The Yardstick of Success Is Wrong
The average executive plans for a two- to three-year stay in a particular assignment. He or she has no incentive to implement a long-term continuing improvement of quality. Although companies may pay lip service to quality, there are no serious rewards for reducing the number of defective automobiles produced or diminish-ing the number of recalls.
The goal of every chief executive in America is the improvement of production numbers, the improvement of the quarterly financial report, the improvement of the bottom line. They are rewarded for increasing quantity, not quality. What the management of American automobile manufacturers has failed to understand is that this shortsighted viewpoint can be painfully expensive. |
