A Salute To Worker Bees
Having spent the better part of the last 28 years in very large organizations both in and out of government, I've picked up on certain phenomena. Large bureaucracies for example, both public and private, tend toward a certain sclerotic self perpetuation over time, i.e., they adhere to outdated or illogical procedures just because. The problem is further aggravated in the public sector where inefficiency is rewarded rather than punished, but private bureaucracies are nevertheless still vulnerable to the predicament. After lo these many years, I've concluded that to the extent that anything worthwhile actually gets accomplished in a large organization, it is due in no small measure to the people at the bottom rung of the ladder who actually do the work, often times despite myriad bureaucratic obstacles.
For example, on any given day, the trucking company that employs me has many thousands of 18 wheelers on the road. To accommodate the volume of trucks, freight, and drivers, the company has put into place an enormous support system of terminals, maintenance shops, and contract maintenance for roadside repairs, etc. Last year, the starter on my truck gave out. After calling a repair truck out to start the beast, I let the engine run until I reached a repair shop at one of our terminals. As often is the case in a large organization, every contingency is anticipated with a corresponding checklist. The checklist for starter problems instructed the mechanic to check the outside of the starter for physical strike marks. Often times, a sharp whack on a starter will jar the innards around so that the vehicle will start (which is the beginning and end of my mechanical knowledge on the subject). Since my starter had no such marks indicating any whacks, the checklist instructed the mechanic to do nothing. That's right, let it go back on the road. I protested that if I got stranded in a bad neighborhood after having brought the vehicle to the shop for repair, the author of the checklist might end up with more strike marks than the starter. To no avail, the checklist is sacred and he who disregards it might pay with his job. There is no room for discretion, no room for good sense. And the author of the checklist was far removed from the implementation and result of his directive.
Sure enough, a few weeks later the vehicle again refused to start, this time at the entrance gate to a warehouse in Ohio. My tractor trailer effectively blocked all vehicles from entering the facility for over an hour until a repair truck could be dispatched to take care of the situation. The time spent waiting was not a total waste however, as I had a hammer with me. By the time the repair truck arrived, just about everything under the hood had a generous supply of strike marks, just in case, you understand. In the end, however, the company wound up spending more money calling out contract roadside repair crews than it would have spent had it simply replaced the malfunctioning part in the first instance.
The events of the last several days have again underscored my faith in the worker bees. An antifreeze leak that could have been repaired at the truck stop across the street was instead referred to the company terminal an hour down the road, where it sat for days waiting repair. In the interim, Dad and I have been using a loaner truck, which delayed the delivery of an important load, costing the company money. Meanwhile, an attempt to pick up another load at a large chemical company resulted in us getting tangled in their unique web of procedures that required items which were not available in the loaner truck. The items had to be purchased at company expense from a truck stop, which also resulted in another late delivery that cost the company still more money. Immovable rules that deprive middle managers of the authority and discretion to employ common sense solutions produce circumstances that make it nearly impossible for the people at the bottom to actually produce the results that make the paper-pushers look good. I sometimes stand amazed that anything productive ever gets done.
So next time the young first-line employee gives you an answer you don't necessarily want to hear, cut him some slack please. Chances are, the asinine rule he just quoted was authored by a functionary who is far removed from the action and will never have to deal first-hand with the results. And if I may be so bold as to offer advice to the senior leader; get out and talk to the people on the ground level and get some candid perspectives. Oh yes, and never take the advice of people who would likely drown if you waded into water over waist deep.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Dave, where...the hell...are...my...Twinkies??
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Smart businesses connect authority and responsibility. Too few businesses are smart nowadays.
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Kenneth, you'll have to ask management....
Jul '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Dave Carter
Kenneth, you'll have to ask management.... · Feb 15 at 7:28pm
I tried, Dave, but they put me on hold. After 20 minutes of "Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle", I said to hell with it and just started eating powdered sugar with a soup spoon.
Oct '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
For as much as Thinking Outside the Box is touted in the corporate realm. Take action in a crisis situations at your our risk. There is a built in safety system for few if any are held to account if there is a failure in the chain. Then again, it was always fun to buck the system and come out on top. Save the saying, an elephant never forgets.
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Kenneth
Dave Carter
Kenneth, you'll have to ask management.... · Feb 15 at 7:28pm
I tried, Dave, but they put me on hold. After 20 minutes of "Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle", I said to hell with it and just started eating powdered sugar with a soup spoon. · Feb 15 at 7:35pm
You'll be wired in no time. Your dentist will thank you.
Nov '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Many years ago I was involved with a taxi cab company. Our policy on repairs was to treat cabs like airplanes. If a part fails at 10,000 feet somebody might die in a gravity storm. While cabs don’t fly and a stalled cab might not kill anyone, it will certainly kill profit. Taxis make money only when the wheels are turning and they cost money when they are idle.
That was a good policy and it kept all the wheels turning most of the time. But then, you know, we were evil corporate dudes who only cared about money.
I would think a parked 18 wheeler full of undelivered freight would burn money faster than a parked taxi cab. Maybe your company is run by more enlightened new-age type guys who aren’t in it for the money.
