During the last couple of years, I’ve interacted with several United Auto Workers (UAW) associates. Irrespective of what the former Big Three do, they’re all trying to do a good job.I’ve had the chance to teach some classes to UAW members. It always amazes me how people make money in the auto industry knowing what goes on there and without taking sides. Take the relationship between workers and management for example. The lack of trust among them keeps the entire organization from moving forward efficiently. It’s like having two front wheels always trying to go in different directions while driving the car.

Auto industry executives have tried Phil Crosby, Deming, Taguchi, Six Sigma, lean and whatever other quality-management tool they have come across. From the workers’ perspective, it seems as though nothing works.

Actions such as right-sizing or layoffs are seen as improvement measures. Lean, for example, has become a synonym for layoffs. A manager who talks about lean principles is considered an adversary by auto workers. We have improved quality significantly over the past 20 years, and every time we improve quality we lose people. Is quality improvement meant to achieve growth in productivity or reduction of staff?

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