Effect of Burnout on Operational Productivity & Quality
Strategic View & Impact on the Organization
“In the U.S. and Canada, workers seem conditioned to accept a new workplace reality: They're always on, always available and tasked with fulfilling the demand to do more with less.” (Florentine, 2015) I work in the defense service business and see myself and co-workers experiencing this phenomenon. “Burnout is also eroding workers' productivity, says 66 percent of U.S. employees in the survey.” (Florentine, 2015) “Whether it's an advanced manufacturing system or the ability to respond quickly to changing customer needs, the drive toward improvement has become a way of life in corporations today. There is only one problem. Despite these vast expenditures, and notwithstanding dramatic successes in a few companies, few efforts to implement such programs actually produce significant results.” (Sterman, 2001)
From a strategic perspective, this burnout causes an erosion of expertise and focus on operational quality. Productivity and the innovations that can help to produce long-term profits are identified; but, “successfully implementing these innovations presents the biggest challenge”. (Sterman, 2001) There seems to be a clear difference in what we expect and what is practiced in reality. (International Journal of Project Management, 2010)
The Improvement Paradox
In general, “process improvement has become an imperative for businesses seeking competitive advantage, yet it is disturbing how few organizations make lasting and successful use of process improvement tools such as total quality management and reengineering. These tools should help to raise productivity, boost quality and enhance competitiveness. However, quality programs often struggle to gain initial acceptance and to sustain continuous improvement (US General Accounting Office, 1991; Young, 1991a; Young, 1991b).” (Keating, 1999) Most companies have found it significantly difficult to sustain any long-term improvement programs even having many end in failure. “Even more puzzling, successful improvement programs have sometimes led to declining business performance, causing layoffs, low morale, and the collapse of commitment to continuous improvement. We term this phenomenon the ‘Improvement Paradox.’ If improvement tools were ineffective it would be easy to explain their low use. The evidence, however, does not support that explanation.” (Keating, 1999)
The inability to manage an improvement program seems to be a dynamic process. There are many stakeholders typically involved with a problem and are looking to account for any failure that can lead to unanticipated consequences. Overall, “a competence in improvement must be grown organically. To sustain a program, managers must support the reinforcing nature of improvement by limiting the effect of throughput pressure on effort allocation.” (Keating, 1999)
Impact on Innovation: Analyzing & Designing a Simple Process
“A common reaction to failed initiatives is going for a more advanced solution. Go the other way: simplicity will stand the test of time.” (Ahlström, 2015) Keeping things simple is one of the key ways to achieve long-term innovation and impact on an organization’s success. Within my industry, our customers are the soldiers that support us throughout the world. Our mission is to keep them safe allowing them to accomplish tasks that are many times life or death scenarios. In the past 13 years, IEDs have been used extensively killing or injuring many of our soldiers.
Industry sought to innovate new products that would allow operational success and save lives. Each tool that was created sought to be significantly superior to its rival; but, once deployed in the field was useless. Our soldiers began taping cameras to remote controlled cars that were bought online for $500 instead of using the multi-million dollar devices that were failing. Their approach to developing a simple process and design was essential to saving the lives of their counterparts. Ultimately, this analysis of a problem with a simple solution helped a group of soldiers in Afghanistan to check for IEDs while on patrol; tripping a wire that caused 500 pounds of explosives to go off with no soldiers hurt. (Resto-Montero, 2011)
Continuous Improvement: Focused Process
Establishing a culture of continuous improvement in an organization is rarely an easy task. Significant changes pose as constant detractors to improvement. A modern example of the success of continuous improvement on a team lies when “the 1980 U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team built a culture of continuous improvement, helping them beat long-time rival Soviet Union and eventually capture the gold against Finland. Coach Herb Brooks applied many of the key principles of continuous improvement such as persistent leadership over multiple years, real change management to get the team to think and act differently, and finally, he helped them focus on doing fewer things but doing those fewer things better. This approach fostered a new and powerful team culture that helped make Brooks’ - and the team’s - vision a reality.” (Deloitte Development LLC., 2014)
Continuous improvement needs to be more than just an exercise for a team or organization to run through; but, rather a focused process outlined to exhibit the most growth. “A major — if not the biggest — factor affecting the deployment of long-term continuous improvement initiatives today is the fundamental change taking place in the way companies manage and execute work.” (Deloitte Development LLC., 2014) “An organization that reinvests early improvement gains in further improvement effort creates a powerful positive feedback that generates ever-greater gains in quality and productivity.” (Keating, 1999) By limiting and clarifying the task at hand; we can focus on the process essential to creating a long-term impact on the organization’s operational success.
Impact on Quality through Coordination & Visualization
Coordination provides clarity within an organization and eliminates frustration in determining how to convey information. By visualizing positive results, one can create an operational process focused on coordinating successful implementations that are strategically in line with the overall growth of the organization. “Easton and Jarrell (1998) found that among the top 1,000 publicly held companies in the United States, firms with well-developed quality programs significantly outperform their counterparts in profitability, share price and return on assets.” (Keating, 1999) An example of the impact this can have on quality and an organization’s success can be seen at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where the Americans were anticipated to contend for gold in the men’s 4x100 track competition.
“On the third leg of the race, the U.S.A.'s Darvis Patton was running neck and neck with a runner from Trinidad and Tobago. Patton rounded the final turn, approaching anchorman Tyson Gay, who was picking up speed to match Patton. Patton extended the baton, Gay reached back, and the baton hit his palm. Then, somehow, it fell. The team was disqualified. It was a humiliating early defeat. Stranger still, about a half-hour later, the U.S.A. women's team was disqualified too — for a baton drop at the same point in the race. The baton pass cannot be taken for granted — not on the track and not in your organization.” (Heath, 2010) Practicing and walking through each step of the processes essential to an organization’s success will spot out problems that may arise. The tedious effort will pay off on the quality of an operation as “the relay team with the fastest sprinters doesn't always win, and the business with the most talented employees doesn't either”; coordination is the unsung hero of successful teams.” (Heath, 2010)
Conclusion
“Researchers have abandoned the idea that change is a smooth, linear and planned journey. Rather they point out that contradictions both hamper and encourage organizational development.” (International Journal of Project Management, 2010) Leaders “need to address the fundamental trade-off between current and future performance levels. Second, leaders need to make sure that the source of commitment to ongoing improvement effort shifts from managerial actions to employee initiative. Finally, as a program succeeds, and so-called low-hanging fruit is harvested, managers need to adapt their improvement tools and manage expectations for continued gains.” (Keating, 1999) By utilizing these initiatives, an organization can focus on the coordination, visualization, simplicity, and continuous improvement needed to impact the quality and innovation of its processes.