 |
|
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 2, 2010
/ 16 Adar 5770
Profit Over Principles
By
Cal Thomas
| 
|
|
|
| |
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
When Toyota President Akio Toyoda testified last week before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, an attitude was exposed that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) correctly characterized as fostering a "cutthroat corporate" environment that placed costs ahead of quality and safety. Such a priority would have been anathema to Toyoda's grandfather, Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded the company and turned it into an automotive juggernaut thanks to a business philosophy created by an American named W. Edwards Deming.
Deming believed in a business model that puts product quality and company relationships between workers and management first, favoring continual and systematic improvements of staff and of work processes. His philosophy dominated Toyota for more than 50 years. Quality products followed. Profit was the inevitable result.
Longtime Toyota observer H. Thomas Johnson, a professor of business at Portland State University, has written that Toyota's current quality crisis "reflects disastrous policies adopted after 2000, when top management's thinking changed sharply in a direction that, while consistent with that of most other Western companies, would never have been tolerated at Toyota in the past."
That change came when Toyota management decided to overtake General Motors as the world's largest carmaker and placed immediate financial gain over quality and safety. As a result, quality and safety suffered and Toyota now risks losing market share and profits. It is a flawed model, one that affects governments as well as companies. A major reason for America's rising national debt is that our government has not focused on systems that produce the best results, but on political strategies that provide short-term benefits to politicians. We observe this most glaringly in the debate over health care "reform." The Obama administration and the congressional Democratic leadership focuses on sob stories and calls for "fairness," instead of on proposals that will produce results that benefit a majority of the nation.
| FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER |
| Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. |
|
There is plenty of recent history where management (and government) reversed sound priorities and proven results leading to dysfunction in both.
In 1982, following the deaths of seven people in the Chicago area who had taken Tylenol laced with cyanide, Johnson and Johnson put the welfare of doctors, nurses and patients first, fixing the problem with tamper-proof bottles.
In 1990, Perrier recalled its bottled water after benzene was discovered in some bottles sold in North Carolina. Even though the Food and Drug Administration said there was no danger, the company recalled its entire inventory, thus preserving the purity of its reputation, along with the quality of its water.
An example of the wrong response to a quality control issue occurred with Ford's Pinto whose gas tanks ruptured and caught fire in rear-end collisions. In 1968, the Ford Motor Company, adopting a recommendation made by then vice-president Lee Iacocca, introduced a domestically produced subcompact car. Hoping to gain a large market share, Pinto was designed and developed on an accelerated schedule. While profits became supreme, quality began to suffer. After lawsuits were filed by victims and their families, Ford management appeared to prefer the advice of their attorneys who said it was less expensive to pay off lawsuits than to fix the gas tank problem. Ford's image (and sales) suffered. Management eventually got the message and started producing better cars, announcing in a media campaign, "At Ford, Quality is Job 1."
Like Ford, Toyota can restore its tarnished image if it reverts to its previous business model, which proved hugely successful throughout most of the company's existence.
It would be nice if the U.S. government adopted the earlier Toyota model and embraced those principles. Focusing on excellence before outcome produces the desired outcome. It works in health, education, automobiles, government and virtually anything else to which it is applied. We know what works. Why must so many of our leaders keep relearning the same lesson?
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
| BUY THE BOOK |
|  Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.). |
|
Cal Thomas Archives JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
© 2006, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles
|
