Regulating the flow of the Scuttlebutt pipeline 3

[rhodie]

Question to the field:

I'm an operations manager by trade, so this non-engineering question might be out of place:

I'm having a difficult time keeping the "scuttlebutt" under control in my shop. I am not naive enough to think that it can be eradicated or stopped, so I am looking for effective ways in your experience it can be ebbed.

I see the difficulties to production and efficiency it presents. When guys start rumbling about each other and lines are drawn in the sand, then stuff gets done (or not done) according to pride rather than logic.

The majority of plant floor guys in my shop have some kind of hard time (i.e. pennitentary) behind them, so things can get pretty ugly quickly.

So far, my approach has been to hold weekly "Come to Jesus" meetings where we address things directly, air out the dirty laundry, hear things in an open forum and it works well. ...but not well enough.

I still have one or two episodes a month that blow out of control, and the whole issue requires constant attention, or I will lose the focus of my guys on getting product made.

I'm open to hearing your input and advice on the subject.

Also, share some synonyms for "scuttlebutt".
I've also heard: rumor mill, gossip, bluecollar mail server, etc...

 

[kontiki99]

Mt stepfather used to have a machine shop.

He told me once, that you try arrange the machines so people cannot naturally face each other and talk while they work.

Years later I recognized that was a problem in typing pool. They could sit and yak all day, very little got done.

Maybe something like that would help here.

Can you interrupt verbal communications somehow.

Noise and earplugs? Noise does contribute to irritability though.

 

[proletariat]

I heard an interview w/ Tommy Lasorda of Dodgers fame once. His team hated each other and sucked at teamwork. He made them hate him even more than they hated each other. They forgot about the infighting, and focused on hating Lasorda. Apparently this worked.

 

[MikeHalloran]

They grumble about each other when they disagree about who's doing what, fast enough, or well enough.

Assume that they're all trying to do what they're doing as fast and as well as they can. ... Except for the slackers and the guys who are in the wrong job. They all know who they are; it's your job to find out what they all know, and especially to do something about it. Do that first.

Back to speed and quality.

Speed takes care of itself as they compete with each other for praise, from you and from their own peer group.

Quality is a tougher nut. Start by adding accountability... not with paperwork and such; ask them to sign their work.

If I'm trying to assemble some parts that don't fit, can I easily determine who made them? Can I go and talk with that person, about that problem? Without a union rep or a manager present? Can I ask him to make some better ones, informally, without paperwork or recrimination? Can we work together to improve his process so I get better parts, or improve my process so I can use the ones he can make?

If we agree that we need to spend a little money, e.g. on a better tool, will you, Mister Ops Mgr, go for it? Can we spend small sums without asking? Do you have a perceived history of denying reasonable suggestions?

Who writes their method sheets, or op sheets, or whatever documents record the process they use? Engage them in the process; get them to write down what they do. Record it formally and preserve it, and give a little recognition now and then. They get smarter when they bring their brains to work.

Yeah, I know; some people never really get out of high school, or grade school, or jail. Some of them never will. Some, I hope most, will grow up, given patience and persistence and respect and very subtle guidance.

How often does Jesus come to them? Do you regularly chat with them? Sometimes acting up is just a way of saying they wish somebody would listen to them. Do.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[rhodie]

proletariat

You know, the strategy you bring up I seriously thought about applying in the past. It's similar to the method Drill Instructors use to bring together a group of lackeys into a combat team.

Unfortunately, I do not think it will have the desired effect in my situation. My good employees will just find another job somewhere else, and the bad ones will do a poor job for spite.


Mr. Halloran
There's some genuine wisdom in your post, and I appreciate the answer very much.

One element of this situation is that am fairly well respected by the men I supervise. Again, I am not naive to believe poor opinions of me don't exist; but in general I think I do a very good job of not only addressing corporate priorities, but also in "tending the home fires"- keeping individuals communcating about problems, sharing succinct direction, making sure they understand their value & importance, and working on the group dynamic.

I purposely effort to be neither "good cop" nor "bad cop", but rather "well respected cop".

When I evaluate the most damaging episodes of "pipeline" slander, it tends to focus on personal disagreements between co-workers or jealousy. I simply do not know how to demand people focus on themselves and enforce lapses with disciplinary action.

Also, I am not yet a father, so I am dually disadvantaged by not having parenting experience. I can't imagine there is much difference between the two situations as far as the common feeling of frustration is concerned. I can't just knock heads around like my father did to me and my siblings, but it is tempting...

