Deming had a very strong view on the use of ‘fear’ as a tool to try to improve productiivty in the workplace.
a
"The economic loss from fear is appalling," Deming says. When people are afraid for their jobs, afraid of management, afraid of being punished for making mistakes, productivity suffers--and it suffers considerably. Fear in the workplace, no matter how subtle, does not improve productivity. In fact, fear drives people to counterproductive behavior. People who are afraid invest energy and take whatever action is necessary to remove the source of fear.”
a
Go here to see how one group of employees handled the fear factor, and how they adapted to preserve their jobs.
a
Deming viewed it to be management's job to drive out fear.
As we've long heard, "bearers of bad news fare badly—to keep one's job, anyone may present to his boss only good news," Dr. Deming comments in his last book, The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education. "Don't shoot the messenger" is the metaphor most often used. Senior managers learned these principles long ago, if they want to expect good data sets for review and not be insulated from negative outcomes. The absence of fear facilitates the flow of valid data and reporting.
This is the real bottom line in the information age. If there is a fear-culture in place, then vital information that is needed will be discarded or withheld as something that could potentially ruin the employees’ status with the company. The result is that there will only be information that has been picked over and filtered to say that which the employee thinks the boss or team leader wants to hear. The result will be decisions based upon faulty ‘facts’ that will be treated as if the spectrum of ideas and thoughts had been exhausted, while in truth they haven’t even been included in the decision-making process.
Sponsored link: The outsourcing every manager requires - Tampa Locksmith
Comment Preview