> He also espoused pride in craftsmanship, quality, and analysis, things most American workers don't value as much as the Japanese
Is that American workers or American managers? Because in my experience, it's usually managers pushing against those values. It seems like American business culture sees quality and craftsmanship as money left on the table that should be sent to the shareholders, so there's always pressure on workers to cut corners. Also American managers are too quantitative, and quality and craftsmanship are hard to quantify (unlike dollars).
Workers like "craftsmanship, quality, and analysis," not the least because they make their job more satisfying (no one enjoys pushing out low quality junk), but most aren't stubborn enough to keep pushing for them against management resistance.
Famously it's workers too. Look at NUMMI. Before the NUMMI initiative, GM's workers [at their worst plant] were atrocious. Not only did they not care, they sometimes intentionally sabotaged cars. They brought prostitutes to the plant, drank on the job. It was crazy. Management made it worse, but the workers chose to stop giving a shit.
Then Toyota came in, taught them TPS, and the transformation was night and day. Read the interviews and stories. Workers reported they gained more pride in their work, it made them want to do better, and they did do better. So we can have pride in our work, but it's not ingrained culturally like it is in Japan.
To loosely paraphase George Carlin: "Where do you think Managers come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from the same place Workers do: American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities. This is the best we can do folks. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out."
What's the fastest way to get promoted to a manager at a fast food chain -- show up on time and do your job. If anything, the managers are workers who cared enough to do a decent job.
Is that American workers or American managers? Because in my experience, it's usually managers pushing against those values. It seems like American business culture sees quality and craftsmanship as money left on the table that should be sent to the shareholders, so there's always pressure on workers to cut corners. Also American managers are too quantitative, and quality and craftsmanship are hard to quantify (unlike dollars).
Workers like "craftsmanship, quality, and analysis," not the least because they make their job more satisfying (no one enjoys pushing out low quality junk), but most aren't stubborn enough to keep pushing for them against management resistance.