Not Respecting the Front Line Workers

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Road Commission under fire – mlive.com:

One of the two pillars of the Toyota Production System is “respect for people.” It's a shame that we have to work on something so basic and fundamental, as this, but respect is often lacking — from manager to employee or in the other direction. The news story I've linked to is from a county road commission in Michigan, the article says, in part:

“…the Road Commission's middle management had little respect for their employees who do the front-line work. County Commissioner Mark Ouiment, R-Scio Township, said employees and retirees are being ‘treated badly” by management.”

The article didn't elaborate on how that played out on a day-to-day basis, but it's sad to see even the allegations, but it's not uncommon, is it?

Have you tried working on the “Respect for People” side of Lean in your workplace? If so, how have you tried to influence behavior or set expectations for what Respect means? Click comments to share your thoughts.

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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's latest book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation, a recipient of the Shingo Publication Award. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean, previous Shingo recipients. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

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