Improving Maintenance and Reliability Through Cultural Change. Stephen Thomas G.
the old. In that way, when confronted with critical decisions, everyone will not choose the old way but rather the new. Easily said – not easily done.
To correct the problem in the example, we would have to understand the existing value system and determine how it was not aligned with the vision. Once these areas of misalignment were identified, we would need to develop process changes to address them.
4.7 New Values and an Old Vision (Quadrant 2)
A new set of desired organizational values may be exactly the right thing for your business. However, there still will be a problem if the vision is not changed first. The reason for this is that the vision, often expressed as core beliefs, is reinforced in many and varied fashions. Over time, those values that are in conflict will be eliminated. Therefore, the vision must be altered first; then the values can be brought into alignment.
Suppose that senior management strongly believes that maintaining production levels is the only thing that really matters. The message that the plant receives is to maintain production at any cost. This message has led to unsafe work practices and people taking undue risk with the plant assets in order to keep up the level of production. This company has had numerous cases of safety, environmental, and reliability failures because the workforce made the wrong decisions about how to operate based on a set of wrong values.
Nevertheless, the vision of maintaining production at any cost permeates both the work system and the value system of those involved. Groups and individuals who hold other values, such as proactive maintenance where equipment not breaking is preferable to the “break it – fix it” mode of operation, are quickly corrected and refocused. If they persist, they are replaced with those who hold the same values as the rest of the organization.
As long as the vision and core beliefs of the senior managers remain as “production at any cost,” the value system will remain in place to support it regardless of the fact that it may be incorrect. The conclusion from this brief scenario is that, unless some major event occurs, the existing vision and supporting value system will remain and the new values in conflict will not survive.
Continuing with the example, as a result of the production-at-any-cost philosophy, people were hurt and the company lost money. Ultimately it was sold (the major event). The new owners had a different vision. They believed that safety of the workforce, protection of the environment, and operating the equipment reliably would create a firm that would be both profitable and successful in the industry.
This new vision has moved the company to Quadrant 3 - the value system currently in place is now out of alignment with the new vision. This is the scenario described in Section 4.6. Figure 4-1 has pointed out that to improve, the vision must change first and the values follow. Making change in the reverse order allows the old vision to extinguish the new values.
Changing values to bring them into alignment with the vision is not an easy task. People have lived with the old set of values, which have been internalized. These values have served people well over time; often their performance within the old value system may be the reason they were promoted, retained during a layoff, or even highly respected within their workplace.
The new value system must reinforce the vision that you are trying to achieve. It must be created in such a manner that the organization makes decisions based on the new values, not the old. Additionally, you need to understand that something that has grown and been reinforced over years is not changed in an instant. Nevertheless, changing values is not an impossible task. The steps to follow include:
Step 1 – Develop a clear and concise vision of the future.
Because values will develop to support the vision, developing a clear and concise vision is critical. In addition, the vision needs to be one that will stand the test of time with only minor adjustments. This task must be driven be senior managers. The vision must be an expression of their core beliefs and future direction for the company. Suppose that part of an organization’s vision stated, “We will operate our plant in a manner that treats reliability of our assets the same way we treat the safety of our employees.” One can only imagine the values that would be developed.
Step 2 – Communicate the vision continuously to the organization.
Once the vision has been created, it needs to be communicated. Most people think that this means holding a meeting or a training program and explaining to everyone the new vision. That is a wrong assumption! Communication in this case is far different. Although presentations and training are required, what is ultimately needed is for the behavior of everyone, starting at the top, to change. In this case, communication is achieved through the visible behaviors of those who are designated as leaders. Management must “walk the talk.” If they do not, the organization will cease to believe that the vision holds any value and will instead revert to the old way of doing things. How long do you think values associated with improved reliability will last if production continually forces maintenance to return equipment to service without allowing reliability-based repairs to be instituted?
Step 3 – Build goals, initiatives and activities in support of the vision
A vision can never be turned into reality without goals, initiatives, and activities to support it. This is the Goal Achievement Model, which was discussed in Chapter 3. (It is discussed in even more detail in Successfully Managing Change in Organizations: A Users Guide Chapter 5.) The Goal Achievement Model enables the vision to have an effect on everything that is being done in the plant and helps everyone to recognize this fact.
Step 4 – Hold people accountable to the work they are doing in Step3.
Holding people accountable for accomplishing the goals, initiatives, and activities associated with the Goal Achievement Model in Step 3 is critical. As soon as the leadership takes its attention away from these value-changing tasks, then progress and the tasks themselves have the potential of slowing down or even coming to a complete halt. The process needs constant reinforcement and attention. This is not easy to do because a great many other things pull the leadership’s attention away from this effort. However, without constant attention and accountability, the effort to change the value system will not be successful.
Step 5 – Reward those in alignment and punish those who are not. Maintain zero tolerance for deviation.
This step goes hand in hand with Step 4. Zero tolerance for deviation means exactly what it says – deviation is unacceptable and brings with it severe penalties. This step needs to be expressed in action, not just words. When the organization sees that its leadership is serious, the values will begin to change. If safety of the workforce is an expressed value and a serious violation results in termination, the organization quickly will realize the consequences of violating the new value system.
Changing an organization’s vision and then working via the Goal Achievement Model to change its value system are certainly very difficult tasks. Yet they must be addressed if we truly seek long-lasting change and improvement for our reliability and maintenance work initiatives. Although success may be difficult to measure, you will recognize it when those in the organization instinctively make decisions that support the new reliability-focused values vs. the former “break it – fix it” mode of operation