Improving Maintenance and Reliability Through Cultural Change. Stephen Thomas G.
13 Technology
13.1Introduction to Technology
13.2Technology – The Systems That We Use
13.3Technology – The Information That We Create
13.4Technology in Support of the Elements of Change
13.5Technology and the Four Elements of Culture
13.6Conclusion
Chapter 14 Communication
14.1How Does Communication Affect Change?
14.2The Communication Diagram
14.3Important Things to Remember from the Model
14.4The Compounding Problems of Miscommunication
14.5How to Increase Effectiveness
14.6Moments of High Influence (MoHi)
14.7Communications and its Impact as One of the Eight Elements of Change
14.8The Impact of Communication on Cultural Change
Chapter 15 Interrelationships
15.1Introduction to Interrelationships
15.2Definition – Positive Interrelationships
15.3Interrelationships and Reciprocity
15.4Types of Interrelationships
15.5Trust – Interrelationship Cement
15.6Allies
15.7Interrelationship Forces and the Other Elements of Change
15.8Interrelationships and the Four Elements of Culture
15.9One Last Thought
Chapter 16 Rewards
16.1Why Consider Rewards?
16.2Short-Term and Long-Term Rewards
16.3Rewards and the Hierarchy of Needs
16.4Negative and Neutral Rewards
16.5How We Reward
16.6Rewards and the Other Seven Elements of Change
16.7Rewards and the Four Elements of Culture
16.8Onward to the Web of Cultural Change
Chapter 17 The Web of Cultural Change
17.1Introduction to the Web
17.2How the Web of Cultural Change was Built
17.3The Charts
17.4How the Web of Cultural Change Works
17.5An Example
17.6Introduction to Reassessment
17.7Large Group or Small Group Surveys
Chapter 18 Assessment and Corrective Action
18.1Assessment
18.2The Technique for Analysis
18.3How is C-RCFA Accomplished?
18.4An Example Using the Web of Cultural Change
18.5Reassessment
Chapter 19 Moving Forward
19.1Change Is Not Really a Project
19.2You Can’t Start Unless You Are Ready
19.3You Can’t Progress Without Sustainability
19.4Sustainability Tools
19.5Recap
19.6Final Thoughts
Appendix 1 The Web of Cultural Change Survey
Appendix 2 A Blank Web of Cultural Change Diagram
Appendix 3 Clarification of Some of the Web Survey Questions
Appendix 4 Individual Web Survey Scores from Chapter 18
Bibliography
Figure Index
Index
Improving Maintenance and Reliability Through Cultural Change
Many years ago I began a career in engineering at a nuclear power generation utility company. My duties very soon focused on plant maintenance and reliability, and I have been deeply involved in industrial plant maintenance and reliability ever since. Eighteen years ago I founded Management Resources Group, Inc. MRG is a maintenance and reliability professional services company, which now boasts nearly half the Fortune 500 as clients. Since founding MRG, my travels have taken me to many corners of the world in more than a dozen different industries, observing and helping improve plant maintenance and reliability practices at over 300 plants. I have learned a lot in that time, and I still learn something new just about every day. But one of my most important lessons relates to the subject of this book – organizational culture.
Although the science and technology we use to accomplish maintenance and to optimize equipment reliability have been honed over the years, one fact remains the same, and is the source of frustration wherever I go. That is, no matter how rational and sensible the business case for embracing different (and presumably better) practices may be, getting the people to adopt the practices and adapt to a new and better way of doing business, is always extremely difficult. I refer to this difficulty as the “softer side” of the problem. Until the author, Stephen J. Thomas, put some handles on this “softer side” for me with his first book, “Successfully Managing Change in Organizations, A User’s Guide,” I was under the wrong impression that scientific tools and methodologies applicable to the “soft side” did not exist. Mr. Thomas showed us in his first book that there are indeed such tools. They come to us from the adult learning, psychology, behavioral sciences and related disciplines. I now know that overlaying these tools and methods atop any major change initiative – especially one related to maintenance and reliability – will enhance an organization’s ability to achieve a new way of doing business – to change the habits of people, and in essence, make new practices stick.
If you want a vivid example of organizational culture that you can identify with, let’s talk about “safety.” When I first came into the workforce, “safety” was considered a “silo” of the organization – with particular people given responsibility to ensure that safety was taken seriously, and that injuries were eliminated. Back then, “safety” was not everyone’s job – it was a responsibility of a limited number of employees in the company who were trying to get people to work smarter and safer. It took many, many years for today’s leading industrial companies to arrive at a point where “safety” is indeed everyone’s job and everyone’s responsibility. Today, safety is no longer the domain of a silo or department in the organization. Today, “safety” is embedded into the fabric of the company – it is how we do business – it doesn’t require constant pressure to sustain – it is a part of the organization’s Culture!
Think about it – what did we do in these companies to make safety such an integrated part of the company’s culture? What did