One thing I have thought about is that maybe I have an overcapacity of workers. If I cut a few out and increase workload demand overall by a small but noticeable amount, maybe this will keep people busy and not talking?

 

[MikeHalloran]

The trick, I think, is to not be the group's 'cop', but its 'leader'. I don't have a 'magic bullet' for that. I do have a few suggestions that may be of help:

If _you_ focus on getting the job done, and you make it clear to the team, with words and _especially_ with deeds, that you are not in the least interested in their petty squabbles, but _are_ interested in making the entire team more productive and more effective, well, sonofagun, it will happen.

Einstein was a teacher, you know. He summed up parenting pretty well: "Children learn in three ways. Example. Example. Example."

Only idiots deal with a labor overcapacity by reducing the workforce. Downsizing or whatever you call it destroys the workforce's morale, nobody gives a crap anymore, your quality goes to hell, and your productivity goes down, leaving you with undercapacity, not optimized capacity. The survivors will spend _all_ their time bitching, mostly about you. That isn't quite what Lasorda meant.

Go out and get them some more work to do! Take in outside work (from idiots who have downsized themselves into undercapacity), give incentives to your sales force, give sales incentives to your production workers, whatever it takes.

One almost- magic trick; make sure that everyone can _see_ that there is more work to do, after they finish what's in front of them. Only college graduates are dumb enough to work themselves out of a job.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[monkeydog]

Years ago, the industry went thru a phase of High Performance Work Groups (After Quality Circles and before 6 Sigma). One epthany that I had from that experience was "Nobody comes to work and says - I am going to do a bad job today". People want to do a good job. Another of the things I saw come out of that phase was empowering the workers with changes in their work environment.

Your good employees do not want to work in an environment where there may be a fight next to there work station.

When you have you weekly meeting, tell them there is too much in-fighting and not enough focus on getting the job done. Ask them what can be done to impove the situation. Sure you will get the "more money", "shorter hours", ect. But, a few real suggestions will come out of that (ear plugs, radios, more phones). Incorporate those suggestions. Show them they can change the situation themselves. Once they see they have input in how there work situation can improve, they will police themselves.

It's not a silver bullet, but after some time,

 

[CarlPugh]

"The Majority of the men have PENNITENTARY TIME".
There's nothing you can do to prevent problems. The only thing you can do is to keep the problems to a minimum.
In the future be more selective in the people you hire.

 

[MikeHalloran]

On the other hand, precisely because it's _really_ hard for a guy with a record to get a job, or even an interview, you will not find employees who value their job more.

... which may be one cause of the existing friction. Many people end up in jail for lack of civilized conflict resolution skills. It's possible that you have problems they are attempting to resolve internally, in the only way they know. Maybe you need to spend more time on the shop floor. Don't assume you already know all that's going on.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[CarlPugh]

I worked at a place where the government paid the employer to hire people on probation. They didn't value their jobs at all. They only took the job to get out of jail.
The parolee's honesty also didn't improve because they were on probation. If you laid a tool down and turned your back, the tool was gone and was never seen again. (At least by the owner.)
The parolee's had no qualifications for their job, and more time was spent correcting their mistakes than was involved in doing the original work. (I realize that this wasn't the parolee's fault, but it was a fact of life)
Some of the parolee's liked to destroy things. They would operate a machine at full speed to watch it destruct.
To compound the problems, in California over 60% of the parolees commit a crime and are returned to jail within a year. So you couldn't train someone and expect them to be around in the future.
In conslusion, I feel sorry for parolee's, but would not hire one unless he came recommended by someone that I had complete trust in, or was a relative and I had no choice.

 

[PSE]

If only production lines could be as efficient as rumor mills and the scuttlebutt pipeline.

I agree with Mike Halloran's postings and would encourage you to keep up with and even increase your involvement. Lack of communication (actual or simply percieved) is the feedstock for rumors. Let them know that the flow of communication is open in both directions. Be prepared for the emotional capital that you will likely have to expend. If you are not perceived as being "genuine" it will only get worse.

Good luck

 

[ornerynorsk]

Give them more responsibility and make them have a daily or weekly meeting to discuss "issues". Have a barbeque once a week over noon hour or some other function where they will still be together but have some downtime to get to know each other personally. Excons are tough ones to work with, but they're loyal workers once you get the troublemakers weeded out.

 

[bradpa77]

All I know about scuzzlebutt is that he lives in the mountains, has celery for an arm, patrick duffy as a leg, and weaves wicker baskets. I don't think that's much help to you though.

This, of course, is a joke. ha ha. If you ever watch south park, you will probably get it.

Sorry, but I couldn't help it.