10 Common Reasons why Improvement Programs Fail

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes projects and programs fail or succeed. Today I want to share with you some thoughts on why things fail. We'll get to how to succeed, too, but at some other time.

We need a context, so let's move to the field of quality. In my experience this is a well documented area with a lot of object lessons which are readily applicable to e.g., IT (information technology) projects or business transformation (a.k.a. re-engineering) projects.

Background

In the Western hemisphere, companies in many diverse industries have become aware of important changes in the markets of manufactured goods over the last couple of decades. The Japanese have led this development with their redefined thinking on quality and quality control. This new thinking on quality initiated a revolution in manufacturing and experiences around the world have shown that these powerful concepts are equally effective in other businesses as well.

TQM: the new dragon

The Japanese theories on quality and quality control have evolved into a management system known as Total Quality Management, or TQM for short. Total quality management is a strategy that makes the manufacturing system a firms' main strategic weapon so that the firm competes in the market place by outperforming their competitors in terms of producing better quality products at lower costs and by faster new product development. Total quality management specifically addresses change and is a general strategy for continuous systematic improvement. This is achieved by focusing on quality. Quality in Japan was defined quite differently from what Westerners were accustomed to.

The game changed

The force of the Japanese quality management practices made the Western world sit up and take notice in the seventies. The battle continued into the eighties and beyond. Then, the quality paradigm moved into the service industries which represent some unique challenges quite different from manufacturing. Early on in this race it became clear that "business as usual" would not do the trick anymore. The new kid on the block had changed the game.

Others thought so, too

The need for a change from traditional management practices had also been expressed at earlier times as exemplified by these thoughts at lift-off attributed to U.S. Astronaut, Colonel John Glenn (Source: McRobb, M., 1989, Purchasing and Quality, N.Y.: Marcel Decker, Inc.):

"What am I doing here sitting on top of thousands of components all supplied by the lowest bidder?"

A new desired state

Well, we can sympathize with Col. Glenn, can't we? If this is no longer our desired state, the question that must be answered is, of course, what to do to change and improve so that you can play in the new game.

The keyword is "improve" and quality improvement became the catch phrase and project flavour of the month. Despite the ready appearance of numerous gurus, some of whom had been instrumental in creating and nurturing the Japanese post-war industrial turnaround, many improvement projects failed. The many thorough and well proven methodologies somehow didn't always get results.

Gurus were not enough

With all this expensive quality expertise on board, how could you fail? Surprisingly, there were some common answers. And incidentally, the Japanese did not always get it right either. For one thing, it was clear that guru's alone could not prevent failures. Something else was at work.

To run a good program or project there are some things you must do well and there are some things you must avoid. In this context we are interested in understanding why improvement programs fail so that we will know what to avoid. I have found a useful summary of the 10 most widely found reasons for why improvement programs fail. It's a good check list to use in your planning phase. Use it well. (Source: J. Grayson, quoted in Sheridan, J. H., 1990, "Jack Grayson: Still waging the good fight," Industry Week, Vol. 239, August 6, pp. 11(3).)

10 Common Reasons why Improvement Programs Fail

1. Taking a piece meal approach rather than extending the program across the entire organization.
2. Limiting quality improvement efforts to production, excluding other areas like accounting, personnel or purchasing.
3. Doing "business as usual", i.e., announcing a quality program but failing to follow up on the commitment and remaining focused on cost reductions and production volumes.
4. Omitting structural changes in compensation (reward) and accounting systems resulting in behaviour that is contradictory to the quality effort.
5. Adopting a "technique" focus. (Quality improvement is not so much about introducing new techniques as it is about changing attitudes and assumptions.)
6. Engaging in hoopla without substance. "Hoopla" is fine, provided there is "meat" behind it.
7. Failing to involve customers and suppliers who should be a natural part of the process.
8. Putting too little emphasis on training which should be done as early as possible.
9. Setting sights too low.
10. Poor communication. Communication should not be an afterthought; good communication is necessary to make the program understood and accepted by all.

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