GM Strike Highlights How Costly Breakdowns In Communication Between Workers And Executives Can Be

The ongoing walkout of 48,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) employees from 31 General Motors (GM) plants that began last Sunday night has numerous causes. Those include wages, health care benefits, the status of temporary workers, and the job security concerns caused by plant closures affecting five North American sites that were announced last November.

But what has also become clear is that one underlying cause is bad blood between the rank-and-file and the company’s leadership. Errette Dunn, CEO of Rever, Inc., a tech startup developing a Frontline Management software suite focused on driving manufacturing operating improvements (see more about them here), has seen it before. “The GM walkouts highlight the disastrous impact strained relations between employees and management can have on business continuity,” he said. “But most communication breakdowns for manufacturers don’t escalate to that point. After spending most of my career serving as a conduit between shop floor employees and management teams implementing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement strategies, I’ve seen first-hand some causes of discontent. Often, shop floor or frontline employees feel sidelined when they believe their opinions and creativity go unrecognized – and unfortunately, they’re right.”

Admittedly, keeping those in the executive suite in touch with the employees on the front lines is tough. Multiple layers of management, and a natural inertia toward “see no evil, hear no evil” communications from bottom to top, make the job of having floor workers feel their concerns are heard seemingly an insurmountable problem. Yet the flow of that information is crucial to good operations.

“Frontline employees make up more than 80% of the workforce, yet they are an untapped and underutilized creative resource,” Dunn said. “They are the ones who are closest to products, processes, and customers. They already know the answer to many chronic problems.”

It’s accepted wisdom in the manufacturing world, that notion that the person closest to the problem usually has the best answers. So why is getting those answers so difficult? “Even the best-intentioned management teams don’t have the right channels in place to create easy two-way knowledge exchange with their valuable frontline employees,” said Dunn. “Why? Most shop floor employees are deskless, and though they may be surrounded with various machine automation technologies, they are virtually cut off from collaboration with the rest of the firm outside the factory floor.”

Over the years, numerous attempts have been made to close the gaps. Many companies have periodic employee surveys that are intended to provide a means for workers to communicate concerns to management. These are often ineffective, since they’re very limited by nature and one-directional, so they don’t allow the back-and-forth communication that’s required to identify and solve thorny problems. Unless they’re supplemented routinely by other means of communication and relationship-building, therefore, they do little good.

Paring back the org chart is another method that’s been used. High performance work systems usually do away with layers of management, which streamlines communications by “cutting out the middleman.” This can be highly effective, especially when combined with self-directed work teams that have more of a say in day-to-day matters. However, over time these work systems are constantly at risk of becoming bureaucratized – as companies grow, layers are added to deal with increasing management workloads.

Continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma are also intended to break down barriers to communication and problem-solving. Tools used in those program include standardized practices designed in part to put everyone on a level playing field and eliminate breakdowns in trust and communications.

Dunn’s company is taking a new approach the modern way: through software and use of our ubiquitous devices. “One simple solution is to give employees the ability to share and act on ideas through a technology they already own and use every day outside of work: their mobile phones,” he said. “I’ve seen companies completely transform their employee satisfaction and team productivity by connecting and engaging their frontline workforce with a mobile app. It’s great example of how technology can be used to augment the capacity of frontline workers, rather than trying to replace them.”

Whatever approach is used, the core objective is to keep the lines of communication open, and trust levels high, through thick and thin. All managers should have the objective that the people in their care feel heard, and believe that they’re free to speak frankly about their problems and the solutions to them without fearing retribution or other repercussions from above. “This way manufacturers show their employees that their ideas and contributions are valued and that their ideas are put into action. Productivity and employee morale soar, and everyone reaps the resulting financial gains,” Dunn said.

Whether it’s by technology, modern business methodologies, org chart design, or just good old-fashioned listening, though, doing that hard work of keeping the lines of communication open will pay dividends when times get tough. Trying to build trust when disaster strikes rarely works – just ask GM and the UAW.