In manufacturing, we often hear discussions about the importance of company culture and its impact on the over-all successful operation of an organization. What does this really mean? What makes a company's culture good or bad? Finally, how do you improve company culture? I would like to make my points by highlighting the two fictional companies, BloatCo and Slimline Corp. To begin, let's first hear from Jim, the president of BloatCo. "We have some serious problems with our quality, productivity and delivery. When it comes to corrective actions, it's tough to know where to start. To be honest, our shop can be described as being in chaos most of the time. Many of the operators have radios blaring at their workstations. To make matters worse, tardiness is frequent and some of our most experienced workers are not concerned about coming in late and take their time getting back to their workstations after lunch. These people are prima donnas because they know it would be difficult or impossible to replace them. They set a bad example that others tend to follow. When there have been efforts to get them in line, the supervisors have been met with borderline insubordination. This leaves us without many choices because if we get rid of them, this will be even more detrimental to our operation.
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