Operation Improvement Inc.

The control knob was set on position '4' and taped. "What does it do?", I asked a supervisor.

"Don't exactly know", he said. "It has something to do with the product thickness control system. Some pretty smart folks must have figured out that '4' was right. I was told not to touch it!"

If this sounds like your facility, let me tell you what comes next. In a month, or a year, maintenance will finally remove this bit of technology and automation. They will say that it is justified because no one uses it, and that the continued maintenance costs should be saved now that times are tough.

The academic intent of a business case and particularly a cost-benefit analysis is to document and provide context for the choices and decisions made in an organization. In practice, it is a poorly understood and misused tool.  As a result, many business cases are nothing more than obligatory and weightless rationalizations.

To unravel this issue, let us first start with a common situation.

Sue says to her boss, “Jay. Why don’t we buy tape from ‘carolinatapeco.com’? Their web site makes it easy!”

“Look Mom! I un-peeled all of the bananas for you!” This was a classic Dennis the Menace cartoon. Dennis was standing on a chair and the countertop was covered in banana peels. Dennis’ mom was standing with her hands to her face in dismay.

Urgency can be manipulated, accelerated, manufactured.  Like bananas, a lot of things keep for a relatively long time unopened and unpeeled. When the wrapper comes off ahead of time, one must act quickly or suffer loss.

John, the new salesman, was excited about his new company car. His boss would spend over $130,000. on the top of the line luxury vehicle. Plus, the company maintenance team was responsible for the entire motor pool. “We Keep Them Running…” was the shop motto.

Precisely at 3000 miles, he took the car to Jack, the maintenance supervisor.

“What’s that you are doing, Jack?” he asked.

´If you attend my class´, the professor said, ´You should be able to pass the test.´ The ´law students´ in the class perked up immediately.

´What do you mean by ´attendance´?´ they asked. ´If I arrive late or leave early, is that ok? What about sick days? Can I tape the class? Does community service count?´

It amazes me to see such effort expended in a quest for ´compliance´. Instead of accepting that ´attendance means attendance´, the legalistic mind envisions collecting up and cashing in any and all behaviors, credits and frequent flier coupons that will earn the check mark of compliance.

´I met the attendance requirements. I did what you said. Why didn´t I pass?´ they will ask.

The answer, the honest truth is that when it came to ´attendance´, this crowd was desperately looking for a way to not attend, and yet claim that they did.

Muddle Management