Edited on Feb 15, 2011 at 8:07pmMay '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
BTW, why are people always referencing Twinkies? Everyone of taste must surely acknowledge that Hostess Snowballs are to Hostess Twinkies what a superb '59 Lafitte-Rothschild is to a hip flask of Night Train...
and sure, that mock "everyone must surely" is out of the phrasebook of The New York Review of Books.
Jul '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Gary McVey: BTW, why are people always referencing Twinkies? Everyone of taste must surely acknowledge that Hostess Snowballs are to Hostess Twinkies what a superb '59 Lafitte-Rothschild is to a hip flask of Night Train...
and sure, that mock "everyone must surely" is out of the phrasebook of The New York Review of Books. · Feb 15 at 8:58pm
Because Dave once related to us that he had hauled an 18-wheeler load of Twinkies.
Snowballs were once my favorite, but when Hostess stopped packaging a white one with a red one in favor of monotone packaging, I resented the departure from tradition.
Edited on Feb 15, 2011 at 9:13pmMay '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
OK, Kenneth, I'm with you on that one...I too recall the days of the duotone Snowballs as being the best. Maybe it was an east coast thing, but when Hostess went monotone it was monotone-white at first, and then monotone-pink only later.
And yeah, I knew about the reason for the original shout-out to Twinkies, but it's not just here. It's everywhere! Twinkies have shoved Snowballs off the crowded moving sidewalk of our ever-evolving popular culture.
Dec '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
I understand the concept of procedural adherence, but sometimes it can be too much. Only a few months ago I spent over an hour with 160,000 pounds of missile and unmentionables hanging from my crane hook while the paperwork was routed to wrench an obstructing bolt less than a quarter turn so the missile could be lowered into the maintenance pit. And management wonders why the term "malicious compliance" is coming in vogue.
Jun '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Dave, one of the problems with starter motors is that sometimes the gears between the starter and flywheel don't mesh properly. If you can hear the starter cranking but it won't engage, try the following: Take a humongous wrench that matches the bolt that secures the crankshaft pulley and give it a one-eighth turn. That will advance the gears a notch or two to a new position. Said wrench is also handy for warding off vagrants, dogs, and hippies.
Nov '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Dave,
In all seriousness, your trucking company should consider employing a Lean consultant. I am not sure if you've heard of Lean manufacturing concepts before, but the great thing about Lean is that it can be applied anywhere. In our company, it is often heard to be said, "Don't let common sense get in the way!" We are a highly regulated industry and it's not always clear where the reason for some insanity is "the way we've always done it" or an actual regulatory requirement. Lean methodologies cut through all of that, because there is only one thing that matters: value. Any thing that does not deliver value is stripped away. We obviously cannot ignore regulatory compliance, but applying a Lean eye to a process forces the questions to be asked, and answered truthfully. If a person can't tell you exactly why they make 3 copies of that document and file two of them and shred the third, they stop doing it. Imagine what government would be like if they implemented Lean.
Jul '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
In my time in government, the people who ignored or circumnavigated the Administrative [expletive] were the people who got things done. It was a small percentage of the "workforce."
[This comment has been edited by an editor]
Edited on Feb 16, 2011 at 8:11amMay '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
This kind of corporate mindlessness (in which I also find myself all too often) is why I enjoy watching Undercover Boss on CBS. Almost every episode shows the CEO observing dumb rules and procedures at the ground level, which he Vows To Change[tm] once his undercover term ends and he's back in his leadership role.
Probably it's just good TV, with no persistent long-term effect, but hope springs eternal in the mind of the corporate employee ...
Dec '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Ken,
At my government facility we are taught all the latest and greatest corporate efficiency strategies and models including lean, six sigma, etc. We are actually paying a guy a GS-13 salary to be the command CI Black Belt. None of it works (at least in government) for several reasons: 1) no one takes it seriously; 2) we have an obligation by law to get things done irrespective of cost; and 3) mission requirements that override all other considerations. Point 1 is driven by points 2 and 3. The last root cause analysis meeting I attended was a perfect example. People in the hallway outside the conference room before the meeting were not strategizing on how to make the meeting more effective or get the most out of the process; they were bragging about who could make it the shortest.
Nov '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
You want to see a bureaucrat in action? This is an excerpt from a report describing my group. This was written in a NEGATIVE context, trying to describe what is wrong with us. "The cause analyst has noted a very strong dedication by the project team to the Program Manager and customers, but not to line management... The team has developed very tight relationships with each other. They frequently socialize off the job." Something is seriously wrong about that. By the way, we get a ton of stuff done.
May '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
When I see the nonsense that giant organizations create (and I see it all the time; the company I work for is so global, only two other organizations can boast a presence in more countries: they are Coca Cola and the Catholic Church) it becomes clear to me that most talk of "economies of scale" is just a smokescreen. Big Organizations succeed through bullying.
Edited on Feb 16, 2011 at 10:10amJan '11
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Ken,
I will match my worker bee against your consultant any day.
Beef is the only highly regulated thing that is lean.
Dec '10
Re: A Salute To Worker Bees
Consulting: If you're not a part of the solution,there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem.