Appendix 4 Individual Web Survey Scores from Chapter 18
Bibliography
Figure Index
Index
Improving Maintenance and Reliability Through Cultural Change
Many years ago I began a career in engineering at a nuclear power generation utility company. My duties very soon focused on plant maintenance and reliability, and I have been deeply involved in industrial plant maintenance and reliability ever since. Eighteen years ago I founded Management Resources Group, Inc. MRG is a maintenance and reliability professional services company, which now boasts nearly half the Fortune 500 as clients. Since founding MRG, my travels have taken me to many corners of the world in more than a dozen different industries, observing and helping improve plant maintenance and reliability practices at over 300 plants. I have learned a lot in that time, and I still learn something new just about every day. But one of my most important lessons relates to the subject of this book – organizational culture.
Although the science and technology we use to accomplish maintenance and to optimize equipment reliability have been honed over the years, one fact remains the same, and is the source of frustration wherever I go. That is, no matter how rational and sensible the business case for embracing different (and presumably better) practices may be, getting the people to adopt the practices and adapt to a new and better way of doing business, is always extremely difficult. I refer to this difficulty as the “softer side” of the problem. Until the author, Stephen J. Thomas, put some handles on this “softer side” for me with his first book, “Successfully Managing Change in Organizations, A User’s Guide,” I was under the wrong impression that scientific tools and methodologies applicable to the “soft side” did not exist. Mr. Thomas showed us in his first book that there are indeed such tools. They come to us from the adult learning, psychology, behavioral sciences and related disciplines. I now know that overlaying these tools and methods atop any major change initiative – especially one related to maintenance and reliability – will enhance an organization’s ability to achieve a new way of doing business – to change the habits of people, and in essence, make new practices stick.
If you want a vivid example of organizational culture that you can identify with, let’s talk about “safety.” When I first came into the workforce, “safety” was considered a “silo” of the organization – with particular people given responsibility to ensure that safety was taken seriously, and that injuries were eliminated. Back then, “safety” was not everyone’s job – it was a responsibility of a limited number of employees in the company who were trying to get people to work smarter and safer. It took many, many years for today’s leading industrial companies to arrive at a point where “safety” is indeed everyone’s job and everyone’s responsibility. Today, safety is no longer the domain of a silo or department in the organization. Today, “safety” is embedded into the fabric of the company – it is how we do business – it doesn’t require constant pressure to sustain – it is a part of the organization’s Culture!
Think about it – what did we do in these companies to make safety such an integrated part of the company’s culture? What did we do to make that change stick? How did it become the new way of doing business – the new status quo – now taken for granted? How difficult would it be to try to change the safety culture of your organization today? Pretty tough, I suspect.
I believe the way we do maintenance and reliability can, and will have to, become a part of the fabric and culture of our companies if we are to succeed in our personal goals, and if our companies are to succeed in their business goals.
How do we change the maintenance and reliability practices of our organizations? The change management tools presented in Mr. Thomas’s first book provides ample guidance on that question. However, changing practices and habits of the people also requires understanding and dealing with (and possibly changing) the organizational culture, and organizational culture is the subject of this book. The fact is the best engineering, science, and technology won’t ensure business success in maintenance and reliability. Without these “hard” tools, we won’t have success – granted. But these “hard” tools alone won’t ensure success. The culture of your organization has to be understood and dealt with.
In his newest book, Mr. Thomas has really captured and organized for our use the definitions, tools, methods, elements, case studies, practical guides, and templates that will help us understand organizational culture. Building on the eight elements of the Web of Change from the last book, this new book deals directly with first understanding an organization’s culture, then measuring its readiness for change, and finally sustaining change until it becomes the new culture of the organization.
I met the author, Stephen J. Thomas, many years ago during a major, company-wide maintenance and reliability change initiative that he was then leading. We soon became close associates and eventually enduring friends. I respect Steve immensely and consider him to be one of the smartest, most professional and most trustworthy people I know. Steve’s accomplishments in his long career are remarkable, and I am very proud of him and what he has accomplished — and continues to accomplish today. I am most proud of his generous ethic that drives him to share his experiences with the rest of us, in the interest of helping others succeed in improving business performance through culture change.
I am very enthusiastic about this book because I know it will help many people change the culture of their organizations. These changes will enable improved maintenance and reliability practices to take hold, helping industrial companies reduce the cost and improve the quality of their products – and this will ultimately improve the business performance of those companies. I have had the benefit of reading this book and I can assure you that it will help you deal with the “softer side” of changing the way your company does maintenance and reliability business. I hope you enjoy it and put it to practical use – I have!
Congratulations, Steve, on another important, practical, and valuable contribution to this maintenance and reliability profession of ours!
Robert S. DiStefano, CMRP
Chairman of the Board
Management Resources Group, Inc.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to my publisher Industrial Press, Inc. specifically John Carleo for your faith in my work and the potential value it can deliver, and to Janet Romano for all of the behind-the-scenes work that has gone into the excellent finished product.
I would also like to thank Robert Weinstein for helping provide clarity and focus in order to deliver a better product.
One of the major areas of focus in industry today is that of improving equipment reliability. Why? To insure that production is always available to meet the demand of the marketplace. One of the worst nightmares of any company and those who manage it is to have a demand for product but not be able to supply it because of equipment failure. Certainly this scenario will reduce company profitability and could ultimately put
