Our factory has gone through a significant revitalization having
successfully implemented many best practices and seen the impact to the
'bottom line'. Our white collar world (engineering and business
processes) have been challenged to implement a continuous improvement
culture but are only giving lip service to the concept now. For the last
few years I have gradually taken on more of the change agent's role, first
within engineering and now in the whole enterprise. I have conducted
structured systems analysis of the engineering processes, lead a
cross-functional team to define the top-level business processes,
organized quality and problem solving training, started ISO 9000 and other
process improvement initiatives and am now realizing how hard this really
is going to be. Wearing several 'hats' has lead to confusion, sometimes
even for me. Everything I say or do is judged (Is he justifying the
present status or promoting a change opportunity?) I believe in a
pragmatic, one step at a time approach to change so I see resistance from
both the traditionalists who see no reason to change what works now , and
the radicals that want to put all the theories into practice today. I am
also finding my engineering oriented approach is both a strength and a
liability in such an endeavor.
I am here to get a better education; communications and the human side are
clearly keys to progress. Case studies, team oriented training, systems
thinking, incentives, leadership, and organizational integration are the
posting subjects I have found most helpful. I want to discover what a
learning organization truly is, and hope I can translate that
understanding into something that is meaningful to my company.
-- Paul Lindsey Tracor Aerospace PEL@eng2.tracor.com (512)929-2815