse with no clear winner.
>
>        Why then do workers rate DRIVE OUT FEAR so low in organizations?
>        Why are managers so insensitive to this need for workers?
>        Since many of these managers were promoted from the ranks, how
>could they have forgotten their earlier experiences?
>        Are these observations valid?
>        How should management, particularly first-line supervisors, act
>differently?
>        What are the implications for the organizations of not addressing
>this underlying need by workers?
>
>        Your comments will help me in the classroom.
>
While managerial practices and organizational culture have their impact,
fear comes mainly from the inside out.  Feeling threatened is a consequence
of being a "bottom" in a hierarchical system - regardless of the "objective"
behaviour of managers, past and present.  An excellent introduction to the
 power of social comparison processes like this one can be found in
K.K. Smith (1982) Groups in Conflict: Prisons in Disguise. Kendall/Hunt
Publishers.  See his "structural encasements of lowers" for lots of
interesting insights on worker attitudes.

Gervase Bushe Ph.D.
Faculty of Business Administration
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC, Canada,  V5A 1S6

email: bushe@sfu.ca
phone: (604) 291-4104