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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Workers are frustrated by following bureaucratic exercises. They imagine ivory towers with managers making up rules while ignoring their impact. But while procedures dreamed up by rule makers are effective in most situations, the managers often do not foresee the present misapplication that is frustrating employees. A reason-based approach protects the organization from burying benefits under a mountain of paper and stewards its assets by avoiding unacceptable risks. Thinking about the appropriate level of process adoption for the desired project outcomes can create a middle path that is superior to following a rigid and generalized set of procedures.
There is a mantra among managers and consultants that people resist change. This explanation is rolled out every time a management fad fails during implementation. At any organization where the annual turnover through attrition exceeds 30 percent, one wonders just how change-averse these workers are when they are sending their resumes to anyone that will help them escape their current employer. In organizations with a stable workforce, many employees are focused on striving for a promotion (i.e., a big change).
However, if there's one thing everyone agrees on, it's that workers do resist changes they perceive to be "bad." If you go to a baron a Friday after work and eavesdrop, you likely will hear many workers complaining about one of these two extremes: frustration because they are given no guidance and frustration because their boss micromanages everything they do.
Quality guru W. Edwards Deming once stated that excellence comes from allowing workers to contribute to decisions on how work is executed. During the Hawthorne trials (see the sidebar on Page 21) workers proclaimed that their increased output resulted from management ignoring them during the time the experiments were conducted. On the other hand, Frederick Taylor achieved huge improvements in productivity simply by telling workers what they were supposed to be doing and exactly how to do it. Today, no profitable fast food outlet would allow workers the flexibility to decide how long to cook a burger.
So what is the answer and how does this relate to engineering projects? The two sets of workers in the bar are both correct. Well-defined processes guide the workers, but flexibility must be there for the worker...