Quality plays a critical role in any company’s success, but especially so for those in the automotive industry. It’s the critical factor that differentiates organizations from the competition, reduces the risk of recalls and expensive lawsuits, and increases both value in the marketplace and the bottom line.
Unfortunately, ensuring quality is a top challenge for most large manufacturers, no matter how many resources they have, because effective quality management is a complex, multi-faceted initiative that requires buy-in at all levels throughout the organization. However, by shaping a fine-tuned and strategic company culture, it is possible to overcome this challenge and establish an industry presence that is synonymous with quality. Here’s how:
1. Start with the leadership. The company’s leadership needs to communicate a vison, mission, and values that are aligned with quality. All business decisions need to be made with this vision in mind, and executive management needs to be actively engaged in quality matters. Once the rest of the staff is made aware of the bigger picture, leaders should thengive employees the autonomy they need to accomplish related results and succeed in their roles.
2. Empower the employees. Employees play a critical role in ensuring quality management because they are on the front lines every day, making decisions, interacting with other team members and engaging in work processes that directly impact quality. As such, they need to be intrinsically motivated to ensure the company’s success and align their day-to-day activities with the greater vision. To accomplish this, management needs to ensure that employees are aware of the contributions they’re making to the big picture quality initiative, so that they are empowered to grow as leaders and improve related processes.
3. Establish a quality-focused work environment. In addition to motivating their employees and engaging executive management in quality matters, organizations need to ensurethat the work environment as a whole reflects its vision for the company culture. For example, reward and recognition systems, opportunities for personal and professional development and placing trust in employees will all help to drive quality initiatives. In addition, employees need to be aware of their priorities and the goals they are to achieve, and they should be in roles that align with their core competencies.
By ensuring that leadership, employees and the work environment are aligned with the big picture vision, organizations can take great strides in creating a culture that shapes and fuels quality management. To learn more about quality control in the automotive industry, and how innovative tools can help drive the initiative, click here to check out our Johnson Controls case study